40 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



strikingly indicates that streams may 

 become restocked with life in a short 

 period after pollution has ceased to be 

 of an unfavorable character. At the 

 present time the sturgeon, which for- 

 merly resorted to the river to feed and 

 breed, and had been driven out by the 

 polluted condition of the stream, has 

 returned, which is another indication 

 of improved conditions. It is quite 

 probable that the large fall in the river, 

 some 60 feet in height, has had a marked 

 effect in the return of these favorable 

 conditions. 



A study of the Salt Fork of the Big 

 Vermilion River, indicates that all 

 clean water life, including mussels and 

 crayfishes, has been excluded from this 

 stream for a distance of fourteen miles, 

 and a normal fauna of these animals is 

 not encountered until a distance of 

 twenty miles has been traversed. The 

 shallowness of this stream has" evidently 

 provided a sufficient supply of dissolved 

 oxygen and it is apparent that in a 

 deeper stream the ill effects of sewage 

 pollution would be experienced for a 

 much greater distance. 



Ecological reports from different 

 states show that wherever towns, cities, 

 mines, or manufacturing plants are 

 located near a stream, that body of 

 water sooner or later becomes polluted. 

 Little definite work has been done to 

 bring together all of the data concerning 

 river and stream pollution. That which 

 is available indicates a truly alarming 

 condition of affairs. 



In South Carolina the fertilizer fac- 

 tories discharge wastes of many kinds, 

 including sulphuric acid, into the 

 streams, and oil-burning steamers per- 

 mit oil to run into the water of harbors 

 and bays. The State is taking action 

 againdt this practise. 



In Idaho and Montana mine water 

 pollutes some of the streams. In West 

 Virginia, as in Pennsylvania, the lower 

 parts of the streams are polluted by 

 refuse from coal mines, pulp and paper 

 mills, chemical plants, and sewage 

 from cities and towns. In Ohio, large 

 streams are polluted by sewage and 



mine wastes. Iowa and Missouri 

 streams are reported as badly polluted. 

 In Arkansas, in the Poteau River, fish 

 are being killed by mine wastes charged 

 with iron salts, whose rapid oxidation 

 suffocates the fish. In Minnesota, the 

 large streams are polluted by sewage 

 from the large cities. In Wisconsin, 

 sewage is polluting Lake Winnebago 

 from which the water supply of Osh- 

 kosh is derived. Manufacturing wastes 

 from match factories and paper mills 

 also pollute the waters of the Fox River, 

 These examples might be indefinitely 

 extended. The survey of present con- 

 ditions indicates that wherever stream 

 pollution occurs the clean-water ani- 

 mals are sooner or later driven out or 

 killed. Such a condition seriously af- 

 fects our food and game fishes, which 

 form so large a part of the meat of our 

 population, and the situation demands 

 immediate attention and early remedy. 

 It is a matter of great satisfaction to 

 scientific men that the authorities are 

 awakened to the seriousness of such 

 conditions and that in many cases they 

 are providing remedial measures. 



LIST OF REFERENCES IN THE TEXT 



Baker, Frank Collins 



1920. Animal Life and Sewage in the 

 Genessee River, New York. 

 American Naturalist, LIV, pp. 

 152-161. 



1922. The Molluscan Fauna of the Big 

 Vermilion River, Illinois. 

 With Special Reference to its 

 Modification as the Result of 

 Pollution by Sewage and 

 Manufacturing Wastes. Illi- 

 nois Biological Monographs, 

 VII, pp. 1-126, 6 pi. 

 Forbes, S. A., and Richardson, R. A. 



1913. Studies on the Biology of the 

 Upper Illinois River. Bull. 

 III. State Lab. Nat. Hist., 

 IX, pp. 481-574. 



1919. Some recent changes in Illinois 

 River Biology. Bull. III. Nat. 

 Hist. Survey, XIII, pp. 137-156. 

 Leighton, Marshall O. 



1904. Quality of Water in the Susque- 

 hanna River Drainage Basin. 

 Water Supply and Irrigation 

 Paper, No. 108, U. S. Geol. 

 Surv.y pp. 1-76. 



