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<br />Introduction <br /> <br />Senior citizens familiar with rivers in the upper Colorado River Basin rep- <br />resent important sources of historical data about endangered Colorado squaw- <br />fish, razorback suckers, humpback chubs and bony tail chubs, With the passing <br />of each of these seniors, potential knowledge about the endangered fish is lost. <br />In the spring of 1991, the Information and Education Committee of the <br />Recovery Program for the Endangered Fish of the Upper Colorado River Basin <br />assigned me to complete a historical research project about the four endangered <br />fish, <br />The intent of the project was to gather and document historical information <br />from upper basin seniors about the fish so that information could be used in <br />information and education efforts. The project's research area included all of the <br />historic endangered fish habitat in the upper Colorado River Basin, from Lake <br />Powell upstream. <br />To supplement the information provided by the seniors, data from newspa- <br />pers, magazine articles, and to a lesser degree, technical reports, were collected, <br />While the project's design did not call for an exhaustive review of techni- <br />cal reports written about the fish, in researching and describing the history of <br />the 1962 rotenone project of the upper Green River, it became necessary to refer <br />to several such reports. <br />I performed the field work for this project during four one-week trips into <br />the upper basin in the spring and summer of 1991. Before each trip, I called <br />senior-citizen centers, town offices, post offices and local businesses in the areas <br />I would visit to help me identify seniors who had knowledge of the fish, Once I <br />identified seniors in an area who knew about the fish, I called them and <br />arranged interviews, During the calls I inquired about other people who knew of <br />the endangered fish. Most of the time my contacts knew of several more people, <br />and my list of potential interviewees grew quickly, <br />During the four trips, I formally interviewed 111 seniors and talked to <br />many others that lacked either knowledge of the fish or the capacity to remem- <br />ber them. <br />The average age of the 11 I persons I interviewed was just under 77. The <br />oldest person questioned was born in 1895 and the youngest in 1947. Only five <br />interviewees were born later than 1940. <br />It is important to remember that the information in this report is dated. In <br />general, the information comes from a time period beginning in 1910. Gaining <br />information prior to this time was difficult, although a few seniors recalled earli- <br />er stories about the fish, and they are included in the report, <br />During the interviews, I tried to maintain a consistent line of questioning. <br />However, depending on the individual senior's capacities and disposition, I <br />modified my questioning to provide me with the most information and the <br />senior with the most comfort. <br />Each interview, except for a few telephone interviews, included a fish iden- <br />