406 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNov. 10, 1892, 



to those on back but more distinct :*a few spots on the 

 adipose fin, which is edged with black; lower fins plain; 

 the upper border of the pectoral dusky ; a vague dueky 

 blotch on the upper middle rays of the anal: ventrals en- 

 tirely plain. 



The intestines had been removed and so no account can 

 be given of the pyloric ca?ca. 



The existence of this fish was first known to me from 

 conversation with Mr. A. G. Bassett, of MenloPark, Cal., 

 a very enthusiastic angler, who had taken the fish in the 

 KamJoops Lake in British ( alumbia, I was unable to 

 identify the fish from the accouut given by Mr, Bassett, 

 In going for a sumuier outing in July, 1893, Mr. Bassett 

 went to Kainloops Lake and secured the two type speci- 

 mens, which were carefully placed in alcohol and sent 

 to me. The following statement of their habitat was fm-- 

 nished me by Mr. Bassett: 



"These specimens were taken a t the outlet of the Kam- 

 loopa Lake into the South Thompson : the North Thomp- 

 son flows into the upper end of the same lake. These 

 waters connect with the Shuswap lakes, and this fish we 

 flLod in all the tributaries of the last named lakes, also in 

 Okanagan Ijake. the waters of which flow toward the 

 Columbia (the other lakes being tributary to the Frazer 

 River), Reliable information gives the weight of the 

 largest specimen ever caught in Okanagan Lake as 

 l^lTbs. The Shuswap Indian name for this salmon is 

 Stit- /se. They have been taken fifty miles below the 

 Kamloops Lake in the Thompson River, but not in large 

 numbers." 



This seems to be a species of salmon entirely distinct 

 from the five hitherto authentically recorded from the 

 waters of the Pacific coast. There is not much doubt 

 from the account of Mr. Bassett as well as from _the ap- 

 pearance of the fish that it is a "landlocked" species of 

 salmon. Its nearest relationships seem to be with the 

 king salmon or quirmat {Oncorhynchus tshawytscJia), 

 but from thp quinnat it differs somewhat in colci-ation, 

 and especially in the very much smaller size of the anal 

 fin and in the reduced number of branchiostegals. It is 

 possibly descended from the quinnat, but in any event it 

 is so modified that it must be regarded as a difiierent 

 speoips-. 



I have given the species the name of the lake from 

 which ic was first taken. One of the two type specimens 

 has been sent to the United States National Museum, the 

 other is in the museum of the Leiand Stanford .Junior 

 University. With these two specimens was a small fish 

 about 5in. long of the kind on which these salmon were 

 feeding. This little fish was without spots, and has some 

 eighteen rays in the anal fin. Apparently it is the young 

 of the quinnat salmon : certainly it is not the yoimg of the 

 species in question. 



The discovery of this landlocked salmon lends addi- 

 tional probability to the theory that the small landlocked 

 salmon of the various lakes in British Columbia and 

 Washington wl'iuh has been known by the name of 

 Oncorkynchvs l-pn-nerlyi is really to be regarded as a 

 distinct species us Dr. Bean has maintained and not as a 

 form of Oncorhynchus nerlm. The kennerlyi reaches a 

 length of about 10 or 12in, and the Aveight of 'little if any 

 more than a pound. It can be distinguished from the 

 presieut species by its small size and by the verv much 

 greater number of its gill rakers, which if my notes are 

 correct, are upward of forty in number in the jSTerka. 

 The small white salmon to which the name of Salrno 

 inarrcni was given by Dr. Suckley is probably the female 

 of the hriinvrlyi. I do not find among the various 

 nominal species described by Dr. Suckley, any which 

 seem at all to correspond to Oncorhynchus Icamloops. 



Palo Alto, Sept. 13. 



POTOMAC NOTES. 



