which is reason enough that the State ought to see to it that it be forever kept as it is, particularly as the land there can never be made of much value for agricultural purposes. LAUGHERY CREEK. Because the drainage of southern Indiana is to the west there are no large tributaries of the Ohio in that section. There are a number of creeks into which the fish from the Ohio enter freely, on account of which there is much excellent fishing in them. Among the most important of these is Laughery Creek, which rises in Ripley County and empties into the Ohio near Lawrenceburg, in Dearborn County. It will be remembered that the first move toward legal fish protection in Indiana was the enactment of a statute making it unlawful to stretch a net across Laughery Creek so that fish could not pass up it from the Ohio River. And that was in 1850. Laughery Creek has a length of some fifty miles. BLUE RIVER. Blue River is of the same length as Laughery Creek, and of about equal importance with that stream to fishermen. It rises in Washington County and empties into the Ohio on the west line of Harrison County, below Corydon. Below Blue River is Anderson Creek, Little Pigeon Creek, and Big Pigeon Creek, each of which is from twenty to thirty miles long, and on account of receiving a new supply of fish from the Ohio with every highwater, is a splendid fishing stream. And above Blue River there are several small creeks in which fishing is good for the same reason. THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER. The St. Joseph River, which flows into Lake Michigan, drains all of Elkhart and Lagrange counties, most of Steuben and Noble counties, the north part of Kosciusko County and a small portion of St. Joseph County. Although the river is two hundred miles long only some thirty-five miles of it lies in Indiana, in Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, its course lying mainly in Michigan. A most beautiful river is the St. Joseph, and it formerly was a most excellent fishing stream, but on account of its high banks and rapid fall it has come to be much used for furnishing water power, at South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart and other points, and the many high dams in it prevent fish from passing up the stream. THE ELKHART RIVER. A tributary of the St. Joseph, the Elkhart River, rises in Noble County and flows northwest through Elkhart County, wherein it joins the St. Joseph at the city of Elkhart. It is a beautiful, clear stream, and there is much good fishing in it. It has a length of about sixty miles. In the foregoing I have briefly described more than thirty important streams of the State, the sum of the lengths of which is about 3,200 miles. Besides there are innumerable small creeks tributary to these with water enough in them to support game fish that would probably bring the total up to 4,000 miles. I am going to stop here, leaving it to my readers to imagine or compute the possibilities of all these streams for furnishing food for our people and pleasure for our sportsmen, once we are able to thoroughly protect and fully stock them. Members of the Hawk's Nest Club of Kokomo, Indiana, Whose Summer Home is at Dunn.s Bridge, on the Kankakee River. From left to right, sitting-Senator D. C. Jenkins, Director O. J. Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer T. A. Morrison, President Geo. F. Menig, Director Fred Hoss, Director Jacob |