FRESH-WATER MUSSELS AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 51 
Besides mussels the hooks bring up snags, small logs, and an almost unlimited 
variety of articles that have found their way into the river. There may be a greater 
or less number of larger hang-ups and other obstructions in the river, which may cause 
delay or theloss of a complete bar. No work is attempted in windy weather, ordinarily, 
on account of the trouble of handling the boat and the consequent danger of becoming 
entangled in the hooks or of being dragged overboard. 
Where no current prevails, as in Lake Pepin, the propulsion of the boat was formerly 
accomplished by dropping an anchor with a very long cable attached to a windlass on 
the boat. The boat was then propelled away to a point where the bar was dropped. 
Turning the windlass by hand, the boat and bar were dragged over the mussel bed. The 
engine power itself was regarded as too violent, as well as too expensive, for the rate 
of movement desired in dragging. Now, however, the shellers on Lake Pepin generally 
use two boats, a flat boat attached broadside against the stern of a motor boat, T fashion. 
In this way two or even four bars may be dragged on the bottom at the same time, 
employing the motive power of the engine. 
It is interesting to note that when this method was first brought into use in 1897, 
the parts of the apparatus were small and the method of employment crude. The bar 
was only from 4 to 8 feet long, provided with 16 or more hooks, and dragged by a rope 
from the stern of the boat. Two men usually operated in partnership, one man hand- 
ling the apparatus, while the other rowed the outfit laboriously over the mussel beds. The 
hand motive power was later improved by the use of a driftboard or mule. By chance 
it was discovered that a similar effect was had when the boat was allowed to drift 
broadside to the current. Although this method is still used in some places, it has not 
gained general favor with the mussel fishermen, probably because, when the boat is 
used broadside, there is more or less danger of dipping water or swamping. 
When the boat is used broadside, a series of cleats are placed on the gunwales 
of the boat in the middle portions. If a drag rope is attached to the middle cleat, the 
pull of the drag will be directly opposed to the current. If, however, it is desired to 
steer away from the shore, it is only necessary to shift the rope to another cleat, shore- 
ward, or channelward, as the case may be, and the resultant force of the current is in 
the direction desired. If there is not sufficient force in the current to move the boat 
fast enough, a leeboard, or mule, may be used as readily as with the ordinary fore-and-aft 
position of the boat. 
For work on a much larger scale than can be accomplished by means of the ordi- 
nary-sized boats there are occasionally employed heavy barges of a type illustrated in 
Plate XXVIII. These are used successfully on the Ohio River, near Vevay, Ind., 
and, though somewhat similar in construction to the usual john boat, they are much 
larger and more solidly built; the dimensions are, approximately, 10 by 40 feet. The 
barge is fitted with uprights and pulleys for handling the bars and with standards 
for holding them when raised. There are 4 bars 20 feet in length by 1.25 inches in 
diameter, to each of which are attached 76 strings, bearing 7 hooks each, thus making 
more than 2,000 hooks for the entire outfit. In operating this contrivance the bars 
at the opposite corners are lowered alternately into the river, so that as far as prac- 
ticable two bars are always in the water. Because of the weight and the resistance of 
the bars on the bottom, a very large mule is used during a good stage of water or in 
