8 



RECREATION. 



the larger scales and smaller size of the 

 black spots. Once more across the 

 main divide we follow the trout, from 

 the tributaries of the Rio Grande to 

 those of the Colorado. Here again the 

 point of transfer is unknown, and here 

 once more the imagination — and the 

 glaciers — must fill the gap. It is not 

 far from Rio Chama over to the Rio 

 San Juan. In the beautiful streams of 

 western Colorado the trout have made 

 themselves at home, and their abun- 

 dance here is scarcely less than in their 

 chosen haunts in Washington and 

 Alaska. Already the sage brush trail, 

 which leads to Trapper's lake and the 

 dark cliffs along Eagle river, are strewn 

 with tin cans, newspapers, cigar stumps, 

 and other debris of civilization. The 

 trout of the Colorado* river most re- 

 semble those of the Rio Grande, but 

 they vary a good deal with variations in 

 surroundings. They show a tendency to 

 orange rather than purple shades on the 

 fin ; the spots are small and largely on 

 the tail and the scales are smaller than 

 in most of the others. The sides show 

 often a red lateral band, more distinct 

 than in any other form thus far men- 

 tioned. The cut-throat mark is still 

 clear as in all trout east of the Cascades 

 and the Sierra Nevada. 



In the Arkansas basin in a bend of 

 the main divide, high above the river, 

 lies a pair of glacial lakes, shut in by 

 one moraine and separated by another. 

 These are the Twin lakes, beloved of 

 anglers and famous for their magnifi- 

 cent mountain setting. In these lakes 

 are two kinds of trout, different in size, 

 color, character of flesh, way of living 

 and choice of bait. Dr. Evermann and 

 I visited the lakes in 1889. We found 

 but one kind, the ordinary Greenback 

 trout of the Arkansas, and went away 

 contented with that. A much better 

 angler, Mr. Charles J. Fisher, of Lead- 

 ville, was not satisfied with our con- 

 clusions and insisted that we should go 

 back with him. We did so and were 

 rewarded by many specimens of the 

 beautiful "yellow fin trout, "f first 

 introduced to science in 1889. This is 

 a large trout with bright yellow fins, a 

 yellow stripe along the sides, pale flesh, 



* The trout of the Colorado basin is Salmo mykiss 

 pleuriticus, Cope. 



t The yellow-fin trout of Twin lakes is Salmo mykiss 

 macdonaldi. Jordan & Evermann. 



the black spots very small and all 

 gathered on the tail. It has not yet been 

 found in any other waters. It is very 

 different in structure and aspect from 

 the Greenback trout which swarms with 

 it in the Twin lakes. It must have 

 been derived from the Colorado trout, 

 which inhabits the other side of the 

 Divide. How it crossed the Saguache 

 mountains from the Gunnison or from 

 the Roaring Fork, no one can now say, 

 but that this crossing was a fact I have 

 no reason to doubt. 



At this same point the " lay of the 

 land " renders a diversion necessary. 

 When you come overland to San Fran- 

 cisco by way of the Central Pacific, 

 after you have passed Ogden an 

 hour or so, you will notice a break 

 in the mountains to the northward. 

 Through this break to the Snake river 

 the waters of the Great Salt lake once 

 flowed. It was not a salt lake then, 

 and it was much larger then than now. 

 The old lake has been called lake 

 Bonneville. You may trace its former 

 boundaries as terraces upon the slopes 

 of the hills. You can see them from 

 the car windows, looking out in almost 

 any direction. Through this break 

 once came up the trout* from the 

 Snake river to Utah lake, Jordan river, 

 Bear river and Provo river. It came 

 into all the sparkling streams of the 

 Uintah and the Wahsatch, which now 

 find their end in the salt and alkali of 

 the Great Basin. The trout in Utah 

 lake are large, with large scales and 

 small spots, and the spots are scattered 

 over the body, fore and aft, as in the 

 trout of the Columbia. 



Another off-shoot from the Columbia 

 trout is found in the bed of the old lake 

 Lahontan, a glacial lake now long since 

 drained, in whose basin lies Pyramid 

 lake, Truckee river and the great 

 alkaline sink of the Humboldt. In 

 lake Tahoe,f the most beautiful lake 

 in all our country, this trout appears to 

 its best advantage. It is a big, strong 

 gamy fish, with small scales and large 

 black spots ; the spots being scattered 

 over head and belly as well as on the 

 tail. The Tahoe trout is one of the 

 finest in America. It is found not only 



* The trout of the Great Basin of Utah are Salmo 

 mykiss virginalis. 



t The silver trout of lake Tahoe may be known as 

 Salmo iiiykiss tahoenszs, Jordan. 



