HUNTING AND FISHING GROUNDS AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 
27 
they said it was the result of a strictly 
speckled trout diet. At that time fish of 
three to five pounds weight were com- 
mon, and specimens weighing from six to 
seven pounds were occasionally taken. 
The fishing was all done with hock and 
line, but science, or skill, or fancy tackle 
were unknown. 
Two years later I went again, and 
found that a little creek on the way, at 
which we threw off our saddles fora 
noon rest, was literally alive with spec- 
kled beauties. In Grand River the 
sport was equally good and the fish much 
larger. I caught one that measured 
twenty-two and a halfinches. Since then 
I have missed but one Summer without 
making one or more excursions to that 
locality. In 1868 I did my best fishing. 
There were a good many people at the 
Springs, numbering close on to one hun- 
dred and fifty, all living in tents or the 
open air. Whilst many were. fishing, 
but few were fishermen, so that those 
who could catch trout were at liberty to 
take all they pleased, since none would 
be wasted. I found a new (to me) 
stream about four miles away, Williams 
“River, in which were numerous rapids 
interspersed with deep pools, and about 
two miles above its mouth a fall of twelve 
or fourteen feet. It had a beautiful lit- 
tle valley with luxuriant vegetation, 
abundant wild fruit and wild groves of 
lofty, wide spreading cottonwoods. For 
five days in succession I visited this love- 
ly stream, fished from three to four hours, 
and brought back all that my horse could 
well carry. The smallest catch of the 
five days was seventy-two pounds, On 
one of the days I certainly brought in 
ninety pounds, all caught from one pool 
and standing in one place. Other sea- 
sons I have done quite as well in other 
streams. In 1874 a wagon road was 
opened and the next year another. The 
latter, from Georgetown, is a magnifi- 
cent road, and a splendid drive. In the 
Summer there is a tri-weekly line of 
stages, and the time from the end of the 
railroad is ten hours, between breakfast 
and supper. In Winter this road is 
buried usder ten or twenty feet of snow, 
which does not permit wheel travel until 
the latter part of June, and then only 
between high crystal walls. But that is 
early enough. The sport begins in July, 
and grows better until late in the Fall. 
A village has grown up at the Springs. 
Settlers are scattered along all the larger 
streams, and the charm of camp life in 
the wilderness is passing away. How- 
ever, it is not yet difficult to get beyond 
the settlements, away up the streams in 
the pine woods. About the Springs fish- 
ing is overdone. From twenty-five to 
fifty hotel guests can be seen each day 
sauntering up and down the river for two 
or three miles, catching a few trout each, 
and in the aggregate quite a number. 
But fair sport can be enjoyed by mount- 
ing a horse and riding from five to six 
miles away. Four miles down stream 
comes in Williams River from the south; 
twelve miles down, Troublesome River 
from the north. Seven miles up, Frazer 
River enters from the south; five miles 
further, Willow Creek from the north; 
four miles further, the South Fork from 
the southeast; six miles above that, the 
North Fork from the northeast, and five 
miles above that, or twenty-five miles 
from the Springs, is Grand Lake—the 
nicest, the easiest, and the laziest place 
to take trout in that whole region. It 
is a real Alpine sheet of water, close up 
against the foot of lofty snow-crowned 
peaks, walled in by morainal deposits. 
Two and a half or three miles long, and 
half that in width, its depth is unknown. 
