317 



Lake Huron, _ 1 4,000 bbls. 



Lake Erie, 3,000 " 



36,000 " 

 Detroit River wliite fish, 7,000 " 



Total, 42,000 " 



"These are sold at an average j)rice of $1 1 per barrel — the aggregate 

 amount of sales being $162,000, or nearly half a million dollars. Prob- 

 ably one-sixth of all the tish caught in Lakes Michigan, Huron and 

 Superior, are trout — the remainder being white fish. They are com- 

 monly caught by "gill nets," set some ten miles distant from the shore. 

 Large quantities of fi^h are taken from D.itroit river, which they ascend 

 from Lake Erie, to spawn. Ou their return to the Luke, they are cap- 

 tured. The riuinbt-r of fisheries on the river is fifly, 



"In some of the rivers that flow into the Lakes, enormous quantities 

 of pickerel are caught. Not less than 1,000 barrels are taken annually 

 from Fox River, Wisconsin; from S.iginaw River, Michigan, 1,500 

 barrels; St. Clair River, Michigan, ],500 barrels; Maurnee River, Ohio, 

 3,000 barrels, and an equal quantity of bass, mullet, &c., making a total 

 of 10,000 barrels, which are sold for 8S 50 per barrel, or $85,000 in 

 the aggregate. The annual product of tha Lakes and tributary rivers 

 is thus shown : 



Bhls. Value. 



The Lakes, ..35,000 $385,000 



Detroit River, 7,000 77,000 



Other rivers, 1 0,000 85,000 



Total, 52,000 $547,000 



The writer of the above, although a practical fisherman, undoubtedly 

 shoots wide of the mark in some of his estimates. He puts down the 

 average price per bbl. at $11, which is all of $2 per bbl. too high. The 

 average price of white fish, from first hands, at this point, cannot safely 

 be estimated at over $9 per bbl., while the other varieties of fish, such 

 as ])ickerel, trout, siscoweit, herring, &c., (of which there are large num- 

 bei"3 caught,) are uniformly from one to two dollars per bbl. less. 



He al>o estimates the total annual catch of fish in all the lake and 

 liver fisheries, at 52,000 bbls. This estimate is considerably too low. 



