17 



ay they are taken out and the pans are opened. Each cake of frozen 

 fish is then dipped in water and a thin coat of ice is thus formed 

 around it . The fish thus treated are then packed in wooden boxes, 

 ench holding- about 125 pounds; the boxes are nailed down and placed 

 in the freezer to await the arrival of the steamer which will carry 

 them to the large freezers at the shipping points, such as Selkirk. 

 Kach steamer has a capacious freezer in which the boxes of fish arc 

 placed for the trip down the lake. 



In addition to the freezing method described, an increasing Fresh fish, 

 quantity of fish is shipped without being frozen in pans at all. The 

 fish i< kept fresh by being covered with broken ice, in boxes, one 

 hundred and fifty pounds in each box, and they are shipped in the 

 same manner as the frozen fish; but, on arrival at the main shipping 

 point, they are transferred immediately to refrigerator cars and to 

 the express companies for despatch without delay to market for 

 immediate consumption. 



The winter fishing is an entirely different enterprise. The fisher- Winter fishing 

 men generally go out late in the fall to some distant fishing ground, methods, 

 being conveyed by the last steamer leaving for the north before the 

 winter ice forms. The men are conveyed to the winter fishing camps, 

 many of them as much as 200 miles from their homes. They have 

 full winter supplies with them and dog-trains, and each fisherman 

 i? allowed 1,500 yards of net. The mode of operation is as follows: 

 A hole is cut through the ice and a long pole, thirty or forty feet in 

 length, is inserted through the hole and pushed along under the sur- 

 face of the ice which is usually not more than three or four inches 

 thick at that time, so that the pole is readily seen through the ice, 

 and as it is pushed along holes are made at intervals through which 

 a forked stick is inserted for working the pole further along until 

 it has traversed a distance the full extent of the net to be fished. 

 To the pole a line is attached, and when the full length of line has 

 been paid out the net is attached to one end and can thus be easily 

 pulled through the water under the ice. An anchor-stone is attached 

 to the net which causes it to sink to the bottom, while the upper 

 line, or cork line, keeps it floating in an upright' position in the 

 water. The net is left down at the bottom, say, for 24 hours, and Taking up the 

 if the weather permits it is hauled up through one of the holes and catch, 

 the fish taken out and the net replaced or reset as before. The net, 

 as it is hauled up through the ice with its catch of fish, of course 

 freezes at once and the fish taken out of the meshes are soon frozen 

 hard so that they cannot be cleaned, and they are usually shipped to 

 the market in the round condition. To protect the fishermen from 

 the severity of the winter winds, a canvas screen is often placed 

 around the upper hole to enable the men to work sheltered from the 

 blast. As a rule, two men work together on the same gang of nets, 

 one being, 'generally, the owner of the gear and the other an assistant. 

 The fish piled up on the ice after being taken from the net, are 

 either boxed up at once or are piled up on the sleigh and conveyed 

 by dog-team to the different camps where they may then be boxed 

 up ready to be loaded on the teams which take them to the railway . 



shipping points, a distance it may be of from a few miles to two fro^thf camps, 

 hundred miles. These teams are provided by the farmers, princi- 

 pally, and they receive for freighting the fish on an average one cent 

 per pound per mile per hundred miles. The fish companies at the 

 commencement of the season usually make a contract with each 

 fisherman (see copy of contract, Appendix No. 1) so that each com- 



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