54 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



crappie, pickerel, and channel catfish might he seined from these pools and moved 

 to the river currents hefore the droughts killed them. 



Marked Tree, Ark., was selected as a base of operations because it presented the 

 following points: (1) It is a station on the line of the Kansas City, Fort Scott and 

 Memphis Railroad; (2) it has a night and day telegraph operator; (3) all trains 

 stop there; (4) it has a railway water tank; (5) it has two side tracks aggregating 

 over a mile ; (6) on one side the St. Francis River is within 40 yards of the track, and 

 on the other side Little River is as close; (7) the borrow pits extend 7 miles west of 

 Marked Tree and about the same distance to the east. It was contemplated to seine 

 the borrow pits, transfer the catch on hand oars to Marked Tree, and retain the fish 

 in live-boxes until it was convenient to ship them. 



The last week of July was spent in making preliminary arrangements for this 

 work. On August 1 actual seining was commenced, with a force consisting of two 

 seiners with one man to help in sorting and caring for the catch, two men to run the 

 hand car, and one man at the live-boxes to equalize the difference in temperature of 

 the water in the borrow pits and the river. The first day's seining resulted in about 

 4.500 fingerling crappie and bass transferred to the live boxes in apparent good order. 



On the morning of August 2 an examination of the boxes showed that nearly 

 all of the fishes canght the day before were dead. It was thought that this possibly 

 had been produced by an overstrong current in the box, and a change in the posi- 

 tion in the boxes was made so as to reduce the strength of the current. On this day 

 we caught and removed to the boxes something over 5,000 fish. By evening the 

 dying and suffering of those caught in the morning indicated clearly that the trouble 

 was not solely due to current. 



On the morning of August 3 the boxes had only about 300 fish (in bad order) to 

 show for the 10,000 put in them in the past two days. To-day we fished the borrow 

 pits near Oak Domic, handling the fish in small lots and much more carefully. We 

 secured about 5,000 fish, mostly crappie, and transferred them to the live-boxes. 



August 4. This morning the condition of the boxes being unimproved, and all 

 known methods of handling fish having been tried without avail, it was concluded 

 to abandon for the present any attempt to store the fish. Seining was continued 

 throughout the day, resulting in about 5,000 crappie and bass, which were planted 

 directly in the St. Francis River. In the afternoon a telegram was sent to the Com- 

 missioner, stating that the fish alive twelve hours after capture were fungussed, and 

 a recommendation made that the work be discontinued. 



Augusts. We seined the borrow pits until noon, capturing about 3,000 crappie, 

 which we placed in the St. Francis River. At noon a telegram was received from 

 the Commissioner, directing that the work be discontinued and that the equipment 

 be transferred to Neosho Station. 



It is the opinion that the failure to successfully handle these fish was due to the 

 very high temperature of the water in which they were found, the water in many of 

 the pits ranging from 95° to 98° F. The fish living in this water were so tender that 

 the gentlest handling produced an abrasion which quickly resulted in a fungus 

 growth. It is very doubtful if any of those planted in the St. Francis River will 

 survive the handling. 



It has been suggested that this work might successfully be prosecuted earlier in 

 the season, before the water in the borrow pits has become so very hot as to render 

 the fish too tender for handling. There is no doubt but that this might be done, but 

 to a limited extent only, because the waters are already at a high temperature before 

 they commence to fall, and until the recession occurs seining would be nearly 

 impossible. 



The inundation of the Sunk Lands usually occurs in the latter part of February or 

 early in March. In the year 1893 it was later than for many years, not coming on 

 until May. To this cause undoubtedly is to be ascribed the scarcity of young game 

 fish in the borrow pits. The adults had spawned elsewhere before the overflow 

 came in. 



