Trout Fishing in Northern Wyoming. 
The Shoshone River, in Northern Wyoming, 
which drains a large portion of what is known 
as the Big Horn Basin, is a good example of 
the many natural trout streams with which 
nature has endowed our Rocky Mountain States. 
With the possible exception of the Snake 
River in Idaho, many portions of which are 
almost inaccessible to the angler who has but 
a limited time at his disposal, I know of no 
other Western stream that gives such satisfac¬ 
tory sport combined with accessibility. To reach 
this Shoshone River country is easy, but like 
many other simpl'e things, expensive. The Bur¬ 
lington railway system, which has undoubtedly 
done much to develop certain portions of Mon¬ 
tana and Wyoming, has a spur running from a 
godforsaken junction spot in Southern Mon¬ 
tana called Tolucca, down through the really 
beautiful Bryor Valley country to its terminus 
at Cody, in Northwestern Wyoming. Anyone 
who wishes to learn of the many advantages 
and manifold blessings of this portion of the 
Cnion is respectfully referred to the folder 
issued by the Burlington people where, among 
much extraneous matter pertaining to irrigation 
and farming, some real information can be 
gleaned. Suffice it to say that if you leave Chi¬ 
cago, say Monday morning, you reach Cody late 
Vv ednesday afternoon if you are lucky. 
Cody lies on the Shoshone, nearly fifty miles 
south and west of its junction with the Big 
Horn River, but as usual the enthusiastic fisher¬ 
man must work up stream, not down. Inci¬ 
dentally the waters of the river near Cody are 
tinged with sulphur from .the nearby springs, 
which may be hygienic, but not attractive. 
Once at Cody, shortly to be the county seat 
of the new county, to be known as Park county, 
two methods of procedure are open to the 
traveler. He can either hire .a team and drive 
in lordly ease up the valley, or he can take the 
mail stage which leaves Cody every other day 
and drive until he reaches any one of the hos¬ 
pitable ranches along the river, where he will 
be made welcome and comfortable for a slight 
compensation. From any of these ranches he 
can begin piscatorial operations. Some twelve 
miles from Cody at a small settlement called 
Marquette, the north fork of the river joins 
the main stream, and though this branch can 
be recommended to those who like mountain 
scenery, the south fork is infinitely better for 
fishing and is hereby guaranteed. Near Mar¬ 
quette is the now world famous Shoshone dam, 
which is almost completed and which when the 
last block is laid will tower some 325 feet from 
its first layer of masonry in the river bed. It 
is a very remarkable piece of engineering, but 
as I do not know the difference between a steam 
shovel and a drill, the dam and its possibilities 
are turned over to those interested. 
Around Marquette the fishing amounts to 
little and it is not until some twenty-five miles 
more are covered that the^ trout'will be found 
in large numbers. Thirty miles from Marquette 
the sportsman will find an excellent ranch owned 
and conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel W. 
Aldrich, where, if you have written some little 
while beforehand or if you bear a letter from 
someone known to the owners, you will be made 
welcome and comfortable. Now, the Aldriches 
in no sense cater to what is known in this coun¬ 
try as “dude trade,” otherwise passing tourists, 
and in no sense do I wish to lay myself open 
to the charge of advertising, for all the people 
in the valley are kind and as hospitable as their 
A YELLOWSTONE RIVER TROUT. 
The first trout ever taken by a \vhit^-haired sportsman 
of Michigan, who has, since then, become an ardent fly- 
fisher for trout. 
Photograph by M. D. Bigelow. 
means afford, but it has been my fortune to pass 
many pleasant hours at this ranch as my head¬ 
quarters, and for that reason and no other the 
names are given. 
Supposing that the angler secures accommo¬ 
dation here he can, the first thing next morn¬ 
ing, begin his serious duties. At this point a 
stony bar occupies the center of the river bed, 
and except in the spring floods it affords a 
splendid means of progress up stream. Of 
course the river must be crossed and re-crossed 
a dozen times during five miles of fishing, but 
on each side is good water and from the cessa¬ 
tion of the high spring spates Until Oct. i, after 
which date no angler with any sporting instincts 
will wet a line, these two channels fairly teem 
with trout. 
The trout of the Shoshone and its small tribu¬ 
taries belong to sub-species of the cut-throat 
and rainbow families. Both abound, the cut¬ 
throat running to a larger size and more numer¬ 
ous, while the rainbow is by far the more sport¬ 
ing fish. But a splendid little sporting fish is 
the rainbow and now is more than holding its 
own in those Eastern streams into which it has 
been imported. 
I am of a naturally optimistic and cheerful 
disposition and sadly prone to exaggerate where 
fish are concerned, but this time I can honestly 
say that the fishing through July and August 
was far beyond my expectations. 
Leaving Aldrich’s and working your way up 
stream for ten miles there is as pretty fishing 
as one can wish for; no overhanging branches 
or alder bushes to hang up your back cast, no 
magnificent looking pools only twenty yards 
away that you cannot reach by hook or crook, 
and no inquisitive mosquitoes or playful black 
flies to bother you. A lovely stream to fish is 
the Shoshone; an old man’s stream, in fact, and 
'it rather spoils one for the little brooks of New 
York and Pennsylvania with their hatchery trout 
and overhung banks, and the best of it is the 
trout are there for the taking. A little walk¬ 
ing and some knowledge of fly-fishing are all 
that is needed. And the best of all is, at least 
to my selfish mind, that you can fish for days 
without running into someone else on the stream 
and having to divide the water, which is a con¬ 
dition that fills the angler’s heart with holy joy. 
Lunch need not bother you. Mrs. Aldrich 
will put you up a little snack in the morning 
for your basket, or you can stop at any one of 
the half dozen ranches up river and take pot 
luck at the noon dinner and receive a warm 
welcome. There are no ubiquitous small boys 
to bother you; everyone works and works hard 
in this cattle land, and the young son of the 
family pitches hay or rides for stock as soon 
as he can sit tight in one of their big 'Westein 
saddles. 
There are no savage dogs on the Shoshone 
to cause a tremor of the soul, only peacMul 
cattle herders who look at you in benign cur¬ 
iosity. No barb wire fences strung across the 
stream with ominous looking sign boards warn¬ 
ing you to go round by the road, and the only 
thing to remember is that when you cross a 
field and go through a gate, leave the gate as 
you found it. That is a cardinal rule; do not 
forget it. 
The average size of the trout is good. Cer¬ 
tainly half a pound is not out of the way, and 
at the end of the day when you have filled your 
basket you are very unlucky if a two-pounder 
and several running from a pound to a pound 
and a half do not rest upon the damp leaves 
in the bottom. 'With ordinary luck the average 
fisherman should kill and keep at least twenty- 
five of these splendid little fish a day, and who 
wants more than that? 
The heaviest trout killed by me weighed a 
shade less than two pounds and three-quarters. 
The largest I saw was one that certainly would 
have pulled down four pounds on the scales and 
the leviathan of the summer, reported on the 
river and exhibited at Cody, was an old moss- 
