The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-03-15
GhEE LAWS.

| Every session OF the Illinois legislature a
good deal Of time is usclcs-ly spent in over
hauling, amending and making more stringent
the laws for the protection Of game FIRST the
killing oi' prairie CliGhous vas forbidden be-
tween the Isl of January aud lSt Of August;
then the prohibition va, extended TO JIc lith
Of AUGUST, and now it Is lcrrthcnrd out 20 he
Is, Of September. So the killing Of deer, wild
turkeys, phca,ant, quail, ducks, brant, &C.
Is every session restrained By more stringent
regulations
The mass Of this legislation is obviously
supcrfuous and nonscnsical. It IS not the
rifle, shotgun ur trap of the hunter that is de.
stroyinc the wild came of Illinois, but the
pillow, the harrow NJ" reaper The mower, The
lOcomotivc-in short The rcSistlcsS onward
march of civilization and the arts, II would
be- quite a. cG,ibir uUd effective to pas, laws
prohibiting the shooting III lllino, OF buffalo
and elk as The deer, prairie chicken and wild
turkey, for destiny is no less ineXOrably driv
ing the latter out than it drove ont the former.
The only way in which such game can be pre-,
-'I N''1 III l'IAlI'' - ~ '''tAl- ''p''AN I''A
grove, and tracts "a, same preserves, after the
of the nobility in England. Judge
Cation has, in the edge of our city, about l2O
acres OF woodland thus enclosed in which a
few elk, deer, antelope and wild turkeys are
and if his park" covered a hous.
and acres or more instead OF hundred, doubt
less he could also protect III it quail pleas
ants and possibly prairie chicken. But in this
land of money making and thrift it don't pay
to invest capital in such enterprises, and Ger
tainly the matter is not Of sufficient public i'm
portancc to Justify Legislative appropriations |
TO establish vast game preserves,
While there is no legislative salvation for
our game, however the case Is different in re-
gard to fish But for the wholly wanton and
annual destruction Of the spawn |
of our game fish by the barharouS seine, there
is no reason why the fish in our rivers should |
decrease in quantity. 1t is Il law of fish ma
ture to ascend each spring from the ocean or
other deep waters TO the heads Of streams TO
spawn; and it is further law Of fish nature
for the young fish, thus spawned at the heads I
Of creeks, in after years, when grown INTO large /
fish, 10 ascend to the same spawning grounds. |
If by dams, or other Instructions in the
streams, they are prevented from ascending,
and they are compelled TO spawn lower down,
their issue never afterwards go highcrup The
only condition. therefore, necessary TO keep
our rivers stocked with fish is, to see that, in
the first place, they spawn as far up as posi-
blc secondly, that the dams in the rivers shall |
be supplied with fish racks; and thirdly, to
protect the spawn from destruction by the
ruthless seine The fish in the Illinois and |
Fox rivers last season We're apparently rs plcn-
ty As they eyer were, except that they were
small The seine each spring cleans out the
large ones and the minnows alone are left for
next season. Stop seininga few years and the
fish will be as large and as plenty as in the
days when :hc Indians tished in our rivers.