The Golden Trout of Cottonwood Lakes. 197 



reaches a great length in the streams, but as will be seen 

 later grow to a large size in the Alpine lakes higher up. 



On one occasion, Mr. James Moffit, a cattle man of 

 Lone Pine, whose camp was at Mulkey Meadows, sug- 

 gested that we try to stock the lakes with trout, and 

 to this I readily acquiesced. I told him of a small tribu- 

 tary of the main creek which I had discovered, up which 

 many of the trout had found their way — probably to 

 spawn. 



Accordingly the next week, together with two men who 

 WQve with him, we diverted the little brook, and soon had 

 the fish where they could be easily caught, isolated in the 

 little pools. We had only a half dozen lard pails in which 

 to put our catch, and these were soon filled, about fifty fish 

 being caught, mostly with our hands or by washing them 

 out on the bank. The horses were waiting, and as soon 

 as the pails were filled we mounted and dashed off 

 through the woods, now and then returning to the nearest 

 bend in the stream to change water. Had we realized 

 that what the fish needed was fresh air, and not fresh 

 water, we would probably have reached the lakes with 

 more than twenty fish alive; for with the rough riding 

 and the consequent slapping around of the water, it cer- 

 tainly would have been aerated sufficiently to keep them 

 from dying. 



As it was, we reached the lakes an hour later, with 

 twenty-one battered trout, and carefully placed them in 

 the water. Even these were far from frisky, and I doubt 

 not that many of them died later. 



These lakes, most of them above the timber line, are 

 fed by the melting snows lying at the base of the cliffs 

 above them. The shores are grassy and gravelly, with 

 little brush, making fishing easy — a portable boat would 

 be just the thing, as there are no snags. 



Such, briefly, was the history of the stocking of the 

 Cottonwood Lakes. A month later we left, for the snow 

 was already beginning to whiten the ground, as early as 

 the middle of September. 



