12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



surface of the crib open. Wooden " Im^e-fish" are used attracting the 

 Mackinaw trout to tlie holes, where they are taken with the spear. Tem- 

 porary houses are built upon the ice, until quite a village grows up, and 

 traders take out small stocks of goods and establish stores. 



There is the most evident reduction of the quantities of fish taken 

 throughout the shores of this lake within a short term of years. 



9. — IN SAINT CLAIR AND DETROIT RIVERS. 



At the head of Saint Clair River, large fisheries were in operation several 

 years ago, but the enterprise has gradually diminished, as the fish be- 

 came fewer in numbers, until now three or four, fisheries have the fish- 

 ing-privileges almost entirely to themselves. 



Between the mouth of Detroit River and the city are a number of 

 fisheries, employing a large immber of men in the fall of the year, and 

 j)roving as lucrative to their proprietors as any fisheries on the lakes. 



The ^^ Ponds ^' of Detroit River. 



These fisheries, known as ponds, are among the most extensive estab- 

 lishments of the lake. Large numbers of white-fish are kept alive in 

 them, from the fall of the year to late in the winter, when they are taken 

 out, and sold in the market at good prices. The best ponds are situ- 

 ated at islands in the middle of the river, where there is an ample cir- 

 culation of water, keeping the fisli in vigorous, healthy condition for 

 months. 



The pond is merely an inclosiu'e in the river, made by driving piles 

 close together, and afterward sheathing the inside with planks, leaving 

 joints of three-quarters of an inch width, to allow the free circidation of 

 water through the pond. At one end of the pond a gate is put in, 

 hinged at the bottom of the river to a mud-sill, and the upper portion, 

 floating at an angle of about 45°, projects a foot or more above the sur- 

 face, closing the entrance to the pond. By pushing the gate beneath 

 the surface, with a pole, it is opened to the extent of one, two, three, or 

 more feet, according to the depth the top of the gate is pushed down. 



The accompanying plate represents one of the best arranged and 

 conducted fisheries on Detroit River. The buildings for the men, the 

 net-house, and the store-house, with the windlass- sheds, are all in view. 

 It will be seen that the fishing is carried on by sweeping a seine in front 

 of the pond, that is drawn in by horse-power. When the brails come 

 on shore the men haul in the seine until the bag is reached, when the 

 leads are thrown over the top of the gate, which is then pushed down, 

 leaving an open space at the surface, of two feet, through which the 

 fish are emptied into the pond without being touched by the hand, or 

 taken above water. 



At this fishery the seines in use are about one hundred rods long. 

 A gang of thirty men are employed from September to the middle of 

 November, working in two relays, night and day, and averaging about 



