38 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
put upon salmon he gave the details of the capture of the last salmon 
he ever knew taken in the Connecticut River ; this was about 1805 ; 
Mr. Denslow had taken the place of a tardy fisherman and was to have 
had his share. The salmon weighed 23 pounds. It was sent by a 
party going to Northampton to sell. It was court week, and there 
were distinguished men present from Boston, for whom an entertain- 
ment was being prepared, and the salmon was sold for $1 per pound.”* 
Mr. Apollos Fenn agrees with Mr. Hayden about the salting of shad, 
but inclines to think the salmon were abundant. u My father told me 
when I was a boy that he and grandfather used to come yearly to the 
Connecticut River for a supply of shad to salt down, which was then 
the custom of most farmers up in Litchfield County, and that the fisher- 
men caught so many salmon when hauling for shad that they required 
every one who bought shad to take a certain number of salmon, or no 
sale of shad, thus showing that salmon were very plentiful at that time 
in the Connecticut River. This was from about 1775 to 1810.” 
California trout. — In May, 1885, Seth Green received a California 
trout from Crooked Lake which weighed 4| pounds, he having planted 
30,000 young in that lake four years previously. This was only one of 
several that had been caught. 
Rocky Mountain trout and brook trout in Colorado.— I have 
lived in Colorado ten years and have noticed the common trout of that 
country (Salmo virginalis , I believe) almost disappear from all streams 
in or near the settlements. I believe that the eastern brook trout ( Sal - 
velinus fontinalis ) would do better, and I have expended over $5,000 in 
its introduction. The weak points in the Rocky Mountain trout are 
these : 
(1) It spawns between May and August* and is therefore out of sea- 
son in the summertime, when visitors come to the mountains expecting 
sport and pleasure. 
(2) The eggs are deposited during the most dangerous time of year 
for their safety, and freshets from the sudden melting of snow rip up the 
spawning beds and destroy the eggs in vast numbers. 
(3) The fish is so easily caught, it is so unwary and confiding, that 
the fish in a moderate-sized stream can be taken out in one season with 
a hook and line and a grasshopper. Without the modern hereditary 
instincts of self-preservation, apparently, it cannot hold its own against 
the fisherman. 
(4) It is a poor table-fish at best. 
In contrast to these, the brook trout has the following strong points: 
(1) It spawns between November and February, and is m season in 
summer, when most desired. 
* Fifteen years after the last salmon was caught there were eight fish-places on the 
west side of the river, where only shad were taken, between Hayden Station and the 
railroad bridge at Windsor Locks. 
