Anecdotal Evidence of Conchos Trout
There is a credible published report from the late l800's of cutthroat trout from the Davis Mountains in southwest Texas, not far from the Rio Grande and the mouth of the Conchos. Archeologists have also reported trout scales from 1,100 year old coprolites from shelter caves along the Pecos River, more than 100 miles downstream of the mouth of the Rio Conchos. These occurrences are considerably south of the present range of cutthroat trout. It is widely believed, however, that the climate in Texas and Chihuahua was much cooler during the last major pluvial in the area more than 10,000 years ago; resulting in "life zones" of flora and fauna being some 4,300 feet lower than present day. Arguably an opportunity for cutthroat trout to disperse from the upper Rio Grande/Pecos into the Conchos watershed. In fact, the longnose dace, which is thought to have entered the Rio Grande system via a stream capture by the Pecos River some 12,000 - 20,000 years ago, has long since dispersed into the Conchos headwaters.
There are also suggestions from geologists that the rios Yaqui and Conchos may have been connected in geological times, raising the possibility that Yaqui trout might have had access to the Conchos watershed through stream capture. In fact, the Rio Yaqui, as do other Pacific watersheds in Mexico, share sister species of fishes with the Rio Conchos.
For an interesting analysis of possible collection localities for Cope's trout, see Lupton's Story.
In l849, John Woodhouse Audubon, the son of the famous naturalist and artist, John James Audubon, led an expedition of 100 men on an overland journey through Mexico and Arizona on their way to the California gold-fields. His journals were published by his daughter in l906 as Audubon's Western Journal: 1849-1850. Audubon's journal entry on July 3rd, 1849 states:
"The river here makes a sudden turn from southeast to northwest, and we took it up-stream; it runs through miles of sandstone worn into cliffs and fissures, presenting the most fantastic shapes imaginable, delighting us at every turn. We looked in vain for fish in the most tempting of eddies and holes, but saw very few; little trout about five inches long were all that rewarded our search. We crossed and re-crossed this stream twenty-two times in about seven miles, and encamped on a sandy bottom covered with fine pines."
Audubon's journal states that they had left the Rio Conchos on the previous day, July 2nd, to head across the mountain pass. On the 4th of July the caravan rested, and on the 5th they passed near "Gabilana," [sic] and he mentions Santa Borgia (San Francisco de Borja) on the 6th. "Gavilana" (sometimes shown as Cavalana or Gavilan) was a remote mining town some 20-25 miles or so north-northwest of Nonoava. We have explored one tributary of the Rio Conchos to the north of Nonoava, but found the watershed to be heavily grazed and highly erodible, consequently the stream is subject to severe flash-flooding. The altitude is high enough and the surrounding pine forest suggests that the stream might have supported trout 150 years ago, but we found only chubs, Gila sp. We cannot be certain that Audubon was not referring to "Gila" chubs, commonly referred to as "trout" in some regions of the southwest. We know only that this was his first trip to the area, and that he had considerable experience in fishing, and had caught brown trout in Europe. Upon arrival in California, Audubon remarked upon the "salmon trout" in streams of that region -- possibly a reference to large steelhead.
Other anecdotal evidence of trout comes from American researcher, Arthur Flechsig, who was searching for trout in Mexico under the tutelage of Needham and Gard in 1953. Flechsig's field notes state that residents of Panalachi (an old Tarahumara Indian ejido) told him that there were fish matching his description of trout at two locations in the Conchos watershed. One site was a two day ride by horseback, the other was a half-day. Flechsig was hampered by a lack of good maps and was pressed for time, thus took the route to the closest arroyo, but found the stream largely dewatered by the severe and widespread drought, and collected only longnose dace. Flechsig told us that he is convinced that the Tarahumarans indeed did know where there were trout.
Still today various reports of trout in the Conchos have filtered to our research group. We were told of two species of trout in a stream near Panalachi, but found only introduced rainbows. Another stream in the Rio Porvenir basin north of El Vergel was "guaranteed" to have trout, similar to those in the Verde across the divide (Mexican goldens), but none were found, the stream and watershed having been a victim of overgrazing and a severe flash flood in the previous month. Next