430 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 30, 1896. 
hi M^ ar ^ n t m 
THE TROUT OF LAKE CRESCENT.— 1. 
Pout Angeles, State of Washington, November, 1895. 
— In full confidence that after a long and varied career 
as an angler in various parts of the world and bv as vari- 
ous methods, from fly-casting in our own New York and 
Maine wildernesses and in Europe to cormorant fishing in 
China, from drum fishing in Africa to smelting in Massa- 
chusetts and way down to cunner and floundering, Pi- 
seco's angling career has at last reached a climax, he, with 
the impressions of the few happy days that furnished 
that climax — days not yet a week gone by — fresh in his 
mind, will talk with his Forest and Stream friends 
about them. 
Climax, for within those days he has caught more 
large trout than he ever before has seen; he has with an- 
other caught the biggest trout he has ever seen, and he is 
full of faith that he has caught and will in this 
letter introduce to the world one at least new 
and as yet undescribed variety of the Salmo family. 
Of these and when and how he got them and of matters 
appertaining thereto this letter will deal, but it may be 
many months before this introduction can take place, for 
this is the situation: 
First and lastly, the trout he writes of are eaten, and 
he carelessly failed to cause to be forwarded to Prof. 
Jordan specimen for identification. They were big trout, 
one weighed ll^lbs., five averaged within a very smaly 
pian range to the very edge of the high bluff which over- 
looks the harbor and the straits, and some fifteen miles 
away the island of Vancouver and the city of Victoria, 
whose lights now are, every evening when the fog per- 
mits, one of its views. 
Along the base of this bluff there extends east and west 
a fine sand beach from 50 to 100yds. in width, which at 
its western end sends out a broad, moderately elevated, 
stone gravel and sand spit, which after a gradual curve 
to the northward sweeps to the eastward at an angle 
slightly diverging from parallelism with the shore line 
for about threo or four miles, forming a perfect break- 
water to the C-shape'd harbor with its embrace, a harbor 
well sheltered from all winds, with anchorage excellent 
in every respect, and good holding ground over an area 
of about nine square miles; into this harbor several 
mountain streams pour through valleys, and into these at 
their seasons salmon in great abundance seek spawning 
ground and at all times trout are abundant. 
The horizon of Port Angeles is an almost unbroken cir- 
cle of hills, hills so high that but for mounts Biker and 
Rainer or Tacoma, which with their 11,000ft. apitce of 
altitude, and mounts Sante Shuskan. Olympus and Con- 
stance, with their average of about 8,000ft. each,which pro- 
ject here and there, all would be entitled to the name of 
mountains, and indeed Constance and Olympus, not over 
twenty miles away, so gain by their proximity that they 
seem the equals of Baker, about 70, and Tacoma, about 150. 
But tljere is one point in which these two great moun- 
tains demonstrate their superior height; the great masses 
of snow which crown and flank their summits the year 
around, which at sunrise and set make of them most 
PORT ANGELES. 
Photograp'i from a painting exhibited at the World's Fair. 
fraction of lllbs. They are to him new trout, and beyond 
question should have been properly identified, classed and 
named, but he must wait until next spring, when, it is to 
be hoped, more of the same will furnish themselves to be 
sacrificed on the altar of science. 
It was on Oct. 28 that he caught the fish, far too late in 
the season for any one familiav with the fishing to 
prophesy much success when he started, and now he 
must wait until the winter rolls by He will while wait- 
ing make clear as possible the locality where the fish were 
caught, viz,, lakes Sutherland and Crescent, in Clallan 
county, State of Washington, and about sixteen to 
eighteen miles back from Port Angeles. 
A hundred years and more ago a Spanish navigator, 
Don Francisco Elise, cruising in his little caravel alontf 
the then almost uninhabited and excessively inhospitable 
shores of our new territory on the north Pacific, and 
struggling as do large ships and steamers nowadays with 
and against the rough seas, strong gales and treacherous 
tides which in winter characterize the north Pacific, slid 
by the dangerous rocks and reefs off Cape Flattery, and 
got but partial shelter in the straits discovered by his 
countryman, Juan du Luca; but calm enough at times, 
they too are in certain minds very turbulent, and it was 
with joy that, perceiving on his starboard an apparently 
safe harbor, he slid around the point of the long ppit 
which protects an extensive basin, on which point, Point 
Ediz, there is now a lighthouse, and anchored in safety 
in this most excellent harbor, which out of gratitude and 
piety he christened Port Angeles— Port of the Angels. 
