462 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 4, 1904. 
The Pollution of the Potomac. 
REPORT OF SECRETARY OREGON MILTON DENNIS. 
The dumping into the Potomac River o£ refuse from 
two pulp mills at Harper's Ferry, as told of in Mr. Henry 
Talbott's letter on this subject, published in Forest and 
Stream May 14, appears to have ruined the bass fishing 
in that river. The matter is one of keen interest to all 
anglers, and especially to those in the States touching on 
the Potomac. We print below^ the report of Mr. Oregon 
Milton Dennis, secretary of the Maryland State Game 
and Fish Protective Association, made to the executive 
committee of that association at the Eutaw House, Balti- 
more, May 20, 1904: 
I beg to report that by reason of the pollution of the 
Potomac River, which has entirely driven out the bass 
in that river, a conference was held at Harper's Ferry, 
at which Major R. Sylvester, game warden of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia; Mr. Frank Lively, game warden of 
West Virginia; Dr. Walter A. Harban, and Dr. William 
P. Young, president and secretary of the District of 
Columbia Association; Dr. T. S. Palmer, Chief of the 
Biological Survey at Washington; Mr. John A. Avirett, 
game warden of the State of Maiyland ; Mr. Henry Tal- 
bott, and Oregon Milton Dennis, were present. 
We found the condition of the Potomac River appal- 
ling, in that the shavings from two pulp mills at Harper's 
Ferry had been so long in the Potomac River that the 
places where the fish used to be found are now filled up 
with these shavings, and rocks in the river almost en- 
tirely covered. 
As a result of this meeting, some decided action will 
new be taken. 
At the conference, it developed that the Potomac was 
polluted from Harper's Ferry to the Great Falls; that 
part being entirely in Maryland, and consequently within 
the province of State Game W arden Avirett to take such 
steps as may be necessary to prevent its further pollution. 
So far as West Virginia is concerned, Game Warden 
Lively, of that State, will have the entire backing of 
Maryland and the District of Columbia. 
Half-hearted measures have been attempted during the 
past years to stop this pollution, and I now want this 
association to ratify the following" resolution, which was 
passed at the conference at Harper's Ferry, to wit : 
"At a meeting held at Harper's Ferry between the 
representatives of West Virginia, District of Columbia 
and Maryland, for the purpose of bringing about united 
action tO' prevent the further pollution of the . Potomac 
River, which has resulted in the entire destruction of 
fish life therein, and the final driving out of said river 
of fish, it was 
"Resolved by the representatives of the District of 
Columbia and Maryland, in the presence of the game 
wardens and officers of the District of Columbia and 
Maryland State Fish and Game Protective Associations, 
that we view with concern the interest displayed by the 
game warden of West Virginia in the protection of the 
fish life in the Potomac River, and to the end that we 
may be of material assistance to him in the prevention of 
the further pollution of the Potomac River by mills, etc., 
we hereby tender him our earnest support, both moral 
and legal, in the enforcement of the laws passed^ for the 
protection of the fish life in the said Potomac River and 
its tributaries." 
I am informed by Warden Avirett that he will take 
immediate steps to stop the throwing of shavings by these 
pulp mills into the Potomac River. 
So far as Maryland is concerned, we have ample laws 
to prevent this sort of thing, and I ask that this associa- 
tion will immediately inaugurate such steps to assist the 
game warden as will be necessary to effectually prevent 
these pulp mills from further damaging fish life in the 
Potomac. 
This being the first meeting since the Legislature, I 
also want to say that a large number of bills were 
passed at that session, which will greatly aid us in the 
protection, of fish and birds. Taking it altogether, a 
great stride was made toward the end we all so- earnestly 
desire — the unification of the laws for the protection of 
fish and birds, and I think the time is not far distant 
when Maryland will not only have a uniform game law, 
but one of the best laws of all the States. 
I also suggest that the association take immediate 
steps to inaugurate, through the public school system 
throughout the State, the education of the young for the 
protection of song birds, as suggested by Governor War- 
field in his Arbor Day Proclamation, thus instilling in 
them that love for bird life which, as they grow older, 
will produce a class of men and women who will become 
natural protectors of the song birds, without the aid of 
laws and legislative enactment. , 
to, and spending more or less time on the river, I have 
an opportunity to know something of its condition. 
Mr. Talbott is right. The river is filled with shavings, 
especially on the Virginia side, and no bass would deposit 
eggs in such places. 
I wonder how many people ever had the opportunity or 
took time to note how bass build their nests? 
