For many years, Gardenswartz Sports displayed big fish caught locally in a large cooler at the entrance to its store on Main Avenue. There was a weekly prize for the largest fish. This picture was displayed on the cooler to draw the interest of passersby. Fred Klatt Sr. was a barber by profession, having worked at the Strater, Crystal and Sanitary barber shops. His passion, however, appears to have been fishing. From the 1930s through the 1960s, The Durango Herald reported on his fishing successes. He was president of the local Sportsman’s Club for many years and was instrumental in creating Huck Finn Pond in the mid-1950s. When this picture was taken, the Pine River Dam was fairly new. Constructed in the late 1930s, it was filled in 1941. Today, it is known as Vallecito Reservoir. Klatt died at age 79 in 1974. His burial marker at Greenmount Cemetery has a large trout etched on it. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum (Catalog Number: 89.14.21 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)
