The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-05-09
ODD FISH OF THE DESERT.
Boiling Springs the Home of Some Little
Fellows.


the eve of stranger visiting this
desert camp is sparkling lake lying
away to the north, at the foot of the
many colored mountains known as the
| Calicoes. One can see It best standing
on the platform of the railroad station.
There is no bit of secrecy anywhere
that will be found more pleasing than
that lake as it appears on not day in
summer, for then trees and rushes can
be seen nodding and waving about its
margin, and there is refreshing cool
ness in mere glance at the moist
shadows. But even now it forms a
pleasant picture, though neither trees
nor rushes appear. The stranger who
has any love of outdoor sports is sure
to speak of it, and in many cases the
first words he utters are in the form of
question as to the fishing to be had
! there.
Now, if there is any one thing that
pleases the old Arabs that loaf about
the railroad station more than another
it is to have stranger speak about the
fishing in that lake. The mere mem
ton OF fish rouses them to surprising
dCllNlbNs anu WIFI OhG dCCOEO Uutl Dt-
gin to tell about it, all usually talking
at once. The best fishing in Califc Ma
is to be had right there, if one may be-
| lieve them, and their enthusiasm in tell
ing about it is so great that an ordi-
| nary tenderfoot will find 1t infectious
unless he gets to asking for particulars
about the varieties of fish to be caught.
! When the Arabs get down to particu
lars the habit they have of all talking
at once mixes things. Moreover, their
| knowledge of fish is in most cases de-
rived from study of the labels on the
tin cans, the boxes, and the half bar
rels of the desert supply stores 1t
! staggers and dampenS the enthusiasm
of man really interested in fish to
learn that the lake produces salmon,
mackerel, ciscoes, brook trout, and
sardines in shoals too large for count
ing.
The truth is the lake, though always
in view when the sun shines, is a mir
age. 1t is found always in the one
! place because what is known in the
desert as dry lake exists there. This
dry lake is merely wide bed of dry
mud. There was a lake there in the
old days before the wind blew sand
waves across the old-time head of the
| Gulf of California, and so shut the tide
out of the region and gave the sun a
chance to evaporate the water that
covered the greater part of the Mojave
! desert. Even now, when a great rain
comes, as happens once in three or four
| years, the waters from the mountains
cover the old mud foot or two deep,
but in week the water is gone and
the mud is as hard as ever.
Now, although this lake is a mirage,
and although the Mojave region con-
tains in summer the hottest and most
arid bit of desert in the world, there
are fish in the desert, and in certain
| parts of it these fish form a valuable
| part of the food of the widely scattered
| Inhabitants. For instance, there is
Fish Lake valley, an extension of Death
valley, and the line between California
and Nevada. Itcontains some tiny pools
| fed by springs that are for the most
part brackish, but every one is alive
with carp running from ten to eighteen
inches in length. In Owens valley
there are streams Astounding in cat
fish, while in Cottonwood creek there
are rainbow trout fit to make an Adj
rondack tourists hair curl. But it
must be said that the carp and trout
have been introduced by the benevo-
lent-minded men, and that the trout
streams, although within the borders
of the desert, is a mountain brook with
clear, cold, sweet water; it is in, but
not of the desert.
The carp have hourished wonderful
ly well in all the waters where they
| have been tried. Even in Death valley
itself, in the half acre artificial pool,
the carp do well. They have, there.
fore, been carried to about all the
larger pools of the region, save only
those which, like Owens lake, are over
burdened with salts. 1t is a curious
fact that fish living in streams tribu-
tary to these salty lakes often swim
down to the lakes and there perish.
| One can often find dead fish afioat near
the mouth of the streams, and the
bodies are always burdened with sal
soda crystals. This leads to the belief
ShOl Iiieib oiC hoh ulC lIOWhCu ny blIc
burden of the crystals that accumulate
on them.
The most interesting fish of the
desert are those that are too small to
eat and are indigenous. The native
fishes seem a marvel, for they live in
hot water as we'll as cold. The desert
men tell about fish found in boiling
Whitewater hot enough to cook eggs
but this is an exaggeration. In the
Amargosa valley, hundred miles or
so north of this place, are, found
springs that are certainly steaming
| hot The steam can be seen rising in
faint column even at two p m. under
hot sun, and these springs contain an
interesting little species of sinner.
Then in Ash meadows, where the
picturesque old Arab lived who located
the vast but unworked borax deposits
of Death valley, is found boiling
spring with fish in it. The water does
actually boil, but it is not from heat.
| There is no spring on the desert with
fish in it SO hot that a man cannot
keep his hand in the water. That in
the Amargosa valley is as hot as any,
When the borax deposits were worked
! there several Years 400 the 1vorlxu,au