648 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



tbat the city is entirely independent of the fisheries carried on there, that the larger proportion of 

 the fish taken by Milwaukee fishermen are shipped to Chicago and other places, \vhile the supply 

 for the city is obtained largely from Lake Superior. 



Both gill-net and pound-net fishing are engaged in, the former more extensively than the latter. 

 In 1879 about 2,0,00 gill-nets and 10 pound-nets were employed, the value of which, according to 

 the owner, is about $9,500. In the management of the nets five steam-tugs, and a number of 

 smaller boats and accessories, valued at about $13,000, are employed. 



As a result of the activities of the fishermen during 1879, about 980,000 pounds of fish were 

 taken, 900,000 pounds of which were whitefish and trout, and the remainder lawyers, sturgeon, 

 and other minor varieties. About 500,000 pounds of whitefish and trout were sent to Chicago, and 

 the rest, in part, sent to inland towns, and in part consumed in the city. The value of the products 

 to the fishermen, who, it must be remembered, usually ship for themselves the fish they catch, was 

 about $28,600. It may not be inappropriate to mention that in addition to the amount caught in 

 Lake Michigan, about 75,OCO pounds of fish, principally bass and pickerel, were received into tho 

 city from various inland lakes in the State. 



The trade in fish received from other places is of considerable importance. Six dealers are 

 engaged in the business. During the year 1879 they received an aggregate of 5,969 half-barrels 

 of salt fish, which, with the exception of about 28 half-barrels, consisted of various grades of white- 

 fish, trout, and herring. They were received in part from the east shore of Lake Michigan, north 

 of Ludington, and from Lake Superior. More than 4,000 half-barrels were sold to the wholesale 

 grocers of the city, by whom they were sent to the retail grocers in the surrounding country, tire 

 remainder being sent to Saint Louis, Cincinnati, and other inland cities and towns. 



The decline of the importance of Milwaukee as a distributing point is shown by the striking 

 decrease in the amounts handled by the dealers in 1879 as compared with those of former years. 

 One firm, which disposed of 2,000 half-barrels of salt fish in 1879, in 1867 received 13,000 half- 

 barrels, and in 1869, 14,000 half barrels. Another firm, which also handled about 2,000 half-barrels 

 in 1879, received nearly 7,000 half-barrels in 1872, and over 10,000 barrels in 1873. 



In addition to the salt fish, about 100,000 pounds of fresh whitefish and trout, and a small 

 amount of minor varieties, were received from outside the city, principally from Lake Superior, 

 and sold partly in Milwaukee and partly in the neighboring inland towns. 



The fisheries of Milwaukee are less extensive than formerly, owing, no doubt, in part, to their 

 being less productive than formerly. In 1865 about seventy fishermen, employing twenty-three 

 boats, engaged in the industry, making a very comfortable living. Since that time the number 

 has constantly decreased. 



Gill-nets and seines have been employed since the first settlement of the country, but it was 

 not until 1865 that pounds were introduced. The Norwegian sloops, formerly in use, have given 

 place, in large measure, to steam-tugs, within the last five or six years. 



RACINE, KENOSHA, AND WAUKEGAN. On that portion of the west shore of Lake Michigan 

 on which these three towns are situated, the fisheries are not so important as those farther north. 

 Only about forty-five men twenty-six at Waukegan, nine at Kenosha, and ten at Racine are 

 . engaged in fishing. 



At Racine gill-net fishing is the only branch pursued, and at Keuosha, also, the gill-net is the 

 most important apparatus, but at the latter place two pound-nets are owned. At Waukegan, on 

 the other hand, pound-nets alone are in use, about twenty-seven of them being set at different 

 points along twelve miles of shore, partly north and partly south of the village. The variety dis- 

 played in the fisheries prosecuted is due principally to the nature of the shore. Gill-nets were for- 



