WHEN THE FATHER OF WATERS GOES ON A RAMPAGE 



381 



RETAINING STATION AT LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN 



At this little adjunct of the rescue work, on the Mississippi River in southwestern Wis- 

 consin, 150,000 salvaged fishes may be held for hardening, pending shipment to interior waters. 

 When first rescued from landlocked waters the young fish cannot undergo the strain of a 

 long railway journey. 



of the progeny of a given pair of fishes 

 is reared to a stage where the young are 

 able to take fairly good care of them- 

 selves, although the actual number pro- 

 duced is small. 



The results of the operation of pond 

 stations are of interest because of their 

 bearing on the value of the rescue work. 

 It may therefore be noted that the com- 

 mon practice among both Federal and 

 State fish-culturists is to distribute pond 

 fishes after they have been reared to a 

 "fingerling" size. A fingerling is less 

 than one year old, and may be from one 

 to six inches long when planted. 



The average length of the pond fishes 

 sent out from the nurseries is two to 

 three inches. A government pond sta- 

 tion may produce, rear, and plant from 

 250,000 to 1,000,000 such fishes in a sea- 

 son, and the combined output of six 

 typical stations in 19 19 may be placed at 

 2,725,000 — a cost of $5.50 per thousand. 



From these figures it appears that the 

 number of fishes rescued in 1919, if they 

 had been produced and reared in the 

 ordinary way at established plants, would 

 have required 345 pond stations and the 

 actual cost of production would have 



been about $85o,ooo. To this sum, how- 

 ever, should be added the year's cost of 

 the regular station staffs and general 

 charges for maintenance, which would 

 have been over $2,000,000. 



There should also be taken into con- 

 sideration the initial cost of construction 

 of the pond stations, estimated at not 

 less than $12,000,000. Against these 

 large hypothetical charges is to be placed 

 the actual aggregate cost of the salvage 

 operations in 1919, namely, $31,000. 



THE PEARL BUTTON INDUSTRY EMPLOYS 

 20,000 PEOPLE 



The perpetuation of the fish supply in 

 the Mississippi and its tributaries in- 

 volves a very important industry besides 

 fishing. Investigations conducted for the 

 Bureau of Fisheries years ago showed an 

 intimate relation between certain kinds 

 of fishes and the mussels, which yield 

 valuable pearls and support a pearl-but- 

 ton industry which gives employment to 

 about 20,000 persons and has a product 

 worth from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 an- 

 nually. 



The young mussels, of microscopic 

 size when thrown off by their parents in 



