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Show IDEAL FOR THE FISHERMAN j Sunnlaon River, Colorado'a Famoua Stream. Haa Reputation That la World Wide. Denver. The Gunnison river flows, or rather leaps, down the western slope of Colorado and Is famed for Its trout. Enthusiastic anglera frequently Journey there from England to whip Ita turbulent watera during the fish-Ins fish-Ins season, aa the trout In tbla Ice1 cold stream are celebrated for thelij exquisite flavor, and for their fighting qualities aa well. This picturesque stream after flow inn placidly through a beautiful broad valley, bummed In by anow capped peaks, suddenly breaks Its leash and plunges Into a series of rapids and cascades where It entera the Illark Canon at Saplnero, whose granite walls rise on either side to a perpendicular perpen-dicular height of from two thousand to three thousand feet above the foam Ing stream. It continues Its tortuous In the Black Canon. conrse through this chasm for upward of thirty nillea before It emerges Into another valley at Btato llrldge, three thousand feet lower than where It entered en-tered the canon. The trout fishing Is along the upper half of the canon, which la traversed by a narrow gauge railroad. Tbo low er half of the canon Is Impassable. Only three men ever niado the trip through It. They were government engineers who were reconnolterlng for a location for the Gunnison tunnel to Irrigate the Uncompahgre Valley. Their atrong raft was wrecked, their Instruments and clothing were lost and they were rescued In an exhausted exhaust-ed condition. Helow the canon so much alkali and soli are discharged Into the stream by the Irrigating ditches that trout cannot live In It, but suckers flourish there, often attaining a length of from tighten to .twenty Inches. .During the latter part of May the suckers go up the small tributaries to spawn. After spawning they return In schools, tall first, to the river. These small streams are rocky and swift, and If the fish did not alacken speed by swimming against the current they , might be bruised against the rocks, i In the pools where the water was 1 two or three feet deep the fish were so numerous that It waa no unconv , mon occurrence to throw out three and four fish with each thrust of the fork. The fish were weak and slug-1 glsh after spawning and did not make . much effort to get out of the way. The old woman brought out two washing , tabs, a waahboiler and a largo dish-; pan, all of which were filled within I half an hour with lah from twelve to eighteen Inrhea In length, which ahe skinned and aalted down for future use. She lamented that the fish were "a gettln' akeercer every year." "Why, at comln down time three ' years ago me and my old man got nigh onto a wagon load In no time," She said. |