12 



Lake Winnipeg 

 Fish Co., 1872. 



Pioneer Commercial 

 Fishing Co. 

 Messrs. Reid & 

 Clark. 



1883 Catches on 

 Lake Winnipeg. 



been formed in 1872 by a few enterprising men to supply the city 

 of Winnipeg 1 with fish. This joint stock company built a half-decked 

 boat of some tonnage, and had a supply of drag seines and other 

 nets on board, and made several trips from Winnipeg to the Little 

 Saskatchewan river where they established their fishing station. 

 They brought in their catches to Winnipeg, chiefly whitefish, fresh 

 and salted, but the enterprise did not prove to be a paying one, and 

 they gave it up, and confined their boat to freighting goods and pro- 

 visions to the various points on the lake. 



The first real commercial fishing enterprise for supplying the 

 market with fish was commenced in 1882 by Messrs. Reid and Clark, 

 who began with one sailboat on Lake Winnipeg, and they brought 

 down their catches to the city of Winnipeg. The operations were, to 

 a large extent, an experiment, but the results were encouraging, and 

 in 1883, they increased their operations, employing two sail boats, and 

 their catch was as follows : 



Lbs. Value. 



Whitefish 72,867 $3,041 



Pike 51,850 1,061 



Pickerel or dore 2,400 480 



Total 127,117 



$4,582 



Lake Winnipeg, 



1884. 



In 1884, the firm named placed a steam tug, the Lady Ellen, on 



First fishing tug on the lake. This was the first steam fishing tug placed on Lake Win- 

 nipeg, and the catches made by it largely increased the total output 

 of fish. The catch in 1884 increased five-fold, the fish being chiefly 

 exported to the United States, as that was at the time the only avail- 

 able and readily reached market.* The following were the amounts 

 of fish: 



Lbs. Value. 



Whitefish 359,000 $14,036 



Pike. . 561,833 13,855 



Total 920,833 



$27,891 



In 1885 the exports of Lake Winnipeg whitefish to the United 

 States were: 



Lbs. Value. 



Whitefish 759,730 $32,500 



Pike 670,433 21,877 



Pickerel (dore) 33,515 1,340 



Tullibee 1,600 80 



Total 1,465,278 



>5,797 



Other fishing 

 companies, 1885. 



The above fish were cleaned and salted and also shipped in a fresh 

 condition while a proportion were frozen, winter-caught fish. Messrs. 

 Reid & Clark handled about 167 tons of fresh fish and 2,270 half bar- 

 rels salt whitefish. Other parties now entered into the industry; 

 Captain Banfield placed a schooner on the lake, while Messrs. Mathe- 

 son, J. Hanson and D. McGregor each had a sail boat employed in 

 carrying on the fishery. In 1886 another firm entered the business, 

 the well-known firm of Messrs. C. W. Gauthier & Co., of Sandwich, 

 Ont., who brought to the lake a plant valued at $1,500, and who 

 secured a catch of fish which they shipped to Windsor, Ont., and 



