VA. watershed, five families and 14 species Annotated List of the Fishes of occur in Shavers Fork south of Cheat Shavers Fork South of Cheat Bridge Fishes of the Headwaters of Shavers Fork Bridge. All are typical, small, brook and I. TROUT-SALMONIDAE mountain stream inhabitants yet some of gairdneri iridius By Frank J. Schwartz the trout are sizable. Rainbow trout—Salmo Associated with this fauna are many This fish is distinguished by the species of aquatic insects such as dragon- conspicuous rosy stripe or bank which We wondered as we rode the zigzagging valley broadens to about a half a mile and extends down each side. The trout Cass Railroad up along Leatherbark Run flies, damsel flies, stone flies, the crayfish the stream is 20 to 30 feet wide with many Cambarus bartoni, and an occasional sala- possess an extra fleshy lobe between what type of country, stream and fishes small pools having good trout cover. the dorsal (back) and caudal (tail) fins. we would find once we hiked across Back mander, the largest of which is the hell- A short distance downstream from bender Cryptobranchus alleganiensis (Fig. The body is marked by small black Allegheny Mountain at 3940 feet into the Spruce, the valley narrows between heavily spots. Sizable stock individuals are headwaters of Shavers Fork. We, too, 1). The hellbender is often encountered at forested and very steep hillsides and the Cheat Bridge where it preys on small found from Beaver Creek downstream. wondered about the fate of a raindrop river, now 50 feet wide, drops only 243 A reproducing population is found in were it to fall at the summit (altitude 4839 fish, crayfish, worms, insects and a great feet in the next 10 or 11 miles. Beautiful, variety of animal refuse. the headwaters above Spruce. feet) and what it would encounter in its roaring mountain tributaries further A newly developed golden strain of 20.5 mile northerly journey to Cheat downstream such as Second Fork and First the rainbow trout has been stocked in Bridge. Fork gush in plentiful, cold spring waters. Shavers Fork. One hundred three-year Shavers Fork, a tributary of Cheat River, Tributaries entering from the west such olds were stocked in April and 1300 arises near Thorny Flat in Pocahontas as Black Run (Randolph County) are too more in October of 1963. They were County, some three miles west of Cass, sterile, pure and free of nutrients even to 14 to 18 inches long and weighed one West Virginia. The Cheat flows towards support native brook trout. to two and a half pounds. A small Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to become part Over the final five miles north to Cheat number have been stocked each sub- of the Ohio-Mississippi River complex Bridge (elevation 3557 feet) the two to sequent year and routinely a small which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. four-foot deep river, now 75 feet wide, fraction of the regular rainbow stock- Cradled in a beautiful valley between drops only 53 feet. ed are I2-inch "Golden Rainbows." Al- Cheat Mountain on the west and Back Throughout its length, the stream bottom though they spawn when three years Allegheny Mountain on the east, Shavers is strewn with large boulders, stones and old when reared in hatcheries, little is Fork is almost inaccessible except for high- gravel except at the exposed Spruce area known of their survival and biology in way U.S. 250 which crosses it at Cheat which has sandy bottoms and calm pools. nature. Bridge. A second restricted access is via the Many cascades tumble and roar all along Brook trout—Salvelinus fontinalis Elk River branch of the Western Maryland the stream with the highest (40 ft.), about This is a brightly colored fish which Railroad which meanders from side to five miles above (south of) Bemis, being side along the stream's banks from Cheat is rosy-orange ventrally. Each ventral one of the most inspiring in West Virginia. (belly) fin is orange, edged in white Bridge to Spruce, eventually reaching Web- All along the riverway, spring fed tribu- ster Springs. and black. Reddish and/or blue spots taries provide cold water to maintain a occur on the body. The dorsal fins Third entry, the way we came, is via year-round trout habitat and the high eleva- the Cass Scenic Railroad which, on its way and back have worm-like markings. tions keep the water temperatures cool. In Native populations of brook trout up to Bald Knob, passes the ghost camp of June it is not unusual to have water Old Spruce. An old abandoned railroad to six inches abound in the extreme temperature as low as 48°F and it is not headwaters south of Spruce, in most grade, denuded of rails