FRESH-WATER MUSSELS AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 



47 



and in consequence is dragged from the bottom. When the bar is raised after a suitable 

 time, numerous mussels may be hanging from the hooks. The essential parts of this 

 apparatus and the manner of its operation will be described in detail. 



Hooks and mode of making them. — Although the principle of the crowfoot and the 

 general method of manufacture are the same throughout the country, there is much 

 variety in the style and size of hooks in use on the different rivers, and even in the same 

 camps. Some of the most popular kinds of hooks are the single-eye, the double-eye, 

 the ring, the wrapped, the untwisted or straight-wire hook, etc. (fig. i). Manufactured 

 hooks are obtainable on the market, but the mussel fishermen more commonly make 

 their own hooks, employing odd moments for this purpose with a corresponding saving 

 in expense. 



The material is usually No. ii galvanized or telephone wire. If very heavy work 

 is to be done, a larger size, No. 9 or lo, may be taken, although hooks from the stiff er 



Fig. 2. — Process of making crowfoot hook. 



wire are more difficult to make and cause more trouble when the apparatus is fouled 

 on the bottom; the bar may be entirely lost from a hang-up if the hooks will not 

 straighten out before the line breaks. 



To make a hook one needs only a bench, an iron vise, or, preferably, an iron strap 

 or steel plate with proper holes drilled through, a pair of pliers, and a pin or short rod 

 for the twisting process (fig. 2). 



The iron strap or steel plate is usually from 6 to 8 inches long by 1.5 inches 

 wide and 0.25 inch thick. Near one end four holes of sufficient size to admit the wire 

 are drilled in the comers of a 0.75-inch square. Two or three additional holes are 

 drilled in the opposite end of the plate, so that it may be fastened securely to a solid 

 block, timber, or tressel of wood, leaving the end with the four small holes free. The 