They form the nest of a quantity of small, clean gravel, 
and placed in a pile. Then they deposit their eggs 
and stay near-by to protect them, and will strike at any- 
thing that happens to fall near. 
Now, what I want to protest against is people who 
know this and make a practice of catching bass at this 
time with spoon. Once the nest is located, the rest is 
easy. They simply cast around it until they worry the 
bass into striking. 
Report comes from Winerton that certain parties there 
have been catching bass for some time. The same thing 
goes on here, and there are dozens of outlines and set 
nets along the river. Yet no one says a word. 
_ I don't care to defend the mill people, but if private 
citizens take no steps to protect the fish, I do not see that 
the mill people should be put to extra expense and in- 
convenience to do so. J. A. Van Pelt. 
present to provoke profanity. So far, the resort has been 
mostly patronized by Kansas City and St. Joseph lovers 
of the sport, though the finest catch of the season was 
made Sunday by Mr. Hardin, a 6^-pound big-mouth. 
Nebraska Fish Notes. 
Omaha, Neb., May 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Large numbers of handsome rainbow trout were taken 
last season from the waters of the White River out in 
Sioux county, and the prospects for grand sport there 
the coming month are abundant and flattering. The 
cold depths of the White River are said to be swarming 
with trout, the outgrowth of the State Fish Commission'? 
work in 1892, when the first batch of rainbow trout were 
planted in a small tributary of this stream on Russell's 
ranch near a srriall station called Glen. The deposit has 
thriven, the stream being well adapted for their growth 
and improvement. It is bountifully supplied with water- 
cress, fresh water shrimp, and the aquatic insects on 
which the trout feed. That this particular stream teems 
with these matchless fish this year is a big feather in the 
hat of the ex-State Fish Commission. It reflects credit 
on their wisdom and judgment in selecting this isolated 
section for the propagation of these game fishes. Both 
this and last year the Commission planted a carload of 
yearling rainbow along the Elkhorn from Long Pine 
Creek to the headwaters of the White River. These 
20,000 fish were donated to Nebraska by the National 
Fish Commission. Ex-Chairman Lew May is much 
elated over the success of the industry in northwestern 
Nebraska, and predicts the best results in the near 
future. 
In these days of going fishing and planning for sum- 
mer cam.paigns with the rod, substantial assistance may 
be found in the weekly fund of information given in the 
columns of the Forest and Stream. Not a week goes 
by in the season that there are not accounts of success- 
ful excursions to waters abounding in bass or trout or 
other fish, until the grand old journal has become a sort 
of anglers' directory. To make this feature more valu- 
able is certainly its editor's constant aim, and the accom- 
plishment rests largely with its angling readers. _ While 
no one is called upon to abandon to^ the public his jeal- 
ously guarded secret of good fishing in waters likely to 
suffer from publicity, every member of the fraternity 
owes it to his brethren to tell of lake and streams and 
bays where the fishing may be of scope and quality so 
generous as not to suffer even if others do know it. 
Send in your contribution to the common fund. No one 
has a right to keep a good thing to himself when it may 
be unharmfully shared with others. If this is not true 
doctrine for a true fisherman, where is the fallacy? 
Brunswick, Md,, May 20. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
A friend has just handed me a copy of Forest and 
.Stream of May 14, and requested that I read the article 
entitled, "Fishing Up and Down the Potomac," by Henry 
Talbott. 
Living, as I do, seven miles below the mills referred 
L. H. Woods and John J. Hardin returned home Mon- 
day, after spending two days pulling the untutored mem- 
bers of the finny tribe from the waters of Big Lake at 
Bigelow, Mo. They report the lake as an ideal fishing 
resort this season, filled to the brim with bass, croppy, 
perch and catfish, all ready to bite with the proper en- 
couragement. The bass season opened there about two 
weeks ago, and several fine catches, ranging up to 12 
pounds in weight, had already been recorded this season. 
The lake is ninety miles down from Council Bluffs on the 
Burlington's St. Joe line, and is four miles out from the 
station of Bigelow, from which a 50-cent 'bus line is run. 
