MILNER FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. 5 



tlireeor four miles of the shore, every month in the winter, cootinuiug 

 the fishing' throughout the year. 



Where fishing through the ice is carried on, men are employed for 

 winter work. 



On Lake Michigan, in 1871, the summer fishing in the vicinity of 

 Waukegan, 111., aftbrded employment to about forty-four men dur- 

 ing three months of the year; the spring and fall fisheries of the lake 

 employed about eleven hundred and eighty men during five months -, 

 the year fishing employed about seven hundred and sixty-five during 

 about seven months; in all, about one thousand nine hundred and eighty- 

 nine men, of whom only about nine hundred men received wages. The 

 total outlay was about * 180,000 in the season. 



4. — THE EXTENT OF THE LAKE-FISHERIES. 



No attempt at obtaining any very complete statistics of the product 

 of the lake-fisheries has hitherto been made, and in the census reports 

 of the United States few and fragmentary figures of this large interest 

 have been given. A complete exhibit, or one as complete as may be 

 made of most of the market commodities, would be diflicult to obtain, 

 as a large amount of fish is used in the local demand in the vicinity of 

 ths fisheries, which is sold directly by the fishermen to residents, ped- 

 dlers, and traders on steamers, and no account of it is kept. The tables 

 of steamers and vessels are also supplied in this way. There are also 

 a large number of small dealers, who keep no books, receiving and sell- 

 ing fresh fish in lake cities. So that of a large amount of the fish 

 caught no record is made ; and of the «iuantities taken reliable statis- 

 tics of not more than about seventy per cent, can be obtained. 



The handling of the lake-fish on the market employs quite an amount 

 of capital. Large warehouses are necessary for storage and the assort- 

 ing and inspection of the fish, and are to be found in all of the larger 

 cities. In the salt-fish trade, great quantities of salt come a second 

 time into demand, for use in repacking. 



Of late years a process of freezing has been resorted to for the ship- 

 ment of fresh fish. This process has been i^atented, and the right sold 

 in all the important cities on the lakes. Large freezing and preserving 

 houses have been erected, and hundreds of tons of tish are frozen while 

 fresh, and shipped in this condition to New York, Washington, Cincin- 

 nati, Saint Louis, Omaha, and intervening cities. 



Many of the dealers employ small steamers in visiting the fisheries, 

 and gathering in the fish that are salted on the shore. 



For the purpose of showing the extent of the fisheries, and their 

 value as a commercial and food resource, we have attempted, since the 

 close of the fishing-season, to obtain an exhibit of the catch of the year, 

 as complete as possible, for the whole extent of the lakes. 



Though most of the dealers responded cheerfully to the application 

 for figures from their books, a few failed to comply, and the tables are 



