GREAT LAKES: LAKE MICHIGAN. 



655 



ers, clerks, dealers, arid others. The number of men in each branch of the fisheries and in the 

 occupations accessory thereto, in 1879, was somewhat as follows : 



Among these people every conceivable condition may be found from that of the poor fisher- 

 man, whose scanty profits scarcely furnish him his livelihood, to that of the wealthy merchant who 

 owns extensive grounds and fishes by proxy. The tendency, however, is towards concentration 

 of interests, many of the smaller fishermen selling out their stock and privileges to the wealthier 

 firms, contenting themselves with giving their service as hired employes. Firms with large capital 

 are now fishing with many nets, where formerly the occupation was distributed among a large 

 number of fishermen of limited means. 



The pound-owners, as a rule, are in very comfortable circumstances, and have considerable 

 money invested in their fisheries, which are managed with commendable zeal and enterprise. A 

 majority of them are Americans. The gill-net fishermen, on the other hand, are largely French 

 Canadians, and among them many extremely shiftless people are to be found. A large propor- 

 tion barely succeed in making a living. They often allow their nets to remain in the water for a 

 number of weeks without removing the fish caught in them. At other times they expose them 

 unduly to storms, and, as a result, frequently lose great amounts of twine. 



A principal cause of the decrease of fishermen of small means in this region is to be found in 

 the fact that fitters refuse to supply them with apparatus and stores on credit a practice exten- 

 sively in use here in former years. 



In matter of importance, the gill-net and pound-net fisheries hold about equal rank. It is true 

 that the whole number of nets used in the former branch, considered by themselves, are less valu- 

 able than the pounds but when we consider the worth of all the apparatus, the nets, the boats, 

 and accessories, employed in either fishery, the amount of capital invested appears about equal 

 The following table shows the value of all kinds of apparatus employed during the year 1879 : 



