Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1893 — PISHES AT THE FATE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PISHES AT THE FATE.

MOST COMPLETE COLLECTION EVER SHOWN. Salt and Fresh Water Species from All Climes—Appliances Used in Their Capture and Preparation for Market—Admirable Arrangements for Display. In the Swim. World’s Fair correspondence: A department of tho World’s Fair that in all probability will lead to the establishment of aquaria in different

parts of America is that of fisheries. Besides the live fish, which include specimens of those that live in salt water, are complete collections of the implements used by all nations in catching and curing them. Fishing has not received

CHIEF COLLINR. '

much attention at international exhibitions. London had an exposition devoted entirely to fisheries nearly ten years ago that, of course, was finer than tho present display, but in Chicago a very great deal has been done to illustrate the industry, and that, too, without any American precedents. Of all the foreign countries Canada sent the biggest display. There are models of fish, stuffed "fish, and fisheating birds. A seventy-pound salmon from Queen Charlotte Sound, British Columbia, suggests a lot of possibilities to the toller of fish stories. Bark and dugout canoes from the west coast of Canada tell the story of the Indian angler, and a little model of his home and its surroundings shows where he is when not on tho water. A right whalo and a shark, well mounted, show other productions of tho Dominion. New South Wales has a group of Australian seals climbing over spme rocks, and many pictures of her fish

and fish markets. The activity with which the Norwegians ’ search the ocean is illustrated by their exhibit. Real fishing boats that savor of the hardy viking are thero, hearing such names as Aafjord, Avendale, Rahen, and Tromsoe. As far north a’most as Spitzbergen these sharp-prowed crafts part the waves, their masters on the hunt for cod and seal. A model of a viking ship is here to show the little change of model that been made in a thousand years. Norwegian stock fish and cod liver oil are here in large quantities. They give a sea flavor to tho atmosphere, and you can almost see tho fish jumping in the nets and hear tho boat's keel rubbing on the beaoh and the swash of the surf if you close your eyes foi a moment. All sorts of Canned fish from old Norway are piled up, and there is a fisherman's hut from Lofodon showing how two or three boats’ crows bunk in a roughly built pine board box. Gloucester, Mass.,, which is not too proud to own up that its greatness is due to its fisheries, has staked out a lot of space in which it glories in the fact. It tells of the past and present condition of its industries. A model of the town as it was one hundred years ago, with cob wharves and cheap little fish theds, is shown, and then tho town proudly point 3 to a model of a section of the town as it is to-day. How the wharves and the warehouses have grown! The very men who pace the piers in miniature seem to have a sense of their increased worth. Bound to Sight Mackerel. A ship's topmast thirty feet high is shown and on the crosstree is a Gloucester fisherman eagerly looking out for a school of mackerel. Another model is that of a manat a wheel ready to point the ship’s cutwater in the direction of those mackerel, in whichever point of the compiss they are sighted. A fine model of a boat, with the men in it hauling in their herring nets, is in the pavilion of the Netherlands, and there are barrels of herring and photographs on screens of the fishery work. Minnesota tends not only fish but fish-eating birds The only machinery in motion in the whole building is an apparatus shown by a Chicago man for cleaning fish. Bostonians forsake their devotion to beans and illustrate their fish markots and the appliances for catching the principal ingredients for lobster salad, that strange dish for which tho jaded midnight appetite so often yearns. In the Government annex the tanks are arranged in a circle, and within .that; is, another

circle, a very effective plan as it turns out. The design of the fishing schoonor Grampus, belonging to the Fish Commission, was the work of Capt. Joseph W. Collins, and in command of that vessel he made many very interesting cruises. The exhibition of salt-water fish and anemones is an experiment which a good many people who knew shook their heads about. At first the sea water was brought to Chicago in carboys, such as are used for the shipment of acids, but this was found to be too expensive and tank cars were substituted. What Sea Water Costa. Sea water in Chicago is almost as expensive as beer. Tbo greatest care is taken to keep it from being wasted. About 70,000 gallons of it are kept on band. Aft?r a quantity of it has been

