798 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



At Seneca, a short-distance below the junction of the Kankakee and 

 Desplaines River, there is a dam which prevents any large number of 

 fishes from coming up the river above that point. This combined with 

 the effect of the Chicago River water, will doubtless eventually depop- 

 ulate the rivers above that place. Before the waters of Chicago River 

 were turned through the canal into the Desplaines, and from this into 

 the Kankakee and Illinois rivers, there was fine fishing at nearly every 

 point along these rivers, and in the smaller tributaries of each. 



Previously to the opening of the Chicago River into the canal in 1871, 

 rock-bass, {Amhloplites rupestris) ; black-bass, {Micropterus pallidus) ; 

 silver bass, {Boccus chrysops); wall-eyed pike, {Stizostethium vitreum); 

 mud-pike, ("?) ; pickerel, {Esoxlucius) ; mud-eel, (?) ; silver-eel, {AnguiUa 

 rostrata) ; buffalo fish, {Bubalichthys hubalus) ; red horse, Myxostoma mac- 



rolepidota); suckers, Catostomus ?); bull-heads, {Aminrns catns); 



spoon-fish, or shovel-bill, {Polyodon folium) ; sun-fish, {Poniotis f) • 



cat-fish, Amiurus — f) ; dog-fish, {Amia calva) ; gar pike, {Lepidosteus 



osseus); perch, {Perca americana), were caught in both these rivers, and 

 also in the Du Page River, wliich flows 6 miles east of Joliet, and 

 empties into the Desplaines 8 miles south of that town ; also in Hickory 

 Creek which rises about 14 jniles east of Joliet, and empties into the 

 Desplaines just south of the town, and in any of the streams of suffi- 

 cient size in this vicinity. 



When the current of Chicago River was first turned through the 

 canal and the rivers, it caused the fish in them to bloat to a large size, 

 and rising to the surface they floated down the stream in large num- 

 bers. It was estimated at the time that several tons of dead fish passed 

 through one of the canal- locks just after the foul water commenced run- 

 ning through the canal. 



When these bloated fish chanced to float into the clear water at the 

 mouth of some tributary of the river they would revive and swim up 

 the clear stream. Such large numbers of the fish revived in this man- 

 ner that all the small streams flowing into the Desplaines and Kankaku 

 rivers were filled with fish in such numbers that many were taken with 

 hook and line, one man taking over 300 in ii day in this manner at that 

 time. 



When the spring freshets occur the current is so rapid and the amount 

 of pure water in the river is so great, that the foul water does not have 

 much effect upon the fishes, and large numbers of the species mentioned 

 ascend the rivers and are caught with hook and line. Later in the sea- 

 son as the water subsides, and the water from Chicago River predom- 

 inates, the fish which came up in the spring die and are floated down 

 the river. In July and August when the water is the worst even the 

 mud turtles leave the river in disgust and seek less odorous homes. 



Dog-fish are the last to die. Next to this species the bull-head, 

 {Amiuruft caUis), are the longest lived, but finally they succumb and are 

 floated down like their predecessors. 