and ties, leads from uncommon to see snow on the banks in the old lumber campsite one and a half smaller tributaries and the headwaters mid-June. In winter the river freezes over of the larger tributaries. Individuals miles to the ghost town of Spruce where often as deep as two feet and snowfall is not a single building remains of the once downstream are common, however, heavy, averaging two to three feet with they must compete with many other flourishing community. drifts up to eight feet. Anchor ice is com- Fig. 1 Except for a few houses at Cheat Bridge, fish including stocked trout for the mon and spring torrents cause heavy ice limited food. Larger native brook trout the area between there and Spruce is un- jams near Cheat Bridge. inhabited including the abandoned coal sometimes occur. An exceptionally Goldsborough and Clark made several The trouts and suckers provide good large one, 17.2 inches long, was caught mining camp at Hopkins near Snyder Knob. forays to study the fish fauna of a limited fishing. Although the many smaller fishes The Pocahontas-Randolph County line in 1965 from these waters. Unless the portion of West Virginia in 1908. Mc- are often caught accidentally, their size area is drastically lumbered over to crosses the area between Second Fork and Gavitt and Davis surveyed the water First Fork just south of Hopkins. con- prevents their being of any food value. expose the watershed, these popula- ditions of the Monongahela National Their most important role is as food for the tions should continue to maintain All of the area drained by Shavers Fork Forest in 1935 and mentioned the capture larger fishes. themselves to supply sport for the in this vicinity is over 3500 feet in eleva- of several rainbow trout near Cheat Bridge In the "good old days," only a few avid fishermen from Cass, Stony Bot- tion and runs up to 4842 at Bald Knob, as well as the acid-like nature of Black people fished these waters. Even the few tom and nearby areas. second highest elevation in the state, only and Buck Rivers near Hopkins. The upper who fished the remote reaches in the 18 feet lower than Spruce Knob, the high- Shavers Fork fish fauna remained unknown 1940's were able to catch tnany native Brown trout—Salmo trutta est point. For the first two miles, the until 1940 when Dr. E. Rainey of Cornell brook trout. Some ranged over a pound. True to its name, the brown trout stream flows at an elevation at 4000 feet University sampled at Cheat Bridge. Our Today, portions are still only moderately has a generally brown color with black or more making it the loftiest stream in the 1956 visit constituted the first complete fished. While the native brook trout are spots. The spots are larger than the state and reportedly the highest river flow- survey of the aquatic fauna of this portion generally smaller, many larger hatchery black spots in the rainbow, but there ing east of the Mississippi. of West Virginia. We entered this virgin brown, rainbow and brook trout are stock- are never any spots on the tail of the Within its first four and a half miles. area via the Cass Railroad train, then ed by rail often as far as Beaver Creek, brown trout as are found on rainbow Shavers Fork picks up small tributaries walked, and sampled fish and its many nine miles south of Cheat Bridge. Some, trout. The brown trout has some red- such as Black Run (Pocahontas County) and tributaries, to Cheat Bridge. particularly brown trout, hold over from dish to yellowish spots on its sides and tumbles down 1009 feet to Spruce. Here at Our studies showed, of seven familiesand one year to the next and are of large size is a striking yellow underneath. the abandoned lumber train junction the 50 species of fishes known from the Cheat when caught. Brown trout evidently survive warm- 29 In: Cass Scenic Railroad. West Virginia University Li rary ze er water conditions, compete better Longnose dace—Rhinichthys cataractae will spawri in riffles. It prefers to with warm water populations, and are This black or grey, long, sleek bar- feed and swim hovering near the base less likely to be caught out at small beled minnow with a long nose may of riffles. It is an excellent bait for size by heavy fishing than other trout. reach six to eight inches in length and trout or bass. Each year a few browns in the neigh- inhabits the swiftest portions of IV. PERCHES—PERCIDAE borhood of 20 inches are caught. En- streams. It prefers to hide under rocks Sharpnose darter—Percina oxyrhyncha ough brown trout become a part of and feeds on insects that inhabit the This long snouted, perch-like slender the resident population that some na- riffles.