It could not have been that the people he met, 
who came off to his vessel in their canoes, at all impressed 
him as angels, unless indeed he and his crew were short 
on provisions or water, for undoubtedly the Swashes, 
who then lived on its beach, brought him clams and 
crawfish and fish, salmon probably, and his boats had no 
trouble in finding abundance of most excellent mountain 
brook water, and if they were hunters as well as sailois 
they had but to enter for a short distance the then un- 
broken forest, which reached from the Olympic range to 
the beach, to secure fresh meat and birds, for deer were 
plentiful and bears and several kinds of grouse. 
Port Angeles is still a harbor of refuge, not only for the 
"storm-tossed mariner," but for the mariner who, ready 
otherwise to leave the Straits and tackle the Pacific, dii-- 
covers by Installing glass and other signs that a sou' west* r 
is on hand to receive him. My own experience satisfies 
me as to this. The Philadelphia, on which I write, and 
live and have my being, has thus utilized the resources. 
The Port Angeles of to-day, though, is a great improve- 
ment on that visited by Mr. Elise. It is a town of some 
seven thousand inhabitants, very good, pleasant ard 
hospitable inhabitants, with stores and factories, mills, 
churches, town hall and an opera house, with enterpris- 
ing people and large business interests— that is, large for so 
new a town. It has had since its inception alternating 
Eeriods of growth and set-backs, booms and calamitous 
ursting of booms, but it has come to stay. 
When discovered, except for a few Siwashes who 
gathered clam shells on its beach, and in the season 
salmon, salmon roe and smelt from its streams, the 
neighborhood was uninhabited, and so it remained for 
many years an unbroken dense forest, alternating ac- 
cording to altitude, of fir balsams, Oregon pines and 
other deciduous trees in belts stretching from the Olym- 
heauth'ul features of the scenery, especially when, as often 
occurs, they reflect a rose-colored pink light, tell plainly 
of their superiority. 
All of these mountains,' especially on the Olympian 
range, are to the highest timber line densely wooded, fis 
are their hills and foothills, and well tenanted with elk, 
deer and bears, with a fair proportion of mountain lions, 
wolves and panthers, grouse of many varieties and above 
the snow line ptarmigan. 
Scattered throughout there are many lakes of wonder- 
fully clear water, profusely stocked with trout of many 
varieties and unheard of Biz?; at times abounding with 
ducks and geese and swans, and in the season the many 
mountain rivers and streams are filled with salmon, and 
it is claimed that prospectors have discovered among the. 
Olympians coal, iron and precious metals, awaiting the 
progress of development and the advent of capital 
The inhabitants claim that a most uniform and mild 
climate adds to the advantages, and official meteorologi- 
cal records sustain thejplaim. Frost rarely comes before 
late in October and very seldom after the middle of April, 
and the soil, after the trees are cut, is very fertile. 
Fruits, flowers, berries and vegetables yield abundant 
returns, and hardy vegetables are grown in the open air 
the year ronnd. 
On Git. 25 I was driven to a ranch about Bix miles from 
P irfc Angeles, on the road to the Elwa River, known us 
Hatch's farm. Two years before the spot was covered 
with forest, now with every evidence of a thrifty farm. 
There were the house and barns, racks and pens, fronting 
the house a flower garden, in which white dahlias roses, 
chrysanthemums, marigolds and poppies were in bloom. 
At the rear a vegetable garden well stocked with many 
varieties, near by a strawberry patch with full quantity cf 
lusty plants, on which were blossoms and fruit both green 
and ripe, of which we had for our supper all we could eat. 
In the meadow the grass was green and succulent, and in 
the barn and racks was a goodly store of hay, potatoes and 
corn. This in latitude 48° north. 