Black bass fishing is still the rule here, and this month, 

 especially during our Indian summer, good sport may be 

 expected. In September and October many bass were 

 taken, some very good ones, too. Major Kirby leads, so 

 Car an we are informed, with a S^lb. bass. The Ma jor ia 

 a member of the South Mountain Club, and his "catch 

 naturally enthuaepi the whole club. A Mr. Lewis recently 

 had good fishing at the Little Falls of the Potomac, tak- 

 ing a number of very good sized fish. M. A. Tappan 

 sought recreation at Romney, West Virginia, and had 

 several days of splendid sport, catching all the bass de- 

 sired. Romney is on the South Branch of the Potomac, 

 which 18 one of the best black bass waters near Washing- 

 ton. Mr, H, C. Coburn showed me a very nice string of 

 bass, seven in all, which he took off the Anglers' Club 

 House a few days ago. The wind was very strong and 

 made fishing from boat quite disagreeable, else he would 

 have doubled his catch. Charley Laird and Henry Weye 

 took a trip to the Great Falls recently, but met with poor 

 success. Messrs. Hunter, Lanvoigt, Demonet and Han- 

 cock have made some fair catches. Tae Potomac water 

 is clear and cold now, the temperature being 53°. 



What a paradise for anglers Washington must have 

 been twenty-five or thirty years ago. Gentlemen of the 

 old school found T), 10 and 15-pound rockfish more plenti- 

 ful in their day than we do even yellow perch. 1 good 

 story is told of M. Du Bante. This glentleman spent 

 many an hour fishing from the Long Bridge, and one 

 evening was rewarded in the capture of a IS pound rock- 

 fish. The e-vact place of hooking the fish was carefully 

 marked by a nick in one of the timbers of the bridge, and 

 M, Du Bante from that moment felt a sort of individual 

 ownership of that especial part of the structure He 

 hastened up town and of com-se had to let some one into 

 his secret; so hurrying on he soon reached Hancock's 

 restaurant, and there to the original host of that estab- 

 lishment, Andrew Hancock, he told all about the capture 

 •Andrew, I catch him: see?" Even the private mart— 

 the notch in the bridge— was referred to. The next day 

 M. Uu Bante again repaired to the bridge, and who should 

 he hnd sitting plumb upon his nick but Judge Bibb 

 Uu bante was furious and soon confronted Andrew with 

 a charge of gross unfaithfulness for halving told the Judee 

 about the notch in the bridge. "How do you know^ 

 asked Andrew, "that I told Judge Bibb?" "Because no 

 one but you knew anything about it," retorted Da Bante 

 Matters were soon adjusted. Judge Bibb failed to catch 

 ?ecoSd ""^^ ^""^^^ heca^me 



f.™ifi^^^'',*'"'^i^^? ^'^^^^t angler was fishing 



toi lockfish above the long bridge on the Virginia side of 



the river. Mr. . cashier of the Bank of the Metrono- 



hs, accompamed Du Bante and soon succeeded in hik- 



ing a fine fish. Du Bante was rather nervous. It hap- 

 pened that the cashier wore large colored glasses. "Let 

 me land him, let me land him!" cried Du B., but the 

 cashier proposed to have a full hand in the matter, and 

 kept working the fish nearer the boat. Du Bante, grow- 

 ing more and more excited, exclaimed: "No, no!" "We 

 will bring him up close to the boat," insisted the cashier. 

 "And then, rockfish see green spectacles, and in five 

 minutes be at Alexandria," thundered Du Bante. Sure 

 enough, it is said, the fish in the A\'rangle was unhooked, 

 and with a \ igorous movement of the caudal portion of 

 the body started for Alexandria, and was lost. When 

 M. Du Bante had no longer use for his tackle, owing to 

 a|)proaching old age, he olTered it to one of a new school 

 of anglers for a modest sum, saying: "John, it is the 

 finest you ever saw, only 3o years old." 



