86 THe Determined Angler 



retreat. It is good-bye to the brook trout now. With 

 him it was either cool pools, solitude, and freedom, or 

 extermination. The waters that pour down into larger 

 streams are sad memories now of his school play- 

 grounds. No more will the sportsman's honest hunger 

 be appeased by the brook trout's fine-grained flesh 

 from hardening waters of nearby mountain brooks. 

 But memory of the brook trout cannot be wrested 

 from those who knew him at his best, and braved 

 personal danger from rattler, bear, and wildcat to win 

 him from the crystal waters. The brook trout has 

 been butchered to make a carp's holiday. Gone he 

 may be now, but he will live forever in the dreams of 

 all true fishermen as the real aristocrat of the mountain 

 streams. The like of him will not soon be seen again." 

 The Fish Commission has mastered the science of the 

 artificial propagation of the brook trout millions are 

 now produced with little trouble and expense and 

 the stocking of waters is a common practice, but the 

 Fish Commission can't propagate forests and wood- 

 land streams. Mourner must know that the brook 

 trout itself is not hard to save ; it is the preservation of 

 its wild habitat that is the great puzzle. If the United 

 States Forestry Department will protect the trout 

 streams from the greedy lumberman, the factoryman, 

 and acid maker, the Fish Commission will have no 

 trouble in saving the brook trout. 



