FISHERIES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES. 735 
are employed, more than two-thirds of the product being obtained by 
the first-named apparatus. The catch is marketed principally at 
Omaha, but that city depends for its fish supplies mainly on Missis- 
sippi River, the Great Lakes, and the Pacific Coast. Fish from the 
last-named region are frequently sold in Omaha at less than is obtained 
for the product from the Missouri. The Douglas County fishermen 
occasionally resort to Cut-off Lake, an old bed of the Missouri River, 
located near Omaha. In addition to the usual species found in the 
Missouri River the pickerel or grass pike occurs in considerable abun- 
dance in this lake. 
At Bellevue, in Larpy County, a number of men use seines, fyke 
nets, and set lines, and at Plattsmouth and Rock Bluff, in Cass County, 
the same forms of apparatus are used, the catch at each locality con- 
sisting of buffalo-fish, cat-fish, quillbacks, paddle-fish, suckers, and 
lake sturgeon. 
The fishermen of Otoe County reside at Nebraska City, the apparatus 
employed being seines, fyke nets, trammel nets, and set lines, and the 
catch consists of cat-fish, buffalo-fish, lake sturgeon, fresh-water drum, 
and paddle-fish. In Nemaha County the fisheries are centered at Pean, 
Brownsville, and Nemaha, and in Richardson County at St. Deron 
and Rulo. Seines and set lines are used to a small extent at these set- 
tlements, the catch being similar to that obtained farther up the river. 
Very few of the fishermen along this portion of the Missouri depend 
entirely on fishing for a living, but engage also in farming and other 
occupations. 
Because of the unfavorable conditions of having little water in a 
large portion of its length during many months of the year Platte 
River can never have more than a limited and temporary supply of 
fish. During high water fish enter the stream from Missouri River 
in considerable abundance, and for a brief period are taken in com- 
paratively large quantities by the farmers and others residing near the 
river. The species are not numerous, comprising cat-fish, buffalo-fish, 
paddle-fish, suckers, fresh-water drum or sheepshead, lake sturgeon, 
and eels. Many of the farmers living along the shores of the Platte 
have two or three fyke nets with which they occasionally take suffi- 
cient fish for home use. Set lines are also used. These consist of 6 to 
12 hocks, baited with meat or refuse fish, attached to a single line, 
and the line connected with the shore, where it can be readily examined 
every morning. As the water recedes, many fish are left in the holes 
or basins, and these are often obtained in great quantities by the use 
of hay forks. Occasionally a surplus is obtained, a ready market for 
which is found in the adjacent villages. 
The same varieties of fish occur in Loup River as are found in the 
Platte, besides a large quantity of pike perch (wall-eyed), supposed to 
be the result of deposits made by the U.S. Fish Commission. As this 