At Port Angeles there waB a county fair going on, and 
the exhibits of vegetables, fruit, flowers and berries most 
oreditable. I noted potatoes, beets, turnips, onions, cauli- 
flowers, cabbages, wheat, corn, oats, barley, hops, apples, 
prunes; berries, from cranberries to strawberries, were 
shown, that 1 was bewildered, all of large size and good 
quality. 
Until about thirty years ago the splendid harbor was 
about all there was of Port Angeles. 
About 1860-61 pioneers, a few at a time, attracted by 
the possibilities, began to reach this place, to squat, take 
possession of building sites and start homes. The thick 
forest in the rear on the bluff proved a barrier to advance 
inland, so the higher parts of the beach were selected and 
rude shacks and cabins constructed. Fortunately the 
winter climate was mild, and the forest supplied to the 
few who came welcome additions to their sea fruit diet of 
fish, crabs, clams and crawfish, abundance of venison, 
grouse, bear meat, squirrels to be shot at their back doorp, 
from which the careless straying of children was pro- 
hibited, for there were also mountain lions and wolves. 
These, however, were seldom met, except by those who 
ventured to the elk benches not far away, and when met 
the hides paid for the tramp. The forest furnished 
abundant firewood; it was not then, as now, that for 
miles the beaches were buried in driftwood, the refuse of 
sawmills. 
In 1862 the records show a white population of ten peo- 
ple, and of these the family of the keeper of the light- 
house on the end of the spit Ediz Hook formed a part; but 
about that time efforts which had been made to causp the 
transfer by the Government from Port Townsend to Port 
Angeles of the general Custom House for the Sound, ar d 
make of Angeles the port of entry, began to materialize 
and in 1862 the order was e;iven. This produced a boom, 
several hundred pioneers flocked to the place, and in 1864 
there were about 200 bona fide inhabitants, who had boug h t 
from the Government about forty homestead lots; but the 
boom was not lasting, the Port of Entry and the Custom 
House were pulled back to Port Townsend in 1866, ami 
this removal caused the almost complete abandonment of 
Angeles. All that could get away did, for they had 
found that their lots purchased from the Government 
were of far less value than they had thought. In 1864, 
when the land was thrown open to sale, there were re- 
served by the Government several thousand acres of the 
very best of the lots, and the purchasers found them- 
selves on flank and rear crowded by wild land through 
which they had not even the right of way, or to cut a 
tree. The small area along the beach was of but little 
use without back country or commerce, and there was 
neither. 
Most of the pioneers were in very moderate circum- 
stances, quite a lot of them were wounded and for other 
causes pensioned soldiers, just out of our civil war, who 
with their pensions were esteemed to be capitalists, for 
they had money enough to pay fares to some other 
promising spot. By 1867 there were again left but ten 
white inhabitants; except that the boys and girls of 1862 
had five years more growth, Port Angeles had not gained. 
Thus matters stood for years; occasionally a newcomer 
would drift in and buy a lot, but from 1865 to 1883 the. 
total sales were seven, and the population had in 1888 
increased to but seventeen. 
About this time there came a pioneer with new ideas. 
Mr. Frank Chambers, who, making up his mind to have 
a back yard, utilized the latent heat in a box of matches 
and underbrush, by which he soon became the quasi-owner 
of an annex to his 10-acre lot of quite a fair-sized lot that 
belonged to the Government. His example was followed, 
and many became land owners on the same terms. Peo- 
ple began to come and buy, and the sales and population 
increased until in 1888 the climax was reached That 
year there were about 450 lots sold, and the population 
was about 450 — jne to a lot. 
In 1890 there came a boom. Over 2,000 emigrants 
flocked in, mostly impecunious. This sudden increase 
nearly swamped the town. There was no commerce, few 
farms and little money, and it was hard scratching for 
food and shelter. Nature did what it could. The sea and 
forest furnished fish and meat, and the climate's mildness 
reduced the need of shelter, but there were lota of hungry 
and suffering people in Port Angeles. Hard times took 
the place of the boom, and among the poorest were those 
c 
MAP 
City Junmfrr ttf Pert /tngeto t«jjA. 
