814 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



established, is a rapidly growing city of nearly 10,000 inhabitants, situ- 

 ated at the head of Thunder Bay, an indenture of western Lake Huron. 

 Its chief exports are the products of the adjacent forests and of the fish- 

 eries. Although having no railroad facilities, the Thunder Bay Eiver 

 affords a fine harbor, capable of receiving the largest lake craft ; first 

 class and frequent boat service is therefore supplied during the season of 

 navigation. Although no fishing-grounds of any account are found 

 within a radius of 15 miles of the mouth of the river, Alpena is the nat- 

 ural center for the fishing interests of a considerable section. Indeed, 

 the products, not only of the Thunder Bay fisheries, but of the shore 

 fisheries for miles above and below, are compelled to go there to find 

 prompt and satisfactory shipping service, as it is the only first-class 

 harbor in that region. The principal fishing-grounds are the island 

 shoals, the shoals near the mouth of the bay, the shore grounds above 

 and below, and the '• big reef," a stretch of comparatively shoal grounds 

 out in the lake about 45 to 50 miles nearly due east from the mouth of 

 the river. These islands, as in many cases is the case with the imme- 

 diate base of operations along the mainland, are mere rocky or sandy 

 wastes, uninhabited except during the fishing season by the sailing- 

 craft fishermen, who find it impossible to handle their nets daily and 

 port at Alpena, 15 to 25 miles away. Special sailers or tugs are em- 

 ployed to make daily or tri-weekly visits to these points to collect the 

 fish and carry them in. Trap or pound nets are the apparatus usually 

 employed off the islands and along the shore, though many small gill- 

 net boats run to these grounds during the best of the spawning season. 

 By far the most extensive gill-net operations are conducted by the fish- 

 ing tugs that port at Alpena, and make daily trips, weather permitting, 

 to the shoals near the mouth of the bay or to the "big reef" outside. 

 Fishing at the latter point is a very laborious occupation, as the nets 

 are set in water many fathoms deeper than is found over the inner shoals, 

 and, being so far out, there is usually more or less sea, even with lee- 

 ward winds prevailing. Moreover, the crews are employed in favorable 

 weather sixteen to eighteen hours out of twenty-four. The boats steam 

 out of harbor about 2 a. m., arriving at the grounds at daylight ; the 

 work of lifting and resetting the nets then goes on until 4 or 5 o'clock 

 in the afternoon, the time of the return trip being occupied in cutting 

 and cleaning the fish, unless a heavy sea and pitching of the boat pre- 

 vents, in which case this work is done by the same crew upon arrival at 

 shore. 



Whitefish and lake trout comprise the principal varieties of fish 

 brought to Alpena, though there is a sprinkling of wall-eyed pike, and 

 some few herring. The trout and whitefish seldom mingle to any ex- 

 tent, though schools of each may run to the same grounds at diiferent 

 times. Whitefish, however, are seldom caught from the " big reef" 

 grounds — nothing but trout. 



The methods of preparing the fish for shipment depend largely on 



