

11 



countless lakes and tributaries and flowing into Lake of the Woods 

 which empties into Winnipeg river. The tributaries of the Rainy 

 river are very numerous. Some of the lakes, like Lac Stenl, are of 

 large size, over a hundred miles long. Thus, by the Red river and 

 the Winnipeg river an immense territory between the Mississippi to 

 the south and the height of land west of Lake Superior on the east, 

 and to the height of land on the northeast bordering the Hudson Bay 

 legion, every lake and stream empties into Lake Winnipeg. The 

 Great Saskatchewan from the Rocky Mountains receives the Stur- 

 geon, Vermilion, Battle, and rather rivers, and, not least, the South 

 Saskatchewan into which the Red Deer river, the Bow arid Elbow 

 rivers empty far away to the west. All these immense tributaries . 



pouring into Lake Winnipeg empty by the Great Nelson river to 

 the north with its vast expanse of lakes like the Play-Green lakes 

 and others. It is not too much to say that a body of water like Lake 

 Winnipeg, receiving the drainage of such an immense area of coun- 

 try, provides all the conditions for an abundant fish supply which, 

 with proper care, can only be described as inexhaustible. There is 

 little doubt that most of these lakes have contained, at some time or Whitefish very 

 other, whitefish, though various natural causes and the destructive widel y distributed, 

 character of man's fishing operations may have diminished their 

 abundance in some cases, or perhaps exterminated them. Archbishop 

 Tache, in his sketch of the Northwest, speaks of the Attihawmeg, 

 which is found throughout the country, the lakes, large and small, 

 being nearly all frequented by them, and they, providentially, swarm 

 even in some of the lesser lakes, which otherwise would be without 

 resource, and many parts of the country would otherwise be unin- 

 habitabile. ' I am entitled to speak on the subject,' said the Arch- 

 bishop, 'for I have lived for whole years on whitefish as my prin- 

 ciple food and frequently the only food.' 



HISTORY OF THE FISHERIES OF MANITOBA. 



The history of the fisheries of Manitoba is a story of marvel- Growth of the 

 lous development. Thirty years ago whitefish were so abundant that Manitoba Fisheries, 

 it was claimed by the authorities that restrictive or protective 

 measures were really not required in order to preserve the fish in 

 abundance, so plentiful were the swarms of fish in these waters. In 

 an old (fisheries) report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 

 for the year 1872-3, there is, however, a fear expressed that, as the Fear of depletion 

 population increases, some preservative laws might be advisable to Y ears a s- 

 prevent the serious diminution of the supply of so valuable and 

 esteemed a food fish as the Manitoba whitefish. At the time referred 

 to, the total catch of fish on Lake Winnipeg was estimated at 160 

 tons, or between 70,000 and 80,000 fish. The Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's employees are stated to have taken annually at Fort Alex- 

 ander 30,000 whitefish on an average, while the Indians and half- 

 breeds, to whom the fish was a staple article of food, consumed 40,000 

 or 50,000 more. The market price was stated to be sixteen shillings 

 per hundred, that is, about one dollar per 100 pounds, or a cent a 

 pound, and l a large number of whitefish are brought down from the 

 lake for sale at Winnipeg.' The total value of the whitefish catch 

 was estimated at 640 stg. or a little over $3,000 per annum. The 

 commercial utilization of this fish must have been carried on in a 

 somewhat desultory way, though Fishery Officer D. Gnim, in a re- 

 port dated October 14, 1875, referred to a joint stock company having 





