(354 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



Mr. Putnam, of Pent Water, stated that fishing during 1879 was but little better than that of 

 prior years, and that at no point on the shore is there a more alarming decrease than here. At 

 Grand Haven the fishing was reported to be in as good a condition as in prior years. Between 

 1875 and 1877 the yield was very small, bnt since that time it has been increasing. At Holland 

 fishing has almost entirely died out ; not, however, on account of the decrease of fish, but because 

 the place has very poor shipping facilities, and the fishermen are able to secure but little profit 

 from the fish which they take. 



LITTLE AND GRAND TRAVERSE BAYS. The principal fisheries of this region are carried on 

 from Traverse City, North port, Charlevoix, and Petoskey. The last-mentioned village has lately 

 assumed new relations to the fisheries, being at present a shipping point of considerable impor- 

 tance. An enterprising firm built a large freezing-house here early in 1878, and since that time 

 fishing in the locality has been prosecuted with increased energy. The grounds in the two bays 

 were visited, however, many years ago by fishermen from Mackinac, with good success, but their 

 distance from any shipping point proved too great, and the enterprise was abandoned. For a 

 number of years afterwards no other fishermen resorted here, except a few Indians. The firm now 

 located at Petoskey handles all the fish taken between Cross Village on the north, and Charlevoix 

 on the south. 



Sufficient has been already written to show that but little variety exists in the kinds of fish- 

 eries carried on in different parts of the lakes, or in the manner of their operation. In the region 

 now under consideration we find the same condition of affairs which exists in other localities. Gill- 

 net and pound-net fishing take the lead, while seining is of minor importance. Fifteen hundred 

 gill nets, nineteen or twenty pounds, and three seines constitute the sum of the apparatus of cap- 

 ture employed. Two steam-tugs, one hailing from Petoskey and one from Charlevoix, together 

 with twenty Mackinaw boats, serve in the gill-net fishery, while in the management of the pounds 

 about sixteen of the ordinary scow-like pound-boats are employed. These nets and boats, together 

 with the buildings established at the fisheries, and other structures and implements of minor 

 importance, are valued by their owners at not less than $32,000. 



A large proportion of the fish taken in Little and Grand Traverse Bays are whitefish and trout, 

 7iext to which herring, suckers, and black-fins are the most important. The amount of all kinds 

 caught here in 1879 and sent fresh to different markets was not less than 224,000 pounds, in addi- 

 tion to which 100,000 pounds of fish were frozen, and 700 half-barrels of salt fish prepared. The 

 fresh fish are disposed of at different points on the line of the Grand Kapids and Indiana Railroad; 

 none, however, at least in 1879, going south of Fort Wayne, Ind. The fish frozen at Petoskey 

 during the same season were all shipped to Philadelphia. A large part of the salt fish find sale 

 in Chicago. 



What little could be learned by investigation regarding the history of the fisheries of Little 

 and Grand Traverse Bays has been already given. 



THE STRAITS OF MACKINAC. In this section it is necessary to include the northern shores of 

 Lakes Michigan and Huron, from the entrance of Green Bay to the mouth of river Saintc Marie as 

 well as the islands of Mackinac and Bois Blanc, and the south shore of the straits east from Point 

 Wagoshance. Within these limits we find no less than eleven hundred persons dependent, to a 

 greater or lesser extent, upon the fisheries, including the fishermen and their families, shop keep- 



