794 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



River and Calumet Lake is a small channel at the north end of the lake. 

 This channel was originally made by the Indians as a communication 

 between the river and the lake during their hunting and fishing excur- 

 sions. 



Old residents tell me that at first this channel was barely wide enough 

 to allow the passage of canoes, but has gradually enlarged to its pres- 

 ent dimensions, being one-quarter of a mile in length, about 50 feet 

 wide, and 6 to 8 feet in depth. The lake is merely a sink, into which 

 the water from the surrounding marshes and sloughs empties and forms 

 a body of water about 3 miles long and 2 miles wide, and an average 

 depth of from 4 to 6 feet of water, with a deeper channel extending 

 lengthwise through the lake north and south. The shores are boggy 

 and covered with a growth of wild rice {Zizania aquatica). The bottom 

 of the lake is covered with a layer of mud. While seining in this lake 

 the fishermen have caught many species that are ordinarily only taken 

 in Lake Michigan. Their theory is that these fish have followed the 

 river up to the channel, during some northerly storm, and straying 

 through this into the lake have been unable to find their way out again. 

 Some of these species exist in this lake in large numbers, and without 

 doubt breed there. It is generally supposed that there are but few fish 

 in this lake ; yet the fishermen who seine there say that there are large 

 numbers of fishes in it. 



Some species rare in the river at present, are abundant in the lake. 

 The following species are enumerated by the fishermen as being taken 

 in Calumet Lake : 



The eel pout is abundant ; not known to be taken in the river except 

 at intervals. 



Black bass; formerly very abundant in the river, but now rare; quite 

 abundant in Calumet Lake at present. 



Eock bass ; in river and lake. 



Perch ; common in river and lake. 



White bass; common in the lake; only found in the river at intervals. 



Pickerel; quite rare at present in the river and common in the lake. 



Mullet sucker ; plentiful in the lake ; not often taken in the river. 

 Several other species of suckers are also taken, which have not been 

 determined. 



Buifalo fish ; very plentiful in the lake ; generally rare in the river. 



Bullhead; exceedingly abundant in the lake. January 13, 1876, some 

 fishermen with a seine obtained over 3,000 pounds of this species, in a 

 bay at one end of this lake. 



Lake catfish {Amiurus nigricans)', common in the lake and river. 



Dogfish ; abundant in both river and lake. 



Gar pike; not uncommon in river and lake. 



Sturgeon ; have been occasionally taken, and are said to be quite 

 common. 



Lampreys ; are also taken. 



