NATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS. 365 



close inspection of about 50,000 which had escaped through the dam gate and were 

 penned in the channel immediately below. A dozen of the largest of these were 

 taken with an improvised dip net. In contrast with the fry of the same or a greater 

 age in Utah Lake, these had attained a superior growth of at least twice the length 

 and ten times in weight. They would average 6 inches in length and weigh nearly 

 pound each, being very stocky. I can not account for this vast difference in the 

 growth of the young bass the first year in these two places, unless it might be that in 

 the new reservoir there are no large fish of other species to interfere with or disturb 

 them; and the new ground perhaps furnished abundant food in the development 

 of worms and other minute animal life exactly suited to their age and condition. I 

 shall watch this reservoir plant with considerable interest to see how long the 

 superior growth may continue. 



Eecognizing the superior adaptability of this splendid fish for the lakes and 

 ponds of the lower valleys of this State, I recommended a legislative appropriation 

 to stock these waters with large-mouthed bass, and the general assembly in March, 

 1897, appropriated a sum sufficient to stock all the suitable waters of the State.. 

 Arrangements were therefore made to catch the fish out of Utah Lake and place 

 them in small ponds near the railway, preparatory to shipment to the various places 

 of planting, and by May 4, 1897, enough had been taken /to make a large carload, 

 which was shipped on that date to Bear River and Bear Lake in the northern part of 

 the State. This consignment consisted of 2,500 fish in all, 450 being large spawuers 

 averaging close to 2 pounds each. Of this lot, 100 spawners and GOO yearling fry 

 were deposited in Bear Eiver at various points in Box Elder and Cache counties, and 

 the remainder taken to Bear Lake and planted at a number of places on the eastern 

 side of the lake embracing a range of about 25 miles in length. This beautiful sheet 

 of water has approximately the same surface area and dimensions as Utah Lake, with 

 the elongated axis north and south in a similar manner, and both lakes are flanked 

 on three sides by majestic mountains. The southern and main part of Bear Lake 

 has a beautiful sandy, gravelly, and rocky bottom and shores, with water as dear 

 and limpid as glass, and attaining a depth of 250 feet in places, with the summer 

 temperature on the surface ranging quite 10 F. below that of Utah Lake. It lies 

 in the extreme northeast corner of the State, about 300 miles north of Utah Lake, 

 and at an altitude of 5,911 feet above mean sea level, and is fed mostly by short cold 

 streams flowing into it from the snow-clad mountains on the west. The common 

 fishes are more numerous here than in Utah Lake, with two species of large growing 

 trout, locally known as salmon trout (which frequent the inflowing streams to spawn) 

 and the bluenose trout, which I am told spawns in the lake. Some of these trout 

 in early times, before the use of seines and gill nets for commercial purposes, are 

 reported to have attained the weight of 30 pounds. 



This lake is about equally divided between Utah and Idaho, the east and west 

 dividing line of the two States cutting the lake in about equal proportions, so that in 

 stocking it with the black bass, Idaho receives as much benefit as Utah, which we do 

 not at all begrudge. Theoretically this lake should produce a better quality of bass 

 than Utah Lake. It apparently has equal if not superior food and spawning facilities, 

 with a much purer quality of water that should impart a better flavor to the fish. The 

 question of the considerably lower temperature of the water may and perhaps will 

 prove to be an important factor for good or evil in the growth and development of 

 this valuable food and game fish in this lake, which the next few years will no doubt 



