208 Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting. 
Owing to the peculiar conditions governing them, the wa- 
ters of Illinois have been great breeding places for the coarse 
fishes. Thousands of acres of the low grounds are inundated 
every year along our great rivers, at the season when the 
buffalo, the greatest commercial fish of the state, are “rolling” 
or spawning. At this time great quantities of buffalo were 
easily taken, and they were shipped in large lots to the greater 
markets, principally to St. Louis, on commission, to the whole- 
sale dealers, and the markets were frequently so glutted with 
fish that sales were almost impossible, and the freight was 
hardly realized. During the “sixties” the Mississippi river had 
two lines of steamboats running daily between St. Louis and St. 
Paul, and the Illinois river had as many, running between St. 
Louis and Peoria, and at every landing sugar hogsheads packed 
with buffalo were offered for shipment to St. Louis. At the 
wharf here at Quincy, I have seen so many hogsheads of fish 
offered for shipment that only a small part could be taken, as 
the boat was carrying shipments from all points above, and 
could take only part offered at each landing. At this time the 
boats offered almost the only facilities for the transportation of 
freight between river towns, and enormous quantities of freight 
drawn from the country back of the rivers naturally accumu- 
lated at these towns, and nearly always more freight was of- 
fered than could be taken, and although preference was given to 
perishable articles, still the fish were brought in such quantities 
that it was impossible to handle them all, and a great waste 
resulted. This was at a time when there were no protective 
laws, and it was possible to take fish anywhere and in any 
way. It needs but a moment’s consideration to see what this 
wholesale waste would lead to. The supply could not long 
sustain it, and the inevitable result must and did follow, the 
practical depletion of the waters. Well, to be brief, the buffalo 
practically disappeared, and the large concerns engaged in fish- 
ing as an industry gradually dropped out, until only an occa- 
sional small concern was left, depending on local trade for main- 
tenance. Later, protective laws were enacted, but were little 
observed, the fishermen resenting any interference with what 
they considered their natural, vested rights, and only by the 
education of the people generally to the necessity of a proper 
