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uuuuuuuuu Fishing the Father of Waters Malcolm L. Comeaux Surprisingly, a person on the Mississippi River today would see commercial fishing almost exactly as it was done during the era of the Grand Excursion. Few truly new techniques have been introduced. Traditions and fishing knowledge continue to be handed down from one generation to the next, and fishing culture remains as it was 150 years ago. Since the beginning of human habitation of the Mississippi Valley, fishing has been practiced in the river. Native Americans fished, as did trappers and explorers. As the frontier moved westward, early European farmers supplemented their food supply by fishing. This was mostly subsistence fishing, however. Commercial fishing had to wait until a market developed as the result of urban growth along the nation’s inland waters in the 1850s and early 1860s.1 Commercial fishing practices have not changed much since the nineteenth century. Most fishing techniques were introduced directly from Europe, then quickly spread far and wide. Up to the early 1960s many fishermen moved from one place to another by houseboat, bringing their ideas and techniques with them and introducing them to new areas. One can travel today from Louisiana to above Lake Pepin on the Upper Mississsippi and find little variation in the use of techniques and gear. The only variations are caused by laws (e.g., Iowa may outlaw a particular fishing technique or type of gear, while it would be legal on the Illinois side), and by environmental situations (e.g., fishing under ice is well-known in the Upper Mississippi but not in the South). Commercial fishing allowed fishermen freedom and independence, but it never provided a lucrative living. Traditionally low on the socioeconomic scale and barely eking out a living while working long and arduous hours, fishermen have always supplemented their income by gathering other resources along the river — almost anything that they could sell. They would harvest turtles, gather driftwood and logs, trap for hides, hunt for wild game, gather mussels, and the like. Some full-time fishermen would seek employment off the river during the winter months.2 Almost always ignored by “higher” society, fishermen were seldom mentioned by writers or reporters, thus remaining a largely forgotten and ignored underclass. Commercial fishing is an occupation that is passed from older fishermen to younger men, usually from father to son, but it is not unusual for a fisherman to take an unrelated young man under his tutelage. The business can be learned no other way. Because it is dangerous and arduous work, women are usually excluded, but they do play a role. Women often make the nets, and they help in various other ways, such as in gathering bait, baiting hooks, and repairing gear. Large-scale commercial fishing began in the Upper Mississippi only after railroads reached the river. Fish begin to deteriorate as soon as they die but if packed in ice they can be kept “fresh” for about seven to nine days, depending on the weather. Ice was cut in the winter from lakes and ponds, stored in icehouses, and then used in packing fish in wooden boxes for transport by rail to cities in the East. Chicago was the main market , but fish were shipped all the way to the East Coast. The first refrigerated car of fish sent from the Mississippi River to New York, in 1896, was a financial success.3 The productivity of the fishing industry in the region is difficult to gauge. The total commercial fish production in the Mississippi River over the last fifty years for the states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin is a generalization, as it is hard to gather accurate data from independent fishermen at isolated spots along the river.4 On average, the Upper Mississippi produced 6.89 million pounds of fish a year, which is close to the averages taken for the 1990s. Good or poor years, however, are not dependent on the abundance of fish, as other factors beyond the river have a great influence. For example, fluxuations in the price of fish or a recession can encourage people to turn to the river for a living or extra income. Surprisingly, while the catch has remained rather steady, there has been a definite decrease in the number of fishermen over the years. But they obviously are catching more per capita in order to maintain their living standard, especially since the price of fish remained virtually unchanged (except for cat...

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