278 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



FISHES PLANTED IN LAKE MAXINKUCKEE 



The people interested in Lake Maxinkuckee have been and are 

 alive to the value of the artificial propagation of food and game 

 fishes and the inadequacy of natural reproduction to keep up the 

 supply in the lake. The officials of the Vandalia Railroad, the 

 Maxinkuckee Association, and a number of private individuals 

 have kept in touch with angling conditions at the lake and have 

 been active in their efforts to keep up the supply of fish. The 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries has always responded promptly 

 to requests for fish for this lake, and during the last 23 years has 

 planted in the lake a total of more than 34,138,830 fish. 



So far as known the first plantings of fish in Lake Maxinkuckee 

 were made in September, 1889, and August, 1890, by the senior 

 author of this report, then professor of biology in the Indiana State 

 Normal School at Terre Haute. In his investigations about Terre 

 Haute he had observed that, during high water in the spring, many 

 fishes, including both the large-mouth black bass and the small- 

 mouth black bass, run out into the overflow ponds and bayous 

 along the Wabash River, and, as the water recedes, become caught 

 there. And in the fall the majority of these ponds dry up and 

 the fish in them perish. He conceived the idea of seining out these 

 fish and transplanting them into the Wabash River and Lake Max- 

 inkuckee. Large tin transportation cans were borrowed from the 

 U. S. Fish Commission, and with the assistance of his students 

 several hundred valuable fish were saved which would otherwise 

 certainly have perished had they been left in the ponds. Many 

 hundreds of large-mouth black bass, small-mouth black bass, rock 

 bass, crappie, calico bass, sunfish and catfish of several species, 

 suckers, buffalo, saugers, and other less important kinds, were 

 turned loose in the Wabash River near by, and one shipment was 

 made to Lake Maxinkuckee. Two other shipments were made in 

 August, 1890. Mr. George E. Farrington, general agent of the 

 Vandalia, with the true public spirit and a keen appreciation of the 

 advantages of keeping Lake Maxinkuckee an attractive fishing 

 resort, kindly arranged for the free transportation of the fish to 

 the lake, and the three plants were made from the pier at Knapp's 

 hotel. The three plants aggregated a total of 750 adult fish and 

 consisted chiefly of large-mouth black bass though there were many 

 of the small-mouth species among them. 



Since then the U. S. Fish Commission (now the Bureau of Fish- 

 eries) , has planted a great many fish in Lake Maxinkuckee, as may 



