In his book, The Clearwater Story: A History of the Clearwater National Forest, Ralph Space recounts the story of Deputy Game Warden C.K. (Andy) Hjort who was responsible for planting fish in some of the high mountain lakes of the Coolwater Ridge and Crag country. Space was not sure when it started, but when he visited the lakes in 1923 and 1924, every lake that was big and deep enough to support fish was planted.

Though it could be done today with helicopters in a few hours, it took Andy weeks of hard work. The road ended at Pete King. The fish were shipped to Kooskia by train in 10-gallon cream cans. The Andy would load the cans in his old jalopy and take them to Lowell where would stay overnight. He had installed holding facilities for the fish there.

The next day he loaded the fish and water on his horses to go to Coolwater Lookout where there was another holding facility. The next day he would go to Old Man Meadows for another stop over. The fish were planted the next day.

Ralph said Andy must have completed his planting by 1923 because when he was there that year, the holding facilities were still in place, but in bad condition. He caught a mess of trout in one of the Coolwater Lakes, but Old Man Lake was still closed to fishing. He did find the head of a fish in the garbage that appeared to have weighed two pounds. He found out later that Andy had caught the fish, taken a photo and sent it to the Game Warden in Boise with a recommendation that the lake be opened for fishing.

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