and the mass freezes the ice squeezes the fish to the bottom.  Over three years ago Watson took fish to Bessie Lake, putting in as many as 6000 fry of Lake Tahoe and other species.  The next year, and the following years they were all right, having grown to eight or nine inches in length.  Then came a severe winter and in the spring there was not a living fish left.  The bottom was strewn with them, many of them with broken backs.

[Illustration:  A gnarled monarch of the High Sierras, an aged Juniper, near Lake Tahoe]

[Illustration:  Mountain Heather, in Desolation Valley, Near Lake Tahoe]

[Illustration:  The Successful Deer Hunter at Lake Tahoe]

[Illustration:  Chris Nelson, With His Catch, a 23 Lb.  Tahoe Trout]

CHAPTER XXIX

HUNTING AT LAKE TAHOE

In the chapter on the Birds and Animals of the Tahoe Region I have written of the game to be found.  There are few places left in the Sierras where such good deer- and bear-hunting can be found as near Tahoe.  During the dense snow-falls the deer descend the western slopes, approaching nearer and nearer to the settlements of the upper foothills, and there they do fairly well until the snow begins to recede in the spring.  They keep as near to the snow line as possible, and are then as tame and gentle almost as sheep.  When the season opens, however, they soon flee to certain secret recesses and hidden lairs known to none but the old and experienced guides of the region.  There are so many of these wooded retreats, however, and the Tahoe area is so vast, that it is seldom an expert goes out for deer (or bear) that he fails.  Hence the sportsman is always assured of “something worth while.”

As for bear I have told elsewhere of recent hunts on Mt.  Freel from Tallac, and the two bears killed there in 1913, and of Carl Flugge’s experiences.  With Tallac hunters, Flugge, Bob Watson or any other experienced man, one can scarcely fail to have exciting and successful times.

CHAPTER XXX

THE FLOWERS OF THE TAHOE REGION

It would be impossible in the space of a brief chapter to present even a list of all the flowers found and recorded in the Tahoe Region.  Suffice it to say that 1300 different species already have been listed.  This chapter will merely call attention to the most prominent, or, on the other hand, the rarer and special flowering plants that the visitor should eagerly search for.

As fast as the snow retires from the sun-kissed slopes the flowers begin to come out.  Indeed in April, were one at Tahoe, he could make a daily pilgrimage to the receding snow-line and there enjoy new revelations of dainty beauty each morning.  For the flowers, as the snow-coating becomes thinner, respond to the “call of the sun”, and thrust up their spears out of the softened and moistened earth, so that when the last touch of snow is gone they are often already in bud ready to burst forth into flower at the first kiss of sunshine.