The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-12
FRESH FISH FROM ILLINOIS PRAIRIE A New Industry on Illinois Rivers Is Assuming
 Large Proportions. HOW BUSINESS IS DONE Fish to the Extent of 2O,-
 OOO,OOO Pounds Sent
 East Last Year.
HOW BUSINESS IS DONE

The prairie State of Illinois shipped last year to the three principal east Tn markets, New York, Boston and Philadelphia, nearly 2O,OOOOOO pounds of fresh fish; and these fish were not from Lake Michigan nor from the Mis- slssippi, but, many of them originally foundlings rescued from mud holes and overflow ponds, were taken in the course of the regular and scientific de- velopment of the fishing indrs! y in the heart of the Prairie State.
 Nearly all Of these fish were of the variety known as "coarse'-carp and buffalo pradomlnhting- were for the usa of the ioIeign-born population. IA slnai' part, besides considerable qantty locally consumed, was large mouted black bass, croppy, suntish and otaer Of the finer" sorts.
 The Illinois river, which is to form 9 part of tho chhago's deep w9.erway to the gulf, is one of the most beautiful rivers in Amerca. Formed by the un- ion of the Fox. the Kankakee and the DesP!a'nes, and lovely prairie stream, if flows down through the trough which was once the outlet of the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, owing to it's steadlness and gentleness its banks are more stable than those of any other known navigable river, and it's chan nel does not vary from year to year. It Is grass bordered, and often resenl- bles a broad canal rather than river.
 When high water comes the stream overfiows It's banks and fills the woods back to the hills. As 1t falls again it leaves ponds, large and small, sloughs, canals and boge; and as the summer comes on these become heated and gradually evaporate. Some of them have been artificially drained and made into farmlands, for which they are ex- tremely valuable.
 In its original condition the Illinois was fine breeding ground for fish. Every spring, however, countless mil- lions of fry were left in the bacliwa- terg to die as the ponds eyaporated, and in the summer the stench of de- caying fish kept people at distance from the banks. As Chicago developed and began to send her sewage down the old Illinois and Michigan canal the polluted waters became so foul--as the sewage came almost undiluted--that in winter, penned under the ice, the fish died by millions and toward the end of the 90's the river was almost barren of them.
 The turning of the flow from the Chi cago drainage canal made the new fisheries gift to the people of Illinois. With no more sewage, but with an in- mense steady flow of pure lake water, the deluge from the canal poured down winter and summer. Under the ice as in the open the fish found plenty of oxygen, and the result was so quickly noted that in 1900, year after the opening of the canal, fine black bass and white perch were plenty at La- sale, point to which catfish and carp had hardly ventured for several years The addition of the flow from the lakes improved the river as breeding ground; the number of fishermen in- creased, and the state, which had some years before begun in 6 small way to study the problem of fish culture, made of its department of fisheries a really remarkable asset.
 This department of fisheries, which works in common with the United States fish commission, maintains on the Illinois river boat, the Illinois, very fast and well equipped for war den and carrying service. At Mere dosia, a quiet little place in the middle of the State, 1t has ponds for develop ing and hardening fish. And all over the State in more than a score of riv- CTS and in endless ponds and lakes it puts Its product.
 The great activity of the fish eom- mission comes in the spring as soon as the river begins to drop between Its banks. The warm water fish of the this region all spawn between April and the end of June, during which sea- son all commercial fishing and all shipment of fish is absolutely forbid> den. JAS the fish spread out into the ale most endless forests to their breeding grounds the fry-which hatch in the re- markedly short time of eight days are distributed over an enormous area, where food is abundant. As the waters recede, however, they are cut off from the main stream. Then along come the employees of the fish commission, sein- ing with fine net every slough, pound and lake. By this time the tempera- ture of these small waters may have risen to eighty or even eighty-five de- grees. The fish are "soft. The water of the illinois, owing to its flow from Lake Michigan, is considerable cooler But the fry, before being loosed there, are taken to Meredosla-many thous- and of them day-and put in "hard- ening ponds" there, in which is spring water at temperature of about fifty i've degrees, There they are kept until they are in prime condition. They are of necessity carefully assorted in sizes, as very slight difference in them will make the larger fish turn cannibal From the hardening ponds they are