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FOREST AND STREAM 
The Leap of the Salmon Is One of the Most Magnificent Sights in Nature-If It Had Not Been for Man’s Shortsightedness the 
Salmon To-day Would Still Be Within the Range of the Angler of Moderate Means. 
whitefish. At the end of ten years the grayling 
had disappeared and but very few native trout 
or whitefish remained, they having been driven 
away or exterminated by brook trout which were 
introduced in the creek, accidently or otherwise, 
from the hatchery. 
As an instance of the aggressive nature of 
brook trout, where even black bass had to suc¬ 
cumb, occurred to my personal knowledge in 
Wisconsin. A trout hatchery was erected on the 
border of a very large spring whose waters 
formed Scuppernong Creek which ran for a 
number of miles to a lake. This creek furnished 
good black bass fishing along its entire length. 
Several years after the establishment of the 
hatchery mentioned, brook trout, escaping from 
the ponds, became abundant in the creek, and 
eventually took entire possession, forcing the 
black bass to retire to the lake below. 
Mr. Bradford, in his paper, states that a cor¬ 
respondent claims that the grayling is native to 
certain streams in Colorado, but this is a mis¬ 
take. During the first years of my work at 
Bozeman Station I was informed by several per¬ 
sons in Colorado that grayling were numerous 
at Steamboat Springs, in that state. Similar re¬ 
ports were sent to me from Wyoming that gray¬ 
ling was to be found in a certain stream in that 
state, but upon investigation, and the receipt of 
specimens from both localities, they proved to 
be, as I suspected, mountain whitefish. If the 
grayling existed naturally in any waters of Colo¬ 
rado, it certainly would have been discovered 
by field collectors of the U. S. Fish Commis¬ 
sion many years ago, when the streams of that 
state were thoroughly explored. If there are 
any grayling in those states they are, without 
doubt, the progeny of eggs shipped from Boze¬ 
man Station, as many thousands were supplied 
to Federal and state hatcheries in both states. 
The mountain whitefish is usually of the same 
size, general conformation and silvery appear¬ 
ance as the grayling, and when the fins are de¬ 
pressed they might be mistaken, one for the 
other, by an ordinary observer. That the gray¬ 
ling is a cross between the whitefish and red- 
throat trout is absurd. Hybrids do not occur in 
nature. The fish culturist can produce hybrids 
between closely-related species, but it is of no 
practical advantage, for being mules, it is doubt¬ 
ful if they could reproduce their kind. 
The picture of the Montana grayling in the 
January number of Forest and Stream is a fine 
and faithful portrait of that fish. It is made 
from the illustration in my book: “Favorite 
Fish and Fishing.” I had a photo-engraving made 
from the oil painting, from life, by A. D. Tur¬ 
ner. The painting was one of a series forming 
a portfolio accompanying Dr. Frank M. John¬ 
son’s superb volumes: “Forest, Lake and River.” 
This explanation and acknowledgment are due 
to that gentleman. 
GRAYLING STILL EXIST IN MICHIGAN. 
Readers of Forest and Stream no doubt re¬ 
call with pleasure the able article by Mr. W. B. 
Mershon on the grayling, published in the Feb¬ 
ruary number. This article attracted the atten¬ 
tion of Seymour Bower, Superintendent of the 
Michigan Fish Commission, and that gentleman 
addressed to Mr. Mershon an interesting letter, 
Which Forest and Stream is permitted to pub¬ 
lish. Mr. Mershon, in forwarding the letter, 
writes: “I have stricken out the name of the 
river and county, as we don’t want to advertise 
this one little stream in which there is a small 
remnant of the grand old Michigan grayling 
remaining.” 
Mr. Bower’s letter follows: 
Detroit, February 16, 1916. 
Hon. W. B. Mershon, 
Saginaw, Mich. 
Dear Mr. Mershon: 
I have read your grayling article in Forest 
and Stream and heartily agree with your conclu¬ 
sions as to the main causes of the disappearance 
of the grayling. I believe that the most import¬ 
ant factor in their destruction was the logging 
operations and all that that implies, during the 
spawning season. Next in importance, perhaps, 
is the introduction of trout, though it is rather 
a curious fact that in Montana trout and gray¬ 
ling are found in the same waters and the same 
is true of the river, where the grayling is making 
its last stand in this state. The fact that a 
school of grayling, when good and hungry, may 
literally be cleaned out by a fish hog, is also a 
factor of some importance. Then, in the early 
days, there were no protective laws and they 
were caught indiscriminately and by the whole¬ 
sale for the market. I was on both the Au 
Sable and Manistee Rivers in 1883 with “old 
man” Babbitt. He told me at that time that it 
was a shame the way grayling were being caught 
for the Chicago and Detroit markets. 
There is no doubt about the Michigan and 
Montana grayling being distinct species, though 
belonging to the same genus and family. These 
two species, with the Arctic grayling, comprise 
the three species of the family Thymallidae. 
judging from the pictures, the Arctic grayling 
is king of them all, having a larger and more 
magnificent dorsal than either of the others. 
Henshall states that he has seen a two pound 
grayling in Montana, but I never heard of one 
of that weight in Michigan. I distinctly recall 
a remark made by Babbitt in ’83, when an eigh¬ 
teen inch grayling estimated to weigh about a 
pound and three-quarters was taken by one of 
our party. He said “of all the thousands and 
thousands of grayling I have seen, there may 
have been a few as large as this one, but I never 
saw a larger one.” 
By the way, we expect to have a few Montana 
grayling for the exhibit next week, from eight 
to eleven or twelve inches in length. These are 
from a few that were raised in a spring pond 
at Northville. A limited number of fry were 
dumped into this pond about three years ago and 
no attention paid to them. I do not know just 
how many pulled through to their present size, 
but I think somewhere from fifty to one hun¬ 
dred, growing entirely on natural food. 
Very truly yours, Seymour Bower, Supt. 
