22 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Snake River. — The old Sheridan trail, the trail we followed from the Upper Geyser 
Basin, crosses Snake River at what has come to be known as the u President’s Camp.” 
This is about 2 miles south of the south line of the Park. The river here flows through 
a wide meadow, grassy and open on the right side, on the other covered with a heavy 
growth of chapparal. It is a beautiful river with clear water and gravelly bottom. 
At the camp, the bank is 3 or 4 feet high, but a little lower down the shores are low and 
composed of gravel and sand. In the main stream the current was pretty strong, but 
there were some quiet nooks and coves where the water was filled with various species 
of Algce. The water was 62.5° at 9 a. m., August 14. 
Fish were found to be abundant in the river here. Many fine trout were taken, 
mostly with the hook. Blobs, young whiteflsh, suckers ( Gatostomus ardens J. & G.), 
and minnows ( Leuciscus atrarius , Leuciscus hydrophlox, and RMnichthys dulcis) were 
found, the whiteflsh, Utah chub, and suckers being especially abundant. Most of these 
were gotten from a deep, quiet nook tilled with Algce right at the camp, and nearly all 
were found covered with small dark specks, probably a parasitic protozoan. Crawfish 
were found to be common here. 
Jackson Lake. — From President Camp we crossed Snake River and traveled south 
about 12 miles to Jackson Lake. This is a fine body of water about 15 miles long by 3 
or 4 miles wide. Below our camp a short distance is Marymere, the mountain home of 
Mr. John D. Sargent. Across the lake to the southwest are the Teton Mountains, 
rising from the margin of the lake and their rugged peaks piercing the clouds. These 
peaks are very rough and wild. The pinnacles are very steep and storm- splintered; 
beds of snow that never disappear, and which may be glaciers, fill the gorges. There 
is no grander mountain group in America than the Grand Teton with the peaks which 
environ it. 
Snake River flows into Jackson Lake at its upper end aud out again below. About 
the upper end of the lake there is a good deal of low-lying meadow land. On the left 
it is bordered by low hills, while on the right the shore is precipitous and rocky. 
Fear the upper end a small creek flows into it, in which we found suckers, minnows, 
blobs, trout, and crawfish. This creek, where we crossed it, is 6 or 8 feet wide and 2 
or 3 inches deep. It has but little current. There are some very deep holes in which 
fish were common. The water was not cold, 67.5° at noon, August 14. The lake 
is rather shallow on the eastern side, but is said to be very deep on the west. The 
temperature at the surface was 62° at 9 a. m., August 15. 
In the Tenth Annual Report of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, Capt. 
0. E. Dutton says, in writing of Jackson Lake and Snake River, which drains it: 
The present area is not far from 40 square miles, while its watershed is between 750 and 800 
square miles. 
Snake River at low stages carries more than 3,000 second-feet of water. Its sources in Yellow- 
stone Park and in the Teton and Wind River ranges are regions of large precipitation, which yield 
many perpetual streams. Emerging from the mountains the Snake flows out into an immense plain, 
250 miles in length and from 50 to 100 miles in width. A large portion of this plain has been overflowed, 
in comparatively recent geological times, by extravasations of basaltic lava, much of which is still an 
expanse of barren rock, while some of it is imperfectly buried in drifted sand and soil. (Part ii, p. 106.) 
According to Mr. Sargent, Jackson Lake literally swarms with suckers in the 
spring, and trout are also abundant. We were not able to take any suckers or trout; 
nor did we think it worth tvhile to use the seine in the lake. We fished some time 
