TROUTING ON CLARK'S FORK 



Gen. F. W. Benteen, U. S. A. 



Clark's Fork, of the Yellowstone 

 River, is sired by perpetual 

 snow, which, awakened to life by 

 the genial rays of the sun, goes dash- 

 ing and crashing through the can- 

 yon whose crowning faces are tinted 

 with all the hues of the rainbow. 

 Rising south of the Yellowstone 

 Park, this river, laboring among 

 great crags, some of which are 

 cathedral-like in size and grandeur, 

 prances and roars through some ioo 

 miles of space to pour its snowy 

 waters into those of the Yellow- 

 stone. 



On Clark's Fork, during a portion 

 of the summer of 1877, I enjoyed 

 such trout-fishing as I know I shall 

 never again see. On an afternoon 

 in August, having the permission of 

 the commanding officer to leave 

 camp, my orderly and myself, well 

 mounted — the orderly leading a 

 pack-mule equipped with immense 

 canvas panniers of my own construc- 

 tion — went a mile or two up-stream 

 for trout. I should mention that six 

 troops of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, 



of which organization I was then a 

 captain, was in that section of coun- 

 try to assist General Howard in 

 " rounding up " the Nez Perce Indi- 

 ans, who were supposed to be in that 

 vicinity. I had tired of my hexago- 

 nal bamboo rod, and my fly-book 

 being almost in tatters, I had pro- 

 vided myself with a long birch pole 

 from the mountains, to which was 

 attached a strong silk line, without 

 leader, and two large-sized Limerick 

 hooks, about three feet apart. These 

 hooks I baited with the yellow- and 

 red-winged grasshoppers, with which 

 we had abundantly provided our- 

 selves. 



On reaching a suitable place I dis- 

 mounted, and fording the river to a 

 large boulder, I commenced making 

 my casts. Such luck as I had in in- 

 veigling the trout from their hiding- 

 places, was probably never excelled, 

 for, without going a quarter of a mile 

 from that spot, I had landed all that 

 the panniers would hold, and had a 

 string of trout on each side of the 

 mule's neck besides, so as to materi- 



A GLIMPSE OF CLARK S FORK, BELOW THE CANYON. 



234 



