FOREST AND STREAM 
131 
able blame for the hasty disappearance of the 
greatest game animal of our continent. Food 
supply is not lacking however, and the region is 
well suited to moose, but unless a closed period 
of three to five years is straightway declared, 
it will soon be purely a deer country. 
Some one tells the story of a lawyer who 
visited a small community in the south to plead 
in behalf of a culprit detained there for a seri¬ 
ous offense. When he asked if the prisoner was 
safe, the mob replied that he was safe—and 
hanging from a neighboring tree. We are 
bound to arrive at protective measures too late 
to save the very object of our good intentions. 
The time to take action is when the game has 
become well established—not when we find to 
our alarm that every antlered head hangs on the 
wall. 
PERPETUITY OF GOLDEN TROUT ASSURED 
BY PLANTING. 
Golden Gate. 
One of the immediate results of the opera¬ 
tion of the anglers’ license law, whereby the 
revenue coming into the California Fish and 
Game Commission has been greatly increased, 
is the added attention that is being paid to the 
planting of trout in the streams of this state. 
Work is now under way on a scale never before 
possible and it is expected that results will be 
secured this season that would not have been ac¬ 
complished otherwise in ten years. 
Now that it has been found that the Golden 
Trout are a distinct species of fish and will 
thrive in other waters than Volcano Creek, and 
the Fish and Game Commission has given the 
distribution of the trout its careful attention, 
the perpetuity of the species is assured. All 
that has saved the fish so far from extinction 
is the fact that its home is in the wildest region 
in the Sierra Nevadas, and that its fecundity is 
but little short of marvelous. 
The planting of trout in this section of the 
mountains is under the direction of District 
Deputy Fish and Game Warden A. D. Ferguson, 
Fresno, Cal., and will be done by two well 
equipped pack train crews outfitted at Three 
Rivers. The season’s operations have been out¬ 
lined by Deputy Ferguson as follows: 
“Early in July two pack trains will be sent 
to the mountains to undertake to transplant 
Golden Trout throughout the district, in waters 
of the high Sierras that have in accordance with 
the policy of the Fish and Game Commission, 
been up to this time consistently held for the 
planting with none but Golden Trout. The un¬ 
dertaking is on a larger scale than ever attempted 
by the Commission. From a supply base in the 
Mt. Whitney section, Golden Trout will be 
planted in the summit wateis of Eastern Fresno 
county, Madera county and a consignment de¬ 
livered to the superintendent of Yosmite National 
Park to be planted in certain barren waters of 
that region. 
“To appreciate the labor involved and the mag¬ 
nitude of this project, I should explain that in 
undertaking this work the plans involve convey¬ 
ing the fish from Whitney Meadows down to the 
eastern base of the mountains in the vicinity of 
Lone Pine. To reach the northermost section 
to be planted, it will be necessary to transport 
the fish one hundred miles along the edge of the 
Owens River Valley, thence across the summit 
at Mammoth and on through northeastern Ma¬ 
“The cigarette is the 
perfect type of a perfect 
pleasure. It is exquisite, 
and it leaves one un¬ 
satisfied. What more 
can you want ?” 
— Dorian Gray. 
EGYPTIAN 
CIGARETTES 
dera county to the Yosemite National Park line. 
In order to meet the temperature conditions of 
the Owens River Valley, a departure will be 
made from the old type of tin pack-horse cans, 
by substituting canvas containers of special de¬ 
sign, in which to carry the live fish. It has been 
demonstrated in past operations that the two 
essential features of successful fish transporta¬ 
tion—low temperatures and aeration—can be 
better - secured by the use of canvas containers 
than by any metal can. 
“Sufficient stock fish will be delivered to a 
supply base on Bishop Creek to warrant the ac¬ 
tivities of both pack-trains in the quadrangle. The 
pack-train which will have been operating from 
Whitney Creek base will follow up the consign¬ 
ment to assist in its distribution. Traveling by 
night to avoid high temperatures, this pack-train 
will carry a full load of Golden Trout along the 
eastern base of the mountains, some fifty miles 
to Bishop Creek, and thence, following the other 
pack-train through Piute Pass, will assist in the 
distribution of Golden Trout through the region 
to be covered. The total time consumed in these 
operations will be about two and a half months.’’ 
This trout planting work is probably the most 
ambitious attempt of the kind ever made and in¬ 
volves difficulties not experienced in other sec¬ 
tions. Fry will not be handled, the fish that are 
to be transplanted consisting almost entirely of 
adult trout taken near the headwaters of Vol¬ 
cano Creek. Practically all of the planting will 
be done in a region where there are no roads 
and where the trails are so rough that they are 
traversed but little. Much of the work will be 
done at an elevation of eight thousand feet and 
in some instances the pack-trains will reach an 
elevation of twelve thousand feet. Golden Trout 
will be planted in streams and lakes that will not 
be reached by anglers in any numbers for many 
years and within a short time this magnificent 
species of fish should be as plentiful in the head¬ 
waters of the crest of the Sierras as rainbow 
trout now are. 
OUR NATIVE BLACK BASS. 
By Peter Flint. 
There are a good many things that can be 
written about this fiery little warrior of the lakes 
and rivers of New York State that have thus 
far escaped the observation of those writing 
about fresh water fishes. One is the fact that the 
black bass, both small and large-mouth varieties, 
is not an original inhabitant of most inland lakes 
in the Adirondacks, where he is at present found 
in great numbers. In this region, the cold spring- 
fed lakes were evidently intended by the Creator 
to be the home of the true, primitive Yankee 
specimens: Spreckled and lake trout, and noth¬ 
ing else, except their cousins, the great salmon, 
which came up from the ocean on a visit each 
spring and remained part of the year, when this 
mysterious creature again sought its salt water 
abode, from whence it never returned, but sent 
back to the old creeks and “little rivers,” 
formerly beloved, from its ocean haunts, the 
vigorous country-bred offspring resulting from its 
struggles over rocks and water falls to the 
spawning gravel beds in previous years. 
But man soon found a way to exterminate -the 
trout. The rivers were dammed and these fish in 
hot weather 'all assembled in the mi'll ponds to 
get food. Nets were stretched and dragged, and 
the fish were taken by thousands. When snags and 
stumps prevented this, your lumberman had an¬ 
other and more effective way to exterminate 
these beautiful creatures that tickled his palate 
or brought good prices when sold. This was the 
time-dishonored method of “dam-tripping,” and 
consisted simply in pulling a plank, or raising a 
gate in the dam and allowing the water to pass 
entirely out of the pond, above the grist or saw 
mill. There in the mud lay exposed fish of 
every size, and all of them were taken, wagons 
being often used to cart them away. Great 
quantities were even fed to the hogs in those 
early days of natural abundance. 
A knowledge of local conditions served fur¬ 
ther to compass the destruction of the great pond 
