The lake sturgeon: the river's great fish, between the dams

The French era to the modern status record

The documented presence: The lake sturgeon is the largest native fish of the Great Lakes and the oldest animal in this section — a fish of the spring shallows that the Fort St. Joseph archaeology record names among the notable subsistence resources of the French-era post, and that Bartlett's fishing-floor account puts first among the speared fish of the run. The river's sturgeon fame in the settlement century centered a few miles above the county line: the basin's literature records that "the abundance of lake sturgeon made the area around Niles famous in the mid-to late-1800s," that fish up to twelve feet long and three hundred pounds were taken there, and that their roe was exported to Russia as caviar. The same record traces the migration's full reach — sturgeon ran the river as far as Hillsdale County, Michigan — and its truncation: dammed at Berrien Springs and below, the spawning fish were cut off from the upper river, "reducing the length of the river used by them for spawning by 155 miles," and the fish ladders built for salmon, the record states plainly, "are not adequate for many native species, such as sturgeon." The documentary film record of the river made by the local public-television station states the Indiana-reach result in one sentence: after the dams, the lake sturgeon was no longer able to swim upstream along the St. Joseph River.

The standing now: The sturgeon is state-endangered in Indiana. The modern status literature carries one sentence that keeps this river in the fish's present tense: reviewing the species' Great Lakes standing, Ferguson and colleagues (2004) record, on the Great Lakes Lake Sturgeon Coordination Meeting's assessment, that "the only spawning population in Indiana from Lake Michigan remains between dams on the St. Joseph River" — a remnant spawning population persisting in the river's lower, dam-broken reaches. As for restoration releases: the brief for this section expected them, and the record reached does not contain them. No Indiana DNR release of lake sturgeon into the St. Joseph River appears in the agency material and status literature consulted, and the fish's Indiana story in this river is therefore printed as it stands — a documented historic presence, a famous nineteenth-century fishery at Niles, a remnant spawning population between the dams, and no restocking chapter. If a release program reaches this river, it belongs to the update cycle, dated and sourced like everything else here.

Sources:

1. Charles H. Bartlett, Tales of Kankakee Land, as quoted in Howard (1907), pp. 45–46 — the sturgeon at the fishing floor; Cremin & Nassaney, Fort St. Joseph reconnaissance report (citing Bettarel & Smith, 1973) — spawning sturgeon as subsistence resources of the post.
2. St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan) basin record as compiled in the river's watershed literature — the Niles fishery, the twelve-foot fish, the caviar export, the 155 miles of lost spawning river, the ladders' inadequacy for sturgeon.
3. M. M. Ferguson et al., "The status of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes" literature review, Environmental Science & Policy 7 (2004) — the remnant spawning population between dams on the St. Joseph River (GLLSCM, 2002).
4. WNIT, Then, Now and Always… The St. Joseph River Story, teacher's guide — the sturgeon's exclusion from the upper river after the dams.
5. Indiana Department of Natural Resources — lake sturgeon, state-endangered in Indiana; no release into the St. Joseph River found in the agency record reached (searched for this section, November 2026).