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,. <br />Natural, reproducing populations are restricted to the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin, and are most abundant in the Green River. Colorado squawfish were <br />reported from the Green River as early as 1825, when Colonel W.H. Ashleg's <br />party subsisted on the fish, caught by angling (Morgan 1964). Dellenbaugh <br />(1908) reported the capture of squawfish during the 1871 Powell expedition, <br />and Jordan (1891) reported the fish near Green River Ut in 1889.. Residents <br />of Vernal, Utah, remarked about the former abundance of the fish in the Green <br />River, which reached a documented 52 pounds, and one photograph of a large <br />specimen from that area was presented by Vanicek (1967). Seethaler (1978) <br />summarized interviews with local people in the Green River (Wyoming), Browns <br />Park, and other areas, who reported specimens of 30 pounds from the upper <br />Green River in Colorado and Wyoming. Seethaler (1978) also reported an <br />interview with Mr. Rial Chew, who observed a Colorado squawfish 5.1/2 to 6 <br />feet in length, caught just below the confluence of the Green and Yampa River <br />in Dinosaur National Monument in 1911, and presented a photograph of a 25 <br />pound adult taken in the same area in 1928. Mr. Chew also stated he caught <br />several of the fish by hand during a flood event. Figure ~ presents a <br />recently discovered photograph of a large specimen of unknown length, captured <br />in the lower Yampa River in the 1930's, where Colorado squawfish were <br />regularly captured (Burton. 1987). Older residents of Vernal, and surrounding <br />areas, reported to the author that Colorado squawfish were captured in <br />substantial numbers during periods of low flow or drought, when semi--isolated <br />pools in the main river channel were haul-seined for that purpose. I also <br />interviewed a fisherman who stated that he caught many "white salmon" in <br />Flaming Gorge prior to 1960, and preferred to eat them in preference to any <br />other fish. <br />11 <br />