(358 GEOGRAPHICAL IfEVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



tons, were sent to Sandusky and Detroit. The salt fish were distributed to various inland towns 

 in Michigan. It should be held in mind that a large number of the fish taken at Alpena were 

 caught by the fishermen belonging at Detroit; the portion taken by Alpeua fishermen could not 

 have amounted to more than 300,000 pounds of fresh fish and 100,000 pounds of salt fish. 



At Alcona, a small village near Alpeua, two men were engaged in fishing in 1879, using a boat 

 and a pound net, together worth about $325. They took, as the results of their activities, about 

 550 worth of fish, principally of whitefish, herring, and sturgeon. 



Record could be found of but two disasters, one of which occurred in 1860, when three 

 iibhermeu were drowned, and the other in 1877, when a similar loss of life occurred. 



In 1855 there are said to have been about fifty boats fishiug at An Sable, where at the present 

 time there are but two. It is supposed that the refuse from the lumber mills has driven the fish 

 away; at any rate the fish have disappeared, and fishing at this point is decidedly unprofitable. 

 Several of the fishermen made statements in regard to the amounts of fish which they had taken 

 in former years. Mr. Case, of Alpeua, stated that he was formerly able to prepare at least 1,200 

 barrels of salt fish, as the result of one season's fishing, but that in 1879 he did not take more than 

 30 tons of fish. From three pound-nets, as the result of two nights' fishing, he has taken 450 

 half barrels of whitefish. At another time, at Hammond's Bay, he took 100 half barrels of 

 whitefish from one net, as the result of three nights' fishing; and besides whitefish, it was esti- 

 mated that there were 20 barrels of smothered fish in addition. 



There is considerable talk among the fishermen about the fact of Canadian fish being brought 

 into competition with American fish. One dealer from Detroit, who fishes in Canadian waters, 

 and brings his fish to Alpena to be shipped to Detroit, stated that he would ship 1.000,000 pounds 

 of Canadian fish into the United States daring the season of 1879. 



SAGINAW BAY AND THE CHARITY ISLANDS. The fisheries of Sagiuaw Bay are among the 

 most important on Lake Huron. During 1879 the total number of men employed in pound net 

 fishing, according to the best information obtainable, was cue hundred and fifty-six, of whom 

 about one-third had families. These men are employed nearly the entire year. In summer they 

 fish with pound nets in the bay, and in winter they continue the pound net fishing in the river 

 under the ice or turn their attention to spearing fish. Besides these, there are at least three 

 hundred and fifty men who fish only in the winter. The fishermen are chiefly French Canadians. 



As already intimated, the principal branches pursued in Sagiuaw Bay are pound fishiug and , 

 spearing. The pounds are of two kinds ; one kind being- used in summer in the bay and the other 

 at the mouth of the river in the winter. During 1879 not less than one hundred and sixty-five 

 pound-nets of both kinds were in use together with spearing apparatus to the value of $4,500. 

 About ten seines are also employed and ninety or one hundred fyke-nets. The whole apparatus 

 iu use is worth not far from $53,000. 



During 1879 the fishermen sold about 2,790,000 pounds of fresh fish, of which fully 038,000 

 were whitefish and herring, the remainder being pike and other minor varieties. During the same 

 season about 230,000 pounds of salt whitefish, 100,000 pounds of herring, and 80,0(JO pounds of 

 pike were sent to market. About 350,000 pounds of fresh fish were shipped to various dis- 

 tributing points on the lake. The salt fish were sent to inland towns, principally to Cincinnati 

 and Louisville. 



A number of disasters have occurred during the past decade, but it is impossible to learn any 

 particulars regarding them. Pound-net fishing was begun here in I860, prior to which time fyke- 

 nets and seines alone were employed. The fishermen are of the opinion that fish of all kinds are 

 decreasing, the decrease being most noticeable among the whitefish. The decline of the fishery is 



