212 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
TRIP OF 1891. 
Leaving Champaign, Illinois, accompanied by my university assistant, Mr. H. S. 
Erode, on the afternoon of August 10, I arrived at Livingston, Montana, on the 
evening of the 13th, by way of Chicago and St. Paul, and proceeded thence to 
Helena, to which place our outfit had been shipped from Washington and Champaign. 
Delay in the arrival of part of the equipment made field work impracticable until 
the afternoon of the 17th, when we made our first collections from the Jocko Eiver 
at Ravalli, on the Northern Pacific Railroad in western Montana. 
My immediate object on this part of our trip was an investigation of Flathead 
Lake and its tributaries, and among these especially a small, very cold trout stream 
previously visited by Prof. Evermann, and noted as suitable for the supply of the 
proposed trout hatchery. 
Flathead Lake itself ottered a very interesting contrast to Yellowstone Lake, 
examined the year preceding, but with sufficient resemblance also to make compar- 
ison instructive. It was then commonly reached by stage from Ravalli through the 
Flathead reservation — a trip which we took on August 18, going thence by steamer 
to Demersville on Flathead River, about 25 miles above the lake. We began our 
collections from this river on the evening of the same day, and worked here also on 
the 19tlj, collecting especially from bayous and backwaters. Through the kindness 
of Mr. H. W. Parclien, president of the Helena Board of Trade, and of his associates 
in a game and fishing club, I had the use of a small steam launch for the work on 
the lake — an indispensable advantage, without which we could have done only a little 
imperfect alongshore work. Accepting the cordial invitation of this club to make 
their club house our headquarters, we went thither from Demersville in the launch 
August 20, and made our first surface-net collections in the afternoon of the same 
day. This club house is built upon a large bay at the upper end of the lake, partially 
sheltered from the rather violent winds prevailing, and yet containing water of suffi- 
cient depth to illustrate fairly the deep-water conditions of this lake. It represented 
also every variety of shore and bottom — sandy flats, weedy shallows, rocky shores, 
and gravelly banks — and had the further advantage, for our purpose, of giving ready 
access to a considerable tributary of the lake, named Swan River on the map, but 
locally known as the “Big Fork.” Our collections here continued over the three fol- 
lowing days, and included surface-net work of all varieties, many alongshore collec- 
tions, and several hauls with the dredge, made by aid of the launch, in water ranging 
from 80 to 162 feet in depth. Considerable collections were also made on Swan 
River, especially upon the rocky rapids a short distance above its mouth. 
On the 24th we made a horseback trip to Swan Lake, 12 miles above our quarters, 
and spent several hours collecting with our smaller apparatus from the lower part of 
that lake and from a cold trout stream emptying into the river a short distance below. 
On the 25th we went by the regular steamer to the foot of Flathead Lake, where 
we made such collections from this shallow southern end of the lake and from its 
outlet (the Ooeur d’Alene) as a heavy storm would permit, finishing our work in 
this region on the 26th, and starting for Helena and Yellowstone Park. Our work in 
the Park was confined to the northeastern part — not visited in 1890 — and to Yellow- 
stone Lake, to which I went especially for a more thorough use of the dredge (with 
the aid of the passenger steamer) than I could make from skiffs the year preceding. 
