34 BULLETIN OF THE HMKEAT OK FISHERIES. 



liuh liniU}.'lil from Mulky Creek, a liraiieh of the South Fork of KeriiRiver, which runs through >Iiilk\ 

 Miailows. Tlic two lakes above the falls at the North P'ork of Cottonwood Creek were stocked fou 

 teen years ago (in ISi)!) hy M. P. Ihuid, K. II. Kdwanls, Manuel Rilva, Tames Aloffctt, aiul ameml.,-: 

 of a government srii'rilifi.- cxpcdilinn " llial was here at that time-. Tlioc lish wcir taken li-om a small 

 tributary of Cotton \v<'i»l Creek licli.w the falls." 



These two accounts agree perfectl}' in all essential respects, and it nitiy tiicrel'dic 

 be regarded as established that Cottonwood Creek was stocked in isTii by Messrs. 

 A. C. Stevens, S. V. Stevens, and Thomas George with trout (<SV/7///w(///(/(7-/>w///V(/) from 

 Mulky Creek, a small tributary of the South Fork of the Kern; that the Cotton wo<"l 

 lakes were stocked in 1891 by Messrs. M. P. Hand, E. H. Edwards, Maiuiel Siha. 

 James Moffett, and B. H. Dutcher with trout from Cottonwood Creek; and that im 

 other plants have been made in that creek or its branches. 



Nelson Creek, a small tributary of Middle Fork of Tule River, was stocked in 

 1897 -or 1898 by Mr. J. M. Nelson, of Daunt, Tulare County, with trout from Vol- 

 cano Creek. Mr. Nelson started with '22 fish, 1 of which died on the way. The 

 remaining 18 were successfully jilaiited in Nelson Creek, and trout are said to ))c 

 abundant in that stream now. 



■ Unfortunately the data regarding many of these tish-cultunil operations are not 

 wholly complete. In a number of cases the date when the plant was made, tin 

 names of the parties making it, the exact phice where the fish were planted, and, most 

 unfortunately, the name of the stream from which the stock was obtained have not 

 been recorded. It is particularly regiettable that the names of the .streams from 

 which the trout were obtained and of those in which they were placed were not made 

 a matter of careful record. 



Later, rod and gun clul>s were orgtmized in various towns and villages, and llnsi 

 were and are instrumental in securing (■onsigniiiciits of fish from the state and 

 federal fish commi.ssious. 



Mr. Stewart and Mr. Broder have furnished very full accoiuits uf the planting 

 and transplanting that has been done in the region drained by the Kings, Kaweaii, 

 and Kern rivers. According to Mr. Stewart: 



Before the work of planting was begun by the people of Tulare County there was not a trout 

 between Kings River and the South Fork of the Kaweah River, in the upper altitudes of the Sierra, 

 and probably the same wa.s true of the upper waters of Tule River, Deer Creek, and White River. 

 These streams are all on the western slope of the range. The first planting of fish of any kind done 

 in Tulare County was about twenty-five years ago, when a planting of whitefish and Eastern catfish, 

 secured from the U. S. Fish Commission, was made in the waters of Tulare Lake, then a shallow body 

 of water 30 miles long and 18 or 20 wide. The waters being somewhat alkaline the whitefish soon 

 died, but the catfish thrived and soon populated all the streams then emptying into the lake. This 

 lake, from which large quantities of fish, mainly perch, were formerly supplied to the San Francisco 

 market, has almost ceased to exist on account of the divrrsioii of the water from the streams once 

 feeding it for the purposes of irrigation, and sometimes iu the lallcrpart of summer disappears entirely. 



Perch are still to be found in lower Kings River ami adjacriit sloughs. The large cyprinoid, 

 .\f,//„l,l„n;„luu nninnph.ihiK locally called "lake fish" or "lake tr..ut," which f..iniorly asren.lcd tlie 

 slrcanjs into I hi' foothills during high water, are still found in small iiiiiiihcrs in i ho ili'cp pcn^ls of the 

 Kaweah and Tule rivers. At that time (twenty-five years ago) carp wen- intro.lnrc.l into this c.miitry. 

 They were kept in ponds at first, Imt escaped froTii time to timi' into the streams, and are now very 



