COMMON FISHES OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
151 
We therefore have little concern with the species in this report, except in so far as 
a discussion of its decline in Lake Pepin is necessary to an understanding of changing 
conditions of the fishery and of resources generally in the upper Mississippi River. 
Wagner, writing in 1908, says of the lake sturgeon or rock sturgeon in Lake 
Pepin (1908, p. 31) : 
Pound for pound, this is the most valuable fish marketed by the seiners. Large specimens have 
become scarce, however, in late years, so that 12 or 15 in a season are considered a good catch. 
Smaller ones up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) in length are not uncommon. 
H. O. Hesen, superintendent of fish culture at the Fairport station, showed me a 
small rubbernose sturgeon collected by Otto Stumne in Lake Pokegama, Minn., 
July 14, 1925. It had a total length of 19 centimeters (about 7 % inches) and is prob- 
ably one of the smallest examples of record. 
Pearse (1921, p. 12), writing of the same lake, says: “In 1920 the hackleback was 
abundant and the rock sturgeon (not seen by the writer) very rare.” On September 
3, 1921, the present author was informed by the operator of a large seine near Lake 
City, Minn., that he had taken only one rock sturgeon that year. 
While a decided increase in the commercial catch was reported in 1922, it may be 
observed that the increase was in direct ratio to the increase in catch of all species. 
In 1926 all reports indicated continued scarcity of the fish in that part of the river, 
and none were reported in th,e canvass for 1927. They are known, however, to be 
not uncommon in Lake Pokegama on the Snake River, a tributary of the Mississippi 
in Minnesota, and reports are received of good catches in the Wisconsin River. The 
condition of the water of the Mississippi River must, therefore, be taken into account 
in considering the causes of scarcity in that stream. 
It is of interest to note the conditions that, as early as 1871, were leading to the 
depletion of sturgeon resources in some of the Great Lakes. James W. Milner made 
an investigation of the fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1871. He relates (1873) that 
the sturgeon taken abundantly in the pound nets were drawn out with a gaff hook 
and either let go wounded or thrown on the refuse heap. The same author tells of the 
netting of sturgeon at Sandusky , where “the sturgeon taken by the nets were (formerly) 
uselessly destroyed or sold by wagon load for a trifle.” A few years before his inves- 
tigation a firm had established itself at Sandusky both to prepare caviar from the roe 
and to smoke the meat of the sturgeon. About 14,000 mature sturgeon averaging 
less than 5 feet in length and about 50 pounds in weight were handled by them in 
1872 — “out of a shameful waste of a large supply of food they have established a large 
and profitable industry.” 
But, whether wasted or utilized, the lake sturgeon, like others of the rivers and 
the seacoasts, has been unable to withstand the effects of our fisheries. They have 
other enemies, such as the fishes that may destroy their spawn and the lampreys, 
which attack sturgeon of all sizes, but the armor of plates and spines makes the stur- 
geon, even in young stages, relatively immune to attacks from other fish with which 
they have lived through thousands of years. It is evident, therefore, that their prin- 
cipal enemy and the chief cause of their decrease in numbers has been man. 
On April 3, 1915, Williams Jobe, using a trammel net below the mouth of the Des 
Moines River, captured a lake sturgeon 57% inches in length. It weighed about 47 
pounds when caught and 22 pounds dressed. The roe weighed 11% pounds. The 
stomach was empty. Another, 39 inches long and about 14 pounds live weight, 
was taken by him on February 16, 1916. These were the only captures of lake stur- 
