Yellowstone Lake and Its Cutthroat Trout

Varley, John; Schullery, P

Summary of the known history of cutthroat in the Lake up to just prior to the discovery of nonnative lake trout; extensive bibliography.... In 1868, an imaginative journalist named Legh Freeman, writing in the Frontier Index, described Yellowstone Lake as " ... the largest and strangest mountain lake in the world. It being 60 by 25 miles in size and surrounded by all manner of large game, including an occasional white buffalo, that is seen to rush down the perpetual snow peaks that tower above, and plunge up to its sides into the water. It is filled with fish half as large as a man, some of which have a mouth and horns and skin like a catfish and legs like a lizzard [sic]" (Varley and Schullery 1983, p. xxx). From such mythic beginnings as this, enhanced periodically by the rarely believed tales of early trappers, Yellowstone Lake emerged into clearer public consciousness in the 1870s, shedding most of its myths, but none of its wonder. Yellowstone National Park (YELL) was established in 1872, and even in its earliest days, when the park's primary reason for existing was its unparalleled collection of geological and geothermal features, the lake was a "must-see" stop for visitors. who, if they did not consider it the strangest in the world. clearly thought of it as one of the most beautiful and satisfying (Schullery and Whittlesey 1992). Native American uses of the lake and its environment occurred, apparently for thousands of years. but whatever effects they had were evidently slight compared to what followed 1872. While Native American influences on North American landscapes were often considerable. we see no evidence in the general or local archaeological record (as it is known so far, which is incompletely) to suggest that these people heavily exploited or manipulated Yellowstone Lake's ecological components.

Yellowstone Lake and Its Cutthroat Trout

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