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iiois river, 250 miles loiii;-, as ;i iiavi;j;Hble stream, is for the greater 

 part of it an ideal stream for such Hshes. The spring lak(?s, adjacent, 

 and of which there are thousands, afford ample breeding places for 

 the bass and other gamier varieties. Fox lake, which is a part of the 

 head of the river, has been and always will be one of the greatest 

 breeding grounds in the country for game fishes, which find their 

 way into the Illinois river, and there they find plenty of food to their 

 taste in the carp and its product of spawn and fry. 



That the commercial side of the industry is a large one can be 

 easily verified by consulting the reports from the various cities along 

 this river. Take from the towns of the Illinois river the fishing in- 

 dustry and it would practically put most of them out of business, and 

 a personal investigation of the conditions existing there will demon- 

 strate the correctness of this assertion. We clip the following from 

 the Bloomington Pantagraph of Sept. 11, 1901. It is a clear state- 

 ment of facts, evidently taken by the writer from personal investiga- 

 tion: 



■•The Illinois river, it is claimed, furnishes more fish than any other in the 

 I'nited States, with the single exception of the Columbia in Oreg-on. The pro- 

 duct of the latter river is largely salmon, while the Illinois furnishes in grea- 

 ter or less abundance fully eight^y kinds. Havana, in Mason county is the 

 largest market for fish there is on the Illinois, and more is shipped from that 

 town, it is claimed, than from anj- other place along the river. 



Up to November 1 there had been shipped from Havana by freight 1.300,000 

 pounds of fish, while fully one-third as many more had been shipped by ex- 

 press and sold at home to peddlers. The peddler's trade is very large, as scores 

 of towns depend for their supply on local people who ship in fish froiu Ha- 

 vana and retail them fi-om house to house. The finer grades, too, are usually 

 sent l\y express to the eastern cities, so that it will be quite within the truth 

 to say'that fully 3.000,000 pounds of fish will be shipped from Havana during 

 the year of 1904. . 



Nearlj^ or quite half of the fish shipments consist of German carp. Next 

 comes buffalo, then bull pouts, then dog fish, then white perch, then .sun fish, 

 then black bass, then cat fish, then crappies, then striped bass, then turtles. 

 These are the principal varieties that are shipped, but there are some eighty 

 sorts caught in this river. 



A good many varieties of fish never attain an adult length of more than five 

 inches. These are commonly taken for the young of other fishes, and are re- 

 ferred to indiscriminately as '•minnows" by the uninformed. 



Another important factor is that at least sixty fishes of the rivers of Illinois 

 have no common names, and that such names as bass, perch, stoneroller, horny- 

 head, grindle. stickleback, etc, all have more than one application, the same 

 name being applied not infreqiiently to very different fishes. 



I'p to November 1 there have been shipped from Havana fifty-five carloads 

 of fresh fish. Each car contains 3(5,000 pounds on an average, the car loads 

 ranging from 20.000 to 32.000 pounds each. Fish are alwa.ys packed in boxes 

 holding just l.iO poiinds. From l.")0 to 200 of these boxes constitute a car load. 

 These boxes are three feet and six inches bong bj' eighteen inches wide, all 

 being new. There is a factory at Havana where these fish boxes are made, 

 which gives employment to some fifteen men constantly. The wholesale 

 price of these boxes is 43 cents apiece and 25.000 are annually made. The 

 cities of Pekin and Bath both get their supply there as well as Havana. 



Witliout ice there could be no shipping of fish during the greater portion 

 of the year. Ice is a very important factor and immense quantities are used 

 during the spring, summer and fall months. Ice is put up at Havana from 

 near bj' ponds and from Spoon river. Ice from the Illinois river is not made 

 use of. All fish ai-e packed in layers of broken ice. it re<iuiring four tons 

 just for the boxes in one car. In addition to this amoiint seven tons are 

 used in each oar containing fresh fish, making a total of eleven tons for every 



