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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Mr. Hague further says : 
Forests cover the hills to the water’s edge. The timber retains the snow late in the season, while 
it slowly melts away and fills the springs and lakes. If the forests are removed the snow will rapidly 
disappear under the direct rays of the sun by evaporation, and it will be largely carried off by the dry 
west winds which prevail. There would be enormous freshets in the spring, followed by a long parched 
season, the lakes and springs diminishing rapidly. 
In another place Mr. Hague, who has given much attention to this important 
question, says: 
1 know of no tract in the Rocky Mountains where the necessity for the conservation of the forests 
appears so urgent, or the direct advantage to be gained so immediate, as right here on the Park 
Plateau atthe headwaters of the Yellowstone and the Snake rivers. If the broad valley of the Yellow- 
stone is ever to support any considerable population the forests and streams from these elevated regions 
must be protected. The Yellowstone Valley can stand no diminution in the water supply which it 
now receives. 
The importance of this matter cannot be overestimated, and it is very gratifying 
to know that, under authority of an act of Congress of March 3, 1891, the President 
has already, by proclamation, set apart and reserved from settlement a wide strip of 
land lying south and east of the Yellowstone Park. This important addition to the 
Park comprises the greater part of the densely timbered region already mentioned. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
Among the many falls in and about the Yellowstone National Park, there are 
several in which the placing of fishways should receive consideration. Virginia Cas- 
cade and Gibbon Falls in Gibbon Biver, Keppler Cascade in Firehole Biver, and the 
upper and lower falls of Lewis Biver are of this number. All of these rivers, both 
above and below the falls which they contain, are ideal trout streams. Below each of 
the lower falls there is an abundance of excellent food-fishes — trout in the Lewis, and 
trout, grayling, and whitefish in the Gibbon — while above these falls there are no fish 
whatever, except those planted by the Commission in 1889 and 1890. 
It would be comparatively an easy matter to construct a fishway at each of these 
falls which would enable the valuable native species to ascend to the upper courses 
of these streams and to the cold lakes in which most of them rise. 
When sufficient time has elapsed to enable the various species of trout planted 
by the Commission in these waters to become thoroughly established, the desirability 
of placing fishways in these streams should receive careful consideration. 
In the country about Cooke City, east of the National Park, are several lakes 
similar to those in the Park, but smaller. Clarke Fork of the Yellowstone, about the 
headwaters of which these lakes lie, has in it considerable falls which fish can not pass. 
As a result, these lakes and upper tributaries are barren of fish, and their stocking 
with species of Salmonidce might be very properly undertaken by the Commission. 
