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 the loss 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 Take 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 w^ere 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 stem 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 channel ward, 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 comers 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 