The lake itself is a deep, clean body of water, crescent- 
shaped, about a half-mile wide, and five miles long, and 
has not suffered from the depredations of seiners since 
the last crop of fish came in from the last overflow of the 
Missouri and Tarkio rivers. Two fisherm.en's hotels, 
each with a farmhouse bill of fare, are situated on the 
banks, and each is plentifully supplied with boats and 
common fishing tackle, while one has a small steamer 
that is often used to tow the small boats against the 
breeze on windy d^s. This place possesses the advantage 
over Phelps and Langdon that turtles and gars are not 
Peter Matza, of this city, has invented and patented a 
fishing and hunting bonnet, as well as for general practi- 
cal usage, for protection against flies, gnats, mosquitoes 
and bugs, that is certain to bring him fame among the 
ramblers of the woods and waters. The bonnet, Shaker- 
shaped, is constructed of fine wire, which in no way in- 
terferes with the vision or respiration, with the base or 
back of the hood of silk, and with a silk collaret dropping 
over the shoulders. It is a good thing without a doubt, 
and will become popular when once known. 
While fishing for ring perch Sunday with W. A. Pix- 
ley up in Big Blue Lake, many unusual little bits pre- 
sented themselves for the camera. Pixley is one of the 
best amateur photographers in the country, but on this 
occasion, much to his regret, he had left his instrument 
in Omaha. Pixley says that after a man once begins to 
make nature pictures that he becomes more a lover of 
the camera than he does of the rod and gun. He avers 
that the game he secures with his camera is far more 
satisfactory than the game secured with the hammerless 
and the hook, and he is a crack shot, and an ardent 
angler at that. He advises all young hunters to include 
a camera in their outing outfit — that it cannot be com- 
plete without it. 
Sandy Griswold. 
Fish and Fishing. 
The Valae of the Sturgeon. 
Canadians are at last v^'aking up to the value of the 
sturgeon fisheries, which they have for so long per- 
mitted to be ruthlessly despoiled. For many years 
any implement of capture could be employed. The 
result has been that, while a few years ago the fish 
were so plentiful as to be practically of no market 
value, they have now decreased so rapidly that they 
have become the highest priced of our commercial 
fishes. The average wholesale price obtained for the 
flesh of the sturgeon shipped to New York is now 
about 15 cents, while the roe of the fish brings, in the 
same market, from 80 cents to $i per pound. The 
finest caviar in Canada comes from the Lake of the 
Woods, in Ontario, the roe of the sturgeon in those 
waters being,' as a rule, larger than that of the stur- 
geon of the Great Lakes. 
The largest specimen reported to have been caught 
in Canada during the last year was that taken by a Lake 
Erie fisherman, which turned the scale at 190 pounds. 
It yielded 40 pounds of roe, and for the meat and roe, 
the fisherman received the sum of $50, which, as he 
said, was the price of a good cow. But the value of 
the sturgeon does not end with the meat and the roe, 
for there is another and a very valuable product man- 
ufactured from the bladder, namely, isinglass, used by 
brewers for clarifying purposes. In Canada, it is 
simply the custom to save and dry the bladders, for 
which 40 cents per pound are realized. They are then 
exported to the United States, manufactured and re- 
sold in this country at from $1 to $1.25 per pound. 
The Deslfoctiveness of Carp. 
lividence of the destruction wrought by carp is 
rapidh^ accumulating. Apparently, too, it is badly 
needed, for the fish has its advocates, because of the 
profit made out of it by some of the commercial fish- 
ermen, who have recently disposed of large quantities 
of it at 6 cents per pound, which is said to leave a 
hondsomc profit. Its friends now claim that its edible 
qualities have been very much underrated, and say- 
that, if salted for a few hours before being made 
ready for eating, it will lose much of its muddy flavor,, 
and be found to be a palatable fish. As Mr. S. T. 
Bastedo, Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries for On- 
tario, declares, it would be nothing short of a calamity 
if these fish should be introduced into our beautiful! 
inland lakes. Some time ago reference was made ini 
this column to the fact that carp are supposed to de- 
stroy the plantations of wild rice which are so es- 
sential to the maintenance of good feeding grounds, 
for wild ducks, by disturbing the roots of the plant.. 
It has now been ascertained, however, by the Ontario, 
fishery authorities that the damage to the wild rice 
fields is not only due to this cause, but that these 
fish, being granivorous as well as herbivorous in their 
habits, pick up and eat the ripened grain in the water, 
thus causing the loss of the seed. WMien the stomach 
of one caught upon the St. Clair Flats was opened last 
autumn, it was found to contain at least a double 
handful of rice, while as an illustration of their de- 
structiveness upon the spawn of other fish it may be 
mentioned that a gallon of spawn which had been 
devoured was taken from an i8-pounder — a weight, 
which the carp frequently attains. 