In a' talk with Mr. W. V. Cox some few weeks since he 

 told me of the good trout fishing had in company with 

 Messrs. Chappelle and Reynolds a year ago. This was in 

 Difficult Creek, Indian Creek and the Blackwater, Gar- 

 rett county, West Virginia. Trouting in these streams 

 was very good. Indian Creek, though a very small 

 stream, is said to be full of trout. 



Gunners are out in force. Quite a number of quail 

 have been shot just outside of the city. The weather 

 has been so unusually dry that parties having good dogs 

 do not care to work them in the bush until after a rain. 



Washington, D. C, Ifov. :3. BoN. 



MORE KEKOSKEE CONFIRMATION. 



Editor Forest ami Stream: 



Blessings on Mr. Hough! The Kekoskee fish story, 

 v/hile both entertaining and instructive, at the same time 

 creates within one an increased desire for truth, and an 

 utter fearlessness in adhering to the same at all times 

 and under any and all circumstances. What a relief 

 from campaign literature! Everbody hails the publica- 

 tion of this remarkable statement of facts, or statement 

 of remarkable facts, as you like, with rejoicing. All 

 appreciate it. Even the oldest fishermen surrender the 

 palm to Mr. Hough, and betake themselves to a seat in 

 the rear without a murmur. The Kekoskee version is a 

 good one; but all must admit that it required the touch 

 of a masterhand to put it on paper after the fashion in 

 which it appears in Forest and Stream. 



But, aside from the merits of both the story and the 

 writer, to whom we extend our most sincere thanks, I 

 am personally conscious of a peculiar appreciation, in 

 that it brings to my mind the earliest recollections of my 

 childhood. The first sheet of water my wondering eyea 

 ever looked upon was theHoricon; and the first fish I 

 have any recollpction of was a sleigh (not wagon) load of 

 those identical Kekoskee bullheads. No, I did not mean 

 to say it just that way after ali; I must modify that 

 asHertion a trifle. They were not really Kekoskee bull- 

 heads, for they were not taken from the celebrated 

 geyser; but they came from the same source, the Horicon, 

 and were just as good. Although I was but a wee bit of 

 a girl them— my years were few and I had not yet learned 

 to date them — those bullheads made a never-to-be-for- 

 gotten impression on my mind. I have loug felt like tell- 

 ing the readers of Forest a_ni> Stream about them, but 

 I somehow lacked the courage. Not that I feared any- 

 body would doubt my word, but you see it happened so 

 long ago that I feared some mathematical mind might 

 go to work on the intervening years, exactly as Mr. C. 

 H, Ames has already done on the product of the Kekos- 

 kee eruption, and perhaps make me out — but I won't 

 say anything about it and it may not be noticed. 



My paternal grandfather's home was situated on the 

 ledge, a few miles up the lake from the unfortunate 

 Kekoskee, and directly overlooking the then lovely little 

 Horicon. It was in a beautiful spot, about two miles 

 from the lake, and a charminar piece of woodland lay 

 between. At this point the ledge was very high, and in 

 summer we looked down upon the tops of the trees, with 

 their mass of green foliage, beyond which sparkled the 

 waters of the Horicon. In winter when the trees were 

 bare, it seemed only a step down to the margin of the 

 lake. Here the Indians hewed canoes from the trunks of 

 great trees, and it was a mystery to me how they were 

 going to get them into the water when finished. In this 

 woodland I first listened to the tinkle of a cow-bell, and 

 always felt very much afraid of the sound; and that feel- 

 ing has never left me. I can imagine no more lonesome 

 and melancholy sound than that of a tinkling bell in the 

 depth of a dense wood. Here many wonderful things 

 were revealed to me in those days, and I begin to think 

 it must be a wonderful place somehow: and am more and 

 more convinced of the fact as I read, and re-read, Mr. 

 Hough's fish story. 



