[3] OPERATIONS AT NORTHVILLE AND ALPENA. 815 



the weather aud their condition when brought in ; but they are usually 

 either frozen in shallow pans, or dressed (the entrails removed), washed 

 and packed in ice in fish cars holding from 1,000 to 2,500 pounds each. 

 The cars are then shipped by steamer, in the refrigerator apartment, 

 with which some of the vessels plying between Detroit and Lake Huron 

 ports are supplied, especially for the accommodation of this trade. 

 The cakes of frozen fish from the pans, packed in boxes of a convenient 

 size for handling, are also shipped in the vessel's refrigerator. But few 

 fish are salted ; nearly everything is shipped fresh to the real base of 

 operations at Detroit, and stored in large refrigerators to meet the de- 

 mand of the local and other markets for fresh fish. 



The capital required to operate these fresh water fisheries on a large 

 scale will not, of course, compare with the requirements of the large 

 ocean fisheries ; still, there are several firms interested in the business 

 on Lake Huron, with headquarters at Detroit, whose investments in 

 fish-tugs, fish-cars, nets, refrigerators, ice and store houses, etc., will ex- 

 ceed $100,000 each. 



There is a noticeable difference between the spawning runs of white- 

 fish of the island region of Lake Erie and the Thunder Bay region of 

 Lake Huron, both in the fish themselves and their movements. The 

 former iuclude but one variety, while the latter are represented by two 

 distinct types, each running to different grounds at different times. 

 One of these runs, composed of fish nearly identical in appearance with 

 the Lake Erie fish, though a little larger and coarser, sets in along the 

 shore from Oscoda to Alcona and Scarecrow Island; the other, the 

 dark-green-backed variety, follow^s about a week later on the shoals 

 near the mouth of the bay. The run of spawning-fish to the Lake Erie 

 islands is a steady flow, lasting, usually, from 25 to 35 days, the daily 

 average being much lighter than at some of the Lake Huron grounds, 

 but much better sustained. At Thunder Bay and the shore grounds 

 approaching thereto the spawners suddenly' appear in vast schools, the 

 run lasting about a week, then droj^ping away quite as suddenly as they 

 appeared. 



THE ALPENA HATCHERY. 



This hatchery was built, equipi)ed, and filled with eggs under the im- 

 mediate supervision of my chief assistant, Mr. S. Bower, and subse- 

 quently superintended by Mr. S. P. Wires, a former employe of the 

 Northville hatchery. 1 repeat the following description of the Alpena 

 hatchery, written for the London exhibition : 



" This hatchery was built in the fall of 1882. It is a one-story frame 

 building, 30 feet wide by 60 feet long, having front and rear entrances, 

 and amply lighted by fourteen windows. The main floor includes the 

 hatching-room and an office and sleeping apartment 10 feet wide by 18 

 long. The space between the office and the opposite side is conven- 

 iently utilized for storage of tools, cans, egg cases, etc. The hatchery 



