GB6 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



The catch consists mainly of whitefish, trout, herriug, and pike. The yield of both fisheries, 

 in 1879, was about 300,000 pounds of fresh fish and 9,000 half-barrels of salt fish, worth together 

 about $45,000. 



The shipping business is controlled mainly by three firms. At least seven- ninths of the salt 

 fish is sent to other lake distributing points Buffalo, Toledo, Chicago, and Port Clinton. The 

 remainder goes to Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The fresh fish is shared about equally by Chicago 

 and Saint Paul. 



The fishermen fish on shares, the outfitters furnishing boats, nets, and other apparatus, and 

 paying a certain sum for the fish when salted. Provisions are advanced to fishermen's families on 

 credit during the fishing season. 



Fish are somewhat less abundant in this region than formerly, especially in Chequamegou Bay, 

 but the decrease is not considered at all alarming. It is the experience of the fishermen that if 

 fishing is desisted from on a ground which has been depleted, fish will return to it in the course of 

 a couple of years, and the catch will again be as large as previously. The year 1879 was not con- 

 sidered an altogether profitable one, but the yield in 1880 was thought to have been larger than 

 ever before. It must be taken into consideration, however, that more nets were used and that tin- 

 grounds were better known than formerly. 



The boats now in use are not materially different from those formerly employed. They may 

 be, however, a trifle larger and more valuable. 



We find record of only two disasters of recent occurrence. In 1878 a boat, with four men, was 

 lost. In the same year another fisherman was lost while fishing through the ice. 



ONTONAGON, POETAGE ENTRY, L'ANSE, AND INTERVENING STATIONS. Outouagon is situated 

 on the west side of Keweeuaw Point, at the mouth of the Ontonagon River. Its principal industry 

 is copper-mining, but the people are incidentally engaged in fishing. L'Ause, located at the head 

 of Keweeuaw Bay, is also sustained by mining and lumber trade, bufcits fisheries are important. 

 Between these villages there are a number of hamlets, the population of which is engaged in 

 fishing to a greater or less extent. 



In this section we find about one hundred and thirty-four fishermen, eighty-eight of whom arc- 

 engaged in gill netting, thirty in the pound-net fishery, and the rest in seining and other minor fish- 

 eries. The nationalities represented, as at the villages westward, are Canadian French and half, 

 breed Indians, in equal proportions. The owners of fisheries, however, are principally Americans. 



Gill net fishing ranks first in importance. About eleven hundred nets are in use, each GO 

 fathoms or a little less in length, and with 4f or 5-inch mesh. They are in use at all seasons 

 of the year. The catch consists principally of whitefish, trout, and siscowet and a few suckers. 

 The pound fishery is prosecuted with twelve nets, each worth about $350. The season lasts from 

 May to November, unless heavy storms should make it necessary to remove them earlier. The prin- 

 cipal fish taken are whitefish, trout, and pickerel. The seiners use eight seines, worth about $75 

 each, and catch mainly whitefish. 



One small steam-tug of about 12 tons burden is employed in the gill-net fishery and in trans 

 porting the catch to shipping points, and a little schooner is also used for carrying the products 

 from place to place. In regard to the boats it may be said that they are not so seaworthy as those 

 used farther west. The cause is to be found in the fact that this section of coast is not so 

 exposed as many others. The pound boats especially are not much better than those employed 

 at Green Bay. 



The gill-netters fish west of Keweeuaw Point, in Keweeuaw Bay, and eastward almost to 



