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HUNTING AND FISHING GROUNDS AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 33 
CHUR D’ALENE. 
If the reader will turn to the map of | 
Idaho Territory and cast his eye upon 
its western boundary he will see that 
about midway it is crossed by the Snake 
(or Shoshone) River. Following this 
boundary due northfor about a hundred 
miles he will see a splotch of irregular 
form, evidently designed to represent a 
body of water, as two or three. rivers 
are seen to empty into it. This repre- 
sents Coeur D’ Aléne Lake, a magnificent 
sheet of water some thirty miles in 
length. The width is so affected by the 
jutting promontories that it varies from 
ten to two miles, and no more definite 
measure can be given, 
The primeval forest comes to the 
water’s edge, and the shadows of the tall 
pines are reflected in its pellucid waters; 
for these are never clouded, the springs 
and streams which feed it are never 
muddy, and the great Spokan River, 
which springs from it full-grown—one 
hundred and sixty yards in width at the 
season of the lowest water, with a swift 
current—has never a shadow cast upon 
its waters by contamination with any 
vulgar soil. In plain English, the waters 
of both lake and river are so transparent 
that the bottom can be seen anywhere 
and at any time to a depth of twenty 
feet. 
Ona dark night with one of Boudren’s 
hunting and fishing lamps, when it is 
perfectly quite, the bottom can be seen 
at over thirty feet. As a necessary con- 
sequence of the »urity of its waters, it is 
the home of the trout. These are of 
many varieties, from the pure (Vacific 
coast) Salo fontinalis to the great 
salmon trout six feet in length. The 
heaviest fish canght here with hook and 
line weighed exactly nine pounds, but 
many have since been seen which must 
; 
have been far heavier. Trout three or 
four feet, and occasionally six or more 
feet, are not unfrequently seen; but they 
are wary fellows. None have been 
caught. Numberless lines have been 
carried away, and times without number 
sockdolagers have been hooked, but so 
far none of these whales have been cap- 
tured. Trout of one, two, or three pounds 
are the rule, and their name is legion. 
An old trout fisherman who visited this 
lake some years ago, and having no boat, 
made a raft of logs on which he pushed 
out into the lake near its mouth, said it 
was “the best and most magnificent 
trout fishing in the world.” The catch 
is often fabulous. 
In July, August, and September the 
fishing is poor for Ceeur D’Aléne. One 
can catch a dozen of an evening, often 
three or four. The reason is plain. The 
trout seek the mouths of the ice-cold 
mountain streams and do not return to 
this part of the lake (its mouth) until 
the cold weather and high water. At 
the mouths of the streams above alluded 
to they are as numerous as the sands on 
the sea-shore, and one might think them 
crazy they are so anxious to be hooked. 
A short time since some men fishing near 
the mouth of one of these streams, caught 
twenty trout with a coarse line and 
large hook in half an hour. Not one of 
them weighed less than two pounds. 
This is ordinary fishing in this lake. 
The mountains around the lake teem 
deer, bear, panther and all the varieties 
of smaller game. The ery of the loon on 
the lake is alternated with that of the 
panther in the forest. Every night after 
“taps” a din arises that makes one 
think that pandemonium has broken 
loose, The wolves, timber and coyote, 
when all has become quiet, steal in to 
see what they can pick up; and the dogs 
