FISHERIES AT CHICAGO AND VICINITY. 795 



4. — RIVERDALE, ILL. 



At this place the fisherinau has uetted with hoop and gill nets for 

 nine years. Tbe fyke-net is placed on one side ot the Calumet River 

 with the opening- down stream, the arms running out 13 feet on each 

 side. The gill-net is stretched across the river. At Riverdaie there is 

 a large distillery from which the slops are condui-ted into the river, and 

 this affects tbe water so that a sour odor is very apparent for 6 or 8 miles 

 below. The decrease in the number of fislies in the river is, without 

 doubt, owing in part to this cause, as no fishes can be caught during the 

 summer and fall for several miles below the distillery, while a short dis- 

 tance above, perch, sunfish, and several other species, are common. In 

 proof of the destructive effect of this waste from the distillery I have 

 the following notes of a remarkable run of fish I chanced to witness 

 last winter (1875) and the effect of the water upon the fish above and be- 

 low Riverdaie. January 27, 1875, being at Riverdaie and hearing several 

 persons speaking of the large number of fish they were catching at the 

 river, I went down to the ground. Owing to the severe cold weather the 

 ice on the river was 20 inches thick, by measurement. The only open- 

 ings, to my knowledge, in the ice throughout the course of this branch 

 of the river were at Riverdaie and Blue Island, 8 miles farther up the 

 stream. At the former place there were two openings, one made by the 

 ice-cutters, and the other, about 10 feet across, caused by the warm 

 water from an artesian well flowing into the river near the distillery. 

 At Blue Island the opening was caused by the rapid current flowing 

 over the remains of a dam. On reaching the bank of the river I saw a 

 group of men and boys surrounding the openings, which were about 

 200 yards apart. They were armed with shovels, pitchforks, muskrat- 

 spears, dip-nets, and indeed any implements that could be used in throw- 

 ing or pulling the fish out of the water. Joining one of these groups 1 

 was astonished to find the water filled with a struggling mass of fishes, 

 all striving to get their noses to the surface of the water. As among 

 these there were many large-sized fish, many of the smaller fry were 

 lifted from the water, and where the new ice had commenced to form 

 about the edges of the opening there was a solid layer of small 

 perch and bullheads crowded out in this manner. On the ice, to one 

 side of the hole, was a pile of buffalo-fish, large perch, bullheads, a 

 few pickerel and black bass, which had been caught by one man with a 

 dip-net. When he removed them, there were two one-horse wagon- 

 loads, amouncing to over 2,500 pounds. Scattered about on the ice 

 were hundreds of fishes not edible. Garpike {Leindosteus osseus) were 

 especially numerous. I counted over two hundred and seemed no nearer 

 the end than when I had commenced. They varied from 12 inches to 

 3^ feet in length. With them were a nearly equal number of dog-fish. 

 Examing the large pile of fish, I found perch, buffalo-fish, lake cat-fish, 

 bullheads, and rock-bass were the most numerous species, the buffalo- 



