FISH-CULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MONTANA AND WYOMING. 
19 
As already stated, the stream formed by the junction of the Deer Lodge and the 
Little Blackfoot is called Hell Gate River. It bears this name to the mouth of the 
canon just above Missoula River, or sometimes to the mouth of the Bitter Root, where 
it becomes known as the Missoula River, by which latter name it is known for 30 miles 
or more, or until it is joined by the Flathead River. 
Hell Gate Elver (and its continuation, the Missoula) being composed largely of 
the muddy waters of the Deer Lodge and the lower Little Blackfoot, is, of course, a 
rather muddy stream. By the time Missoula is reached the amount of solid matter in 
suspension is probably not enough to prove wholly destructive to fish, though there 
is no doubt that the number of fish in the river even here is very greatly reduced on 
account of this contamination. It is greatly to be regretted that something can not be 
done to prevent such destruction of these fishing streams. The Hell Gate River flows 
through a very rough, rocky canon (whence the name) and is quite a large stream. The 
mouth of the canon is just above Missoula; below there the stream flows through a 
broad valley. 
So far as we were able to determine, there are no natural obstructions anywhere 
above Lake Pend d ’ Oreille in this river system — the Clarke Fork of the Columbia and 
its tributaries — which interfere seriously with the free movement of fishes. There are 
certainly no falls in the larger streams, and we know of none of any importance in any 
of the smaller ones; and the only artificial obstructions are those already mentioned, 
the great drifts of cordwood in the Rattlesnake and sawlogs in the Big Blackfoot. The 
contamination of the Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, the lower Little Blackfoot, the Hell Gate, 
and the Missoula by the mills at Butte and Anaconda tends to drive fish from these 
streams. It is quite certain, however, that Seniakwoteen Falls, below Lake Pend 
d ’Oreille, and the falls at the mouth of Clarke Fork interfere with the further ascent 
of salmon, and it is possible that they prevent it altogether. 
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LEWIS FORK OF THE COLUMBIA. 
Snake River . — This is the name now usually applied to what was once known as 
Lewis Fork of the Columbia; it is, however, on many maps, called the Shoshone 
River. • This river is more than 900 miles long, and is one of the most important of 
the Pacific coast streams. The only waters of this basin that we examined are in t he 
southwest corner of the Yellowstone Rational Park and the region immediately south 
of the Park — the extreme upper courses — the very beginnings of the Snake River. 
About one-fourth of the area of the Park is drained by streams which unite to form 
the Snake River. Most all of these have their origin in several picturesque lakes 
which rest on, or are surrounded by, the great bed of rhyolite which forms the floor of 
this plateau region. Among the most important of these lakes are Shoshone, Lewis 
and Heart, the first two of which were visited by us. 
Shoshone Lake . — We reached this lake from the Upper Geyser Basin, from which 
it is distant about a dozen miles to the southeast, across the “Great Continental 
Divide.” The trail crosses the Divide much nearer the lake than the Geyser Basin, 
and from the crest the lake can be plainly seen to the south. The elevation of this 
lake is 7,740 feet. Its shape is somewhat like that of the letter T, the upright and 
the cross-pieces being each pretty heavy, and the letter being inclined very greatly 
to the right. The portion corresponding to the upright part of the T is very much 
