234 
Feb. 24, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
afloat once more on a racing river! For a half 
mile the river just naturally slid down hill, 
turned sharply to the right and plunged over 
a ledge of limestone rock in three distinct 
drops, boiling and seething ominously. A bit 
of water where good canoemanship is necessary 
if a spill is to be avoided, and a spill would be 
a nasty thing even if the stream no longer de¬ 
serves to be called a river. Yet there is joy 
in the noise of the boiling water, the bite of the 
air, and the down-dropping sensation. At such 
moments I always experience a desire to yell at 
the top of my voice, there is so much joy in 
being alive. 
Below the rapids, as though ashamed of its 
burst of anger, the river spreads out over the 
flats, and it is high-water indeed when even the 
lightest boat does not touch bottom. We found 
ourselves compelled to get out and wade, lead¬ 
ing the canoe by a rope as we would a docile 
cow, and the canoe, like an effectionate beast, 
rubbed against our legs. I enjoyed the wad¬ 
ing as much as I did the riding. Suddenly 
the water deepened and we were bowling along 
again at a merry pace,' the banks slipping 
to the rear. We passed under a highway bridge 
where a man and boy stood and peered down 
upon us, too astonished to reply to our salu¬ 
tations, such a strange sight was a canoe on 
the river. 
Suddenly the river grew tired of meadows 
and fields and turned sharply to the left to 
enter a bit of woodland as wild and untamed 
as any Northland wilderness. “Now keep your 
gun handy and watch out,” remarked the 
butcher, “for we are apt to run into a solitary 
old gander when we round one of these bends.” 
But my companion was a poor prophet. Ducks 
there were, lone mallards and pairs, sometimes 
four or five, and their surprise was comical to 
behold; for an instant they gazed at us with 
curiosity, the canoe nieanwhile dashing upon 
them, then with discordant squawks and rapidly 
beating wings they leaped into the air and away 
down stream. Later we would overtake them, 
to their great bewilderment, when they went 
through the same maneuvers again. The 
butcher said they enjoyed it, were just playing 
with us because it was closed season, always 
adding. “If the law were off I would soon make 
them sing another tune.” And I am sure that 
he would have done so, too, for he is a won¬ 
derful wing shot. 
It was early for song birds, of course, for the 
sweet voiced visitants do not arrive until the 
warm days of May have banished every hint of 
frost; but there were birds of the sparrow fam¬ 
ily, from the common song sparrow, sweetest 
and most companionable of all his tribe, to the 
shy and tuneful white-throat forever praising 
“sweet Canada.” Then the red-wing blackbirds 
were present in flocks, as were the purple and 
bronze grackles, all gurgling in joy over the 
flooded pastures and meadow lands. 
So rapid was the stream that the actual hours 
spent upon the water were few. At times it 
seemed that when we were not quarreling with 
a wire fence—twice a submerged wire nearly 
wrecked us—we were working our way around 
or through a jam of driftwood. Only once 
did actual disaster overtake us. We were run¬ 
ning a little rapid, and because of its insignifi¬ 
cance I did not observe it as closely as I 
should have done, so suddenly we dropped 
upon a sharp rock and punched a great hole 
in the bottom of the canoe. Fortunately we 
were at the bottom of the rapid and near shoal 
water, so experienced little difficulty in dragging 
our craft ashore, where the butcher, who had 
come prepared for just such a contingency, 
made temporary repairs. 
I F one would listen to and believe all of the 
trout stories that are told by the anglers in 
the State, he would come to the conclusion 
that there are about a hundred different species 
of trout in the waters of this State. The steel- 
head trout (there is no such a fish as a steel- 
head sa mon) is perhaps more plentiful and goes 
At noon we stopped where a high bluff 
promised a dry campsite and cooked coffee, 
bacon and eggs and boiled potatoes; not to 
mention great slices of bread and butter from 
the pantry of the butcher’s wife. After dinner 
came the long rest flat upon our backs, while 
we talked of trips past and future; for he as¬ 
sured that same butcher and I have camped 
and tramped over a goodly portion of Wis¬ 
consin, and hope to complete our intimate sur¬ 
vey before old age and rheumatism compel us 
to seek the warm side of the fire-place. 
The afternoon was but a repetition of the ex¬ 
periences of the morning, with a difference, the 
difference that makes canoeing so delightful. 
The shadows were long when our little craft 
floated free upon the swelling bosom of old 
Green Bay, the duck hunter’s paradise, where 
in early spring ducks, geese and swans congre¬ 
gate in great flocks, and at times their clamor 
can be heard for a mile inland. Well out upon 
the bay a line of white foam became a great 
flock of swans, when examined through a field 
glass, a thousand, if there was one. I could 
have gazed for hours, but the gathering night 
soon made that impossible. Then came the team 
to take me to the train, which whirled me away 
through the night, back to the desk and the 
dreary old grind once more. But the office 
was less a prison, and the grind not so ardu¬ 
ous. Who shall say that such unadventurous 
trips are not worth while? 
under more names than any of the trout family 
native to this State. It masquerades as the steel- 
head salmon, salmon trout, brook trout and 
mountain trout. 
This trout comes into the streams during the 
run of salmon and feeds on the spawn of the 
same. It appears in the streams as a full grown 
steelhead, a yearling and a two-year-old fish; 
it is often called a salmon trout when caught 
in the streams tributary to the Puget Sound dur¬ 
ing the fall months. During the spawning sea¬ 
son in the early spring it is often called a rain¬ 
bow trout. The younger members of this family 
show a bright red streak along the lateral line 
during the spring and are also called the rain¬ 
bow trout. A great many of this species that 
are hatched in the mountain streams do not go 
to the ocean, but remain in fresh water where 
they breed, and their young are designated as 
the rainbow trout, and if caught in the small 
mountain streams are called mountain trout, and 
if caught in brooks are called brook trout. 
The different seasons of the year work a 
change in the appearance of these fish, and steel- 
head trout that have been landlocked will ap¬ 
pear as four different species of trout if caught 
during the spring, summer, fall and winter. The 
environments also make quite a difference in the 
appearance of these trout; if caught in a deep 
hole where the banks of the stream are over¬ 
hung with a heavy growth of underbrush that 
makes the surroundings dark, the fish will ap- 
WORKING THROUGH A JAM. 
A New Trout 
By JOHN M. CRANFORD, Superintendent of Hatcheries, State of Washington 