In this same wood I have seen men engaged in burn- 

 ing coal pits, and, in another locality, making maple 

 sugar, and here, too, I fired my firsht shot at game. The 

 gun was a hammerless (though my husband interrupts 

 me here to say I must certainly be mistaken . as there 

 were no hammerless guns in those days) and with the 

 first shot down came a blackbird with red wings. Unlike 

 the majority of feminine first shots, I never felt the jar 

 of the gun in the least, and if it kicked at all I did not 

 know it. My good fortune, no doubt, was due to the fact 

 that the old hammerless was firmly held by the hands of 

 my big brother, while I fired it with a match. Every- 

 body, of course, knows something of the nature of a 

 domineering elder brother, and I was just at the right 

 age to do anything and everything he told me to. We 

 thought it great fun then, but I am afraid it would take 

 him a long time to persuade me to touch a lighted match 

 to the tube of a gun now. That old, dilapidated gun was 

 the only one I ever knew my father to own. 



Another time we found game of much more import- 

 ance than blackbirds, and we followed it, in company 

 with my grandfather'd old house dog, for many hours 

 and I was sent again and again to hes my father to come 

 out and see what we had found. "WTien at last he came 

 and found that we were following a great lynx he was 

 very much surprised, and immediately dispatched my 

 brother for a man with a gun, while he stood guard at 

 the roots of the tree which held our game. When the 

 gun arrived the animal was soon brought down and 

 found to be a very large one. ' 



But it was my original intention to tell what I know 

 about K— no, Horicon bullheads, and Tve got to talking 

 and forgotten all about it, but I'll try it again. 



It was in winter: we were paying a visit to my grand- 

 father, and as the fishing was said to be very very good, 



my father, though not much of a fisherman, went down 

 to'the lake to try his luck, and he brought home a whole 

 sleigh load, They fastened a large basket to the end of a 

 long pole, cut a hole through the ice and dished them up 

 by hundreds. We had all the fish we could eat for a long 

 time, and then father had the story rf his wonderful 

 catch of bullheads to relate to his friends for the remain- 

 der of his life. While I have no recollection of the Kekos- 

 kee eruption, I have certainly eaten of the bullheads 

 taken from the Horicon in the winter of 1860, and was, as 

 one might say, brought up on the story of my father's 

 wonderful catch, 



WhUe on a visit to the old place a few years since, I 

 was sorry to find a great green marsh in place of the old- 

 time Horicon Lake. The old trees have been cut down, 

 too, and everything has changed— the memory only re- 

 mains. 



***** 

 By the way, can Forest and Stream give us any in- 

 formation as to the whereabouts of Mr. "Podgers?" We 

 miss him even more, we think, than he once missed the 

 bear stories; and we don't think it's fair for him to drop 

 out of sight all at once, after getting us in the notion of 

 hearing from him each week. Marion. 

 Geyser viLLB, Oa.l. 



THE GAME CATFISH OF THE PECOS. 



Pecos, Tex., Oct. 20.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 have seeen it stated either in Forest and Stream or Hal- 

 lock's "Gazetteer" that the catfish is unfit to be fished for 

 by gentlemen fishers, and unfit to be eaten except by 

 blackguards and negroes— or words to that effect. I wish 

 to take issue with him who made that remark, 



I have found a catfish in the Pecos River which is as 

 gamy a fighter as the black bass, and in the quality of 

 edibleness is not inferior to any fresh-water fish known 

 to me. His flesh is far better than that of the black bass. 

 It is rich and savory, and of an excellent, delicate flavor. 

 The fish is often very fat. This morning I sat down to a 

 bountiful repast of them, from which I arose with a feel- 

 ing of much satisfaction. Indeed, it is a fish for an epi- 

 cure. LTnderstand now that he who says this is no 

 greenhorn as to fishes, but a man learned in that line. 



They are very numerous in the Pecos. They are a 

 handsome fish. They have small heads, forked tails, and 

 the smaller ones are full of black spots on their sides, 

 which are of a whitish color. As the fish increase in size, 

 the white spots disappear, and he becomes almost white. 