kept in a tank for a sufficient length of time it is drawn off and is run into a filter in the .cellar made of stones, gravel and sand in strata, as in natural soil. This is to impart new life to it. Then it is pumped back into a tank reservoir over the tanks and used again. The water runs in such a way as to become aerated again. For the use of big Mississipi fish is an aquarium 72 feet long; 5, feet deep and 12 feet wide. It contains catfish, sturgeon and pickerel. The lake fish, which include sturgeon, whitefish and bass, were gathered at the Put In Bay station on Lake Erie. The Atlantic fish were collected at Wood's Holl, Mass. The government steamer Fish Hawk scoured the Southern waters for specimens. At the extreme end of the

main Fisheries Building is the angling annex, devoted entirely to the consideration of fishing as a pastime. There the sporting clubs, the gentlemen fishing liars and the fly and rod cranks can flock by themselves and argue it out. A Now York sportsman’s paper has a pavilion in which it exhibits yacht models and photographs having reference to the art of fishing. Outside of the annex is a reproduction, by the way, of Izaak Walton’s fishing house, in which there is an oil portrait of the old gentleman. An interesting exhibit is that of the American Anglers. It includes fishing boats, tents and furniture, There is a display also of the flies, rods, reels and tackle and some young women engaged in tying flies on the hooks and making fishing lines. Pennsylvania makes an

aquarium exhibit. It has built a small hillside down which trickles a stream. This runs through a fishway and into a pond on the floor. Around the pavilion are tanks, the iron work of which is skillfully concealed, and the visitor has the effect produced on him that he is at the bottom of a lane, the waters of which are kept away from him in the same way as those of the Red Sea wero divided. Wisconsin also contributes some live fish, and both that State and Pennsylvania show small hatcheries in operation. Primitive boats and tackle used by the Indians of the Amazon and the more modern appliances are in the exhibit from Brazil. They contrast strangely with the steel rods and the graceful flies of North America. I have sketched in a general way the most entertaining features of the Fisheries Building. Outside of these there are all sorts of exhibits with Latin names that are of absorbing interest to tho specialist. He can flock by himself and devour the literary works

of aquatic zoologists and botanists. He can wrap himself up in maps telling all about geographical distributions of fish. Fishermen, if they want to know all about what there is in this building, must study algae (very sticky looking things with arms that wave in the water), sponges, corals, polyps and jelly fish. Some of these forms of life so nearly border on the vegetable that it is a little difficult for a non-ex-pert to tell to what kingdom they should be assigned. But they have such a quiet, easy, Philadelphia way of taking life that they are a standing reproach to the superexcited Chicagoan. Then comes the grand array of worms that dwell under water, and that, spurned by the soaring fishes, get their revenge when they are put on the point of a hook and used as bait. All the bait worms are exhibited, and the leeches. Then are seen the reptiles, such as turtlos, terrapin, lizards, serpents, frog 3 and newts. Some compromise ought to be effected with the United States Fish Commission by which turtle, terrapin and frogs’ legs are not classified with the reptiles. It is decidedly unpleasant to a man of taste. The aquatic birds, mammalia, such as otter, seals, whales and such like live things, are there in minute detail. Fishy Literature. In the sea fishing and angling sections you can find, in addition to those more dramatic and readily discernible items that have been brought to your attention already, books on the history of fishing, its laws and its commerce, charters and seals of fishermen’s guilds, fishery laws of different countries, including that of New Jersey prohibiting shad from- containing bones, reports of and literature of fishes, in which is comprehended some of the most deliberate lies ever told about size and weight, and yarns about the acclimitization of fish. Then there are fishhooks, jigs and drails and gear until you get tired of looking at it, nets and seines, weirs and pounds, knives and gaffs. The implement* ►used in entrapping whales, seals, cod, mackerel, halibut, herring, haddock, menhaden, swordfish, blue fish and the snares for beguiling the wily oyster and the elusive sponge. The only things not shown are pictures of sea serpents, the real bait that no fishing man will leave home without a bottle of, and devices for catching “suckers.” But these are caught everywhere most openly in Chicago, and • would not be attractions at a place where an admission fee is charged. Crooked nails are always an indication of pride, even to haughtiness.

VIEW OF LAGOON, SHOWING WHALER PROGRESS.

THE FISHERIES BUILDING.

ENTRANCE TO FISHERIES BUILDING.

IN THE FISHERIES BUILDING.