FISHERIES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES. 6638 
dredge is drawn into the boat. The rakes above referred to are of 
several varieties, but the kind most eommonly used is the shoulder 
rake. The apparatus of various forms employed in this fishery was 
valued at $10,393. 
The investment in shore and accessory property and cash capital, 
utilized chiefly in the pearl-button industry and wholesale trade in 
fishery products, was distributed in a number of States. Those in 
which it was largest were Missouri, $593,804; Iowa, $291,492; Nebraska, 
$119,550; Illinois, 867,480; Minnesota, $79,420; Tennessee, $62,257; 
Kentucky, $57,702, and Wisconsin, $23,275. 
The products of the fisheries of the Mississippi and its tributaries in 
1899 had a total weight of 96,797,487 pounds and a value of $1,781,029. 
Of this quantity, fish, including caviar, represented 47,719,798 pounds, 
$1,473,040; shrimp, 200,058 pounds, $16,095; turtles and terrapin, 
782,015 pounds, $17,148; frogs, 440,996 pounds, $53,054; alligator 
hides, 990, $1,238; otter skins, 810, $4,050, and mussel shells, 23,824 
tons, $216,404. 
The species taken in greatest quantity were buffalo-fish, 14,215,975 
pounds, $349,913; German carp, 11,868,840 pounds, $289,258; cat-fish, 
7,648,179 pounds, $339,800; fresh-water drum, 3,149,282 pounds, 
$108,786; paddle-fish or spoonbill cat, 2,473,250 pounds, $55,514; 
suckers, 2,248,934 pounds, $76,993; crappie, 1,318,832 pounds, $61,400. 
The greater part of the German carp, or 9,896,499 pounds, valued at 
$244,322, was the product of the fisheries of Illinois; buffalo-fish were 
also more abundant in that State than in any other, the catch being 
4,050,941 pounds, valued at $111,707. 
Paddle-fish were taken in twelve States and in practically all of the 
principal rivers of this region. The catch, over half of which was 
obtained in Arkansas and Mississippi, is more than twice as large as 
in 1894, the year for which these fisheries were last canvassed. For- 
merly only the flesh of this fish was marketed, but in about 1896 the 
fishermen along the lower part of the Mississippi River began to use 
the roein the preparation of caviar. In 1899 caviar from the roe of 
paddle-fish was prepared in three States. Arkansas produced 34,175 
pounds, $11,488; Louisiana, 3,750 pounds, $1,000, and Mississippi 
32,775 pounds, $14,391, the total yield being 70,700 pounds, $26,879. 
It is said to be less desirable in flavor than the caviar made from the 
roe of sturgeon, and is marketable chiefly because sturgeon caviar 
has become scarce and expensive. The product is shipped for market 
to New York and Chicago. 
Other species taken in considerable quantities were black bass, 
948,184 pounds, $56,652; sun-fish, 910,963 pounds, $21,318; shovel- 
nose sturgeon, 711,693 pounds, $19,142; white and rock bass, 278,457 
pounds, $11,494; lake sturgeon (Acipenser rubicundus), 234,145 pounds, 
$8,064; pike and pickerel, 216,952 pounds, $8,045; and pike perch 
(wall-eyed), 210,112 pounds, $12,156. 
