THE HOPKINSVILLE KENTUCKIAN — AUGUST 23, 1904
River So Jammed with Sturgeon the Boatmen Couldn’t Row Against Them
E. F. Crawford, a prominent attorney throughout the northern half of the state, who practices at Bemidji, met with the most thrilling experience of his life while coming up the Big Fork river in a canoe, says a Ripple (Minn.) correspondence in the St. Paul Dispatch. He saw the river filled from bank to bank with sturgeon, the big lake fish that at this time of year ascend streams from Rainy river to lay their spawn in shallow waters. Not only was the sight appalling, but on several occasions his boat was in danger of being crushed by the countless monsters.
In company with two rivermen, Mr. Crawford was paddling up river in great haste to reach Big Falls on the day of its being incorporated as a village, which matter was in his charge.
To reach the town, a canoe trip was necessary, as a log jam at the mouth of the river prevented steamboats from passing upward. The river is full of rafts at various points, and some of them are so strong that their boat had to be yarded over land along the banks. They came suddenly upon a splashing surface, which extended across the river and several hundred yards ahead. Here the slope was gentle and no such conditions were present as to hint that rapids should form at this point. The men were in the center of the river, but at once began to paddle their boat shoreward to avoid the rapids. Suddenly one of the boatmen cried:
