6 
sportsmen of a few years ago enjoyed. Our game birds are sure 
to be scarcer with each succeeding year. There are still many 
waterfowl to be found in parts of our State but, like other game 
birds, they are disappearing from year to year as the continually 
rising land values compels more and more intensive farming. 
With regard to the fisheries of the State it may be said that 
our rivers and lakes afford a large and profitable field for the 
activities of this department. Although great progress has been 
made in the past two years in developing our fisheries, the fact 
remains that this important work has only just begun. When we 
consider how much there is yet to do to give Illinois its proper 
rank among fish breeding states, what has been done is compara- 
tively little. The Spring Grove hatchery has been steadily devel- 
oped, and further improvements will be made during the fall, so 
that next year this plant will rank with the best in the country for 
economy, of maintenance and productiveness. This plant will 
hatch a sufficient number of game fish for the northern waters of 
the State. But a new plant is needed to take care of the waters in -the 
middle and southern part of the State, to say nothing of great Lake 
Michigan. 
For a number of years many large and small manufacturers 
throughout the State have made use of our lakes and streams to 
carry off their sewage. This pollution of our good fish waters 
has been going on for so long a time, that some of the offenders 
had come to believe they had a right to use our fish waters in 
violation of the law. 
The Rivers and Lakes Commission has been enthusiastic in 
its cooperation with this department in its effort to remedy this 
evil. A long list of cases complained of by this department has 
been promptly acted upon by the Rivers and Lakes Commission 
with the result that we are in a fair way to do away with stream 
and lake pollution entirely. Another matter in which the Rivers 
and Lakes Commission has rendered this department substantial 
aid is in the matter of encroachments by private interests upon the 
public waters of the State. By continuing our cooperative work 
in this matter, we will be able to educate the people who have 
been violating the law and compel, for the future, the law’s obsery- 
ance. 
Since our last report we abolished the game farm. We did 
this because we did not think the product of the farm was worth 
its cost to the State. The semidomestic birds raised on the farm 
were used for stocking the lands of the State best suited to these 
birds. In some sections they did fairly well but for the most part 
there has been little gain throughout the State. Not enough to 
warrant further expenditure in maintaining a farm for the propaga- 
tion of this class of game birds. We feel we can do more with the 
money it cost to maintain the farm, in establishing game reserva- 
tions upon which we can propagate our native birds. 
Under the authority vested in this commission by law the follow- 
ing waters have been set aside as fish preserves: 
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