THE PACIFIC COAST SALMO]!f 



as its mouth is scarcely one hundred feet across, and the stream, 

 turns so quickly and so many times, and its shores are so lined 

 with willows, aspens, and various fragrant shrubs and grasses,, 

 that I did not see it until we were fairly within the gates, and 

 hailed by the Modoc Indians, at camp in a little nest where the 

 trees had been cut down by the beavers. 



The Williamson empties into Klamath Lake about three or 

 four miles northeast of Eagle Bidge, Upper Klamath, and winds, 

 about in a marvellous fashion, sixteen miles or more, through 

 the Klamath and Modoc Indian Eeservation ; then reaching 

 the highlands, it continues on and ends upon the slope of Mt.. 

 Mazuma not far from Crater Lake, in the interim receiving several 

 branches, chief of which is the Sprague. The latter is a little river, 

 and almost anywhere a good angler coidd cast from one side 

 to the other ; and it is so well wooded along its borders with tule, 

 willow, cottonwoods, wild corn and various bushes, that th& 

 fishing, in the main, must be done from a row-boat. 



We began fishing at the mouth, where the water changed 

 from an old-gold hue to a deep mahogany, which reflected the 

 splendid colours of the autumnal tints. The Indians had several 

 big salmon and trout hanging beneath the trees, and grunted a. 

 laconic welcome, as the river is theirs, or runs through their 

 reservation. I first used a big St. Patrick fly ; then a March 

 Brown, then a Eoyal Coachman, casting faithfully up the reaches, 

 of the stream, so radiant in colours, so insistent in turning and 

 providing hew effects and vistas, from the faint nebulous rim 

 of Crater Lake to the snowcap of Mount Pitt, that I should have 

 been satisfied had I not taken a fish. 



I cast beneath the bushes into the golden-red shadows along- 

 the white tips of willow that the beavers had cut ; out into the 

 middle of the stream, and as we approached the turns where the 

 little river widens out into pools, we stood off, and I did my 

 best casting, as to length or distance, frequently not even disturb- 

 ing the divers and mud hens, or a flock of mallards. I placed a 

 fly on almost every foot of the stream to faithfully prove that 



263, 



