GEE AT LAKES: LAKE ERIE. 671 



to eastern and interior cities. From the other villages the fish are sent to various places in New 

 York and Pennsylvania. Miles Grove fishermen, however, send largely to Kentucky and to 

 Pittsburgh. Quite a large amount also is shipped in cars from Miles Grove to Columbus, Ohio. 

 No fish are smoked at Erie, and the amount salted is very small. In 1879 only 10,000 pounds of 

 whitefish were prepared in this way. 



At Eric the fishermen engage in extracting oil from fish offal. During 1879 about 800 gallons 

 were made. It is not very carefully made, and only a small price is realized. It is sold mainly 

 to the tanneries in Buffalo. 



Considering the number of men and boats employed in this locality, the disasters have been 

 remarkably few. In the fall of 1877 three men were lost ; this was the only accident, as far as 

 could be ascertained, for many years. 



The fishermen of this region, like their class generally, are poor, owing, however, more to their 

 shiftlessness than to lack of income. Some are in quite good circumstances and four or five have 

 made considerable fortunes. Very little attention appears to have been given to fishing at Erie, 

 and there are no records from which information can be gathered regarding the history of the 

 fisheries of the place. Nearly all the fishermen here have but recently engaged in the business, 

 few having been employed for more than ten years. The number of the boats is said to have 

 increased very much during the last half of the past decade. The year 1878 was the most suc- 

 cessful that has occurred since 18CO, and the yield for 1879 was quite as good as that for the year 

 1875. There have been no very important changes in the methods of fishing, except that finer 

 twine is used in the nets than formerly, and the boats are larger and better built. 



BUFFALO. At Buffalo fishing is rather an unimportant occupation. There are a great many 

 men who fish in winter with hooks through the ice, and during the warmer part of the year with 

 small seines, in the river. These catch a considerable amount of fish. Mr. Johnson, one of the 

 oldest dealers of Buffalo, stated that, in his opinion, in ordinary winters, when the ice was thick 

 on the lake, as many as three hundred persons, a large percentage of whom were sailors, were 

 engaged in fishing, and that ordinarily a winter's catch would not fall far short of 300,000 pounds. 

 Very little of this amount, however, falls into the hands of the city dealers. Pike and sturgeon 

 are the principal kinds taken. The winter of 1879 was exceptionally mild, no ice being formed in 

 the lake, and therefore no fishing was prosecuted. 



Considerable numbers of sturgeon are caught by means of three-pronged grappling-hooks, 

 which are dragged along the bottom. Pounds or trap-nets are not allowed in the waters of Lake 

 Erie bordering on New York, so that the supply of sturgeon is much less than it would otherwise 

 be. Some fishermen of Ohio attempted to use these nets near Buffalo, but were obliged to desist. 

 Many fish caught in Canadian waters are shipped to Buffalo. 



According to the best estimates that could be obtained the amount of fresh fish received into 

 Buffalo during 1879 was approximately as follows: Whitefish, 1,083,000 pounds; trout, 628,500 

 pounds; mixed fish, 420,000 pounds. Of this whole amount, about 075,000 pounds were received 

 from fisheries lying to the westward, of which account has already been taken. About 600,000 

 pounds were consumed in the city. Considering the population of Buffalo, this amount is quite 

 small in comparison with the consumption of some other cities. The whole amount of fish received, 

 fresh, salt, and smoked, was about 4,000,000 pounds. Considering the remarkable increase in 

 the receipts of Chicago, it seems hardly possible that the trade of Buffalo could have fallen oft 

 since 1872 as much as 2,000,000 pounds. Nevertheless, the statistics for that year, as published 

 by the late Mr. Milner, in the U. S. Fish Commissioner's Report, show that such must be the 

 condition of affairs. 



