IO 



RECREATION. 



arid basin in pleiocene times, and was 

 drained into the Columbia. This has 

 been called lake Idaho, and the lakes 

 and sinks of southeastern Oregon and 

 southwestern Idaho are remnants of it. 

 Concerning the trout of this region, we 

 know almost nothing, and " almost no- 

 thing " gives little excuse for romancing. 

 Coming back to the Colorado Basin 

 we find its trout spread far and wide in 

 the mountain streams. Between the 

 valley of the Colorado and that of the 

 San Joaquin, stands the great main 

 chain of the Sierra Nevada, full of 

 trout brooks, separated by rocky walls 

 which no trout can ever pass. To the 

 southward this great wall breaks up 

 into detached ranges now separated by 

 valleys of death ; fiery deserts and 

 alkaline sinks, some of them below 

 the level of the sea; burning wastes of 



The descendants of all who crossed the 

 Sierra Nevada from the Colorado to the 

 San Joaquin are the Rainbow trout, 

 Salmo gairdneri. All the rest are the cut- 

 throat, Salmo mykiss. But the fading of 

 the cut-throat mark is almost the only 

 sign by which we know that the line of 

 division is passed. 



The trout spread through the Kern 

 river, some of them passed down the 

 stream and grew large. Others clam- 

 bered into the mountain meadows and 

 grew very small and very bright. Those 

 separated from the rest by the falls of 

 Agua Bonita* in Volcano creek on the 

 flanks of Mount Whitney, are now 

 noticeably different from any other 

 which we know. The scales are very 

 small and barely touch each other, the 

 fins and bands are yellow and not red, 

 the cut-throat mark is yellow too, and 



steel head. — Salmo Gairdneri. 



cactus and greasewood, enlivened only 

 by the rattle of the "Sidewinder." In 

 the glacial period, this region had a 

 different climate. Melting ice once 

 filled the terrible deserts of Amargosa 

 and Panamint with sweet waters. In 

 some way or another this region was 

 traversed by the trout. Thus from the 

 Colorado to the Kern * the trout must 

 have come into California. In the Kern 

 river, it seems to have lost most of the 

 red of its cut-throat mark, but not all 

 of it. The scales became somewhat 

 larger, the red band on the side more 

 distinct and the spots extended for- 

 ward. If we recognize two species of 

 trout in America, as from other con- 

 siderations we probably ought to do, we 

 must place our line of division here. 



* The trout of Kern river is Salmo gairdneri gilbert i, 

 Jordan, named for its discoverer Dr. Gilbert, who has 

 been so long my colleague in the study of our fishes. 



the black spots are profusely scattered 

 everywhere. In color like the yellow 

 fiin trout of the Colorado lakes, this 

 golden trout of Mount Whitney is 

 different in other respects and of all the 

 trout we know it is smallest and prettiest. 

 The trout passed down the Kern 

 river to the San Joaquin, sending up 

 side colonies which filled King's river, 

 the Merced, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Cala- 

 veras, and all the other mountain trib- 

 utaries. What changes took place in 

 these streams we do not know, for it 

 will take a long time to go a fishing in 

 them all. There are stories of strange 

 trout in the Moquelumne and in other 

 streams, and there is enough yet to be 

 found out in the Sierra Nevada to 

 interest ichthyologists and anglers alike 

 for many future generations. 



* The Golden trout of Mount Whitney is Salmo 

 gairdneri agua-bonita, Jordan. 