 When first taken from the water they glist-en like new 

 silver. They grow to a large size. Judge Nicholas Van 

 Horn of this place told me to-day that he caught one not 

 long sir ce which weighed eighty-two pounds. He says 

 they may be called a "channel cat," but are distinctly a 

 "Rio Grande cat," being, as he thinks, confined to that 

 river and its tributaries. I have seen what they call 

 the channel cat in other parts, but they were not so hand- 

 some and grew not so large. When you go fishing, you 

 catch these of all pizes, from a few ounces to several 

 pounds' weight. They bite readily at grasshoppers, bull- 

 frogs, or a chunk of meat of any sort. I judge they 

 would also take a fiy as readily as the mountain trout. 



The soft-shell turtle also abounds in the Pecos, and I 

 write him down the best by far of all turtles, I think 

 there is no comparison between him and the green turtle 

 of the seas in point of goodness of meat It lays a great 

 many eggs, and they too are tip-top to eat. 



The Pecos is a remarkable river. It flows through a 

 region where the trees grow under the ground insti-ad of 

 above ground, through a wide, alluvial valley, whose 

 soil is impregnated with sulphate of magnesia and 

 potash or soda, and salt. Its water tastes strongly of 

 these minerals and is not good to drink. It runs with a 

 powerful current which where a little swollen carries 

 with it more sediment to the cubic foot than any river in 

 the world, I think. When not thus swollen it is a beauti- 

 ful stream. 



But judge not that the Pecos Valley is sterile. On the 

 contrary, to judge by results it is of enormous fertility. 

 They produce such great crops of sweet potatoes and 

 onions here that I dare not state how much per acre, for 

 i would hardly be believed. And I hold that the Pecos 

 sweet patato is the best on earth. I am enthused over it, 

 insomuch that I am continually exclaiming with Falstaff, 

 "Let the sky rain potatoes!" The Em'opean grapes — 

 vitis tnnefera—are as successful here as in California. 



Therefore, if any of your readers desire to turn philos- 

 ophers and to grow fat on channel cats, sweet potatoes, 

 turtles, grapes and wine, let them come hither. There is 

 room enough, for folks as yet are powerful scarce in this 

 great valley. All farming is done by irrigation from the 

 Pecos and artesian wells, of which there are not less than 

 30 in this little town of 500 people. N. A. T. 



NEVADA NOTES. 



Mr. CtE0RC4B T. Mills, State Fish Commissioner for 

 Nevada, has labored for several years past to bring the 

 fishing in waters of his State up to their old standard. 

 The Truckee and Carson rivers have been planted again 

 with fish. The brook trout of the East, Salveliuus fonti- 

 /mZis, the rainbow of the West and landlocked salmon 

 have been intrnduc'=d. Mr. Mills states that he has put 

 in upward of 100,000 fish a year in the Truckee alone. 

 The introduced trout are found far superior to the native, 

 or Tahoe, trout, as the latter is soft fleshed. The rain- 

 bow trout are doing eepeciaUy well and now greater 

 numbers of this fish are caught than of the native black- 

 spotted trout. They are taken from i to Slbs. in weight 

 and are considered more game than the natives. They 

 take the fly regularly. Mr. Mills himself had the 

 pleasure of catching a 44-pounder in the Carson River. 

 A gentleman from Rene took one weighing ojlbs. These 

 fine fish were both taken with the artiflriial fly. 



The Truckee and Carson rivers, and Like Tahoe, have 

 been planted with landlocked salmon from the Atlantic 

 side. Those put in three years ago are beginning to 

 show up well. One of 61bs. has been taken and is evi- 

 dence that suitable conditions prevail for their develop- 

 ment. 



Legislation has been secured from both the California 

 and Nevada legislatures prohibiting the emptying of saw- 

 dust into the stream^, and now nearly all of the mills 

 have abated the nuisance and the Truckee is fast regain- 

 ing her its condition. Suitable fish ladders have been 

 erected at every dam in both Nevada and California, and 

 the bottom of the river being free from sawdust the fish 



