760 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



The firm of Grosse Brothers, of Little Suamico, Green Bay, employ two steam yachts late 

 in the season in connection with their off-shore fisheries. 



In the Lake Erie fisheries row-boats are employed in calm weather in place o :the larger 

 " pound-net" boats. 



"Hay ward" and '-Huron" boats are also used in the pound-net fishery in some localities. 



PILE-DEIVERS AND STAKE-LIFTERS. In setting the pound-net stakes, pile-drivers, worked 

 by steam or by hand, are employed in all the larger fisheries. The driver commonly used consists 

 of a strongly-built raft carrying two uprights, from 10 to 25 feet in height, at one end, between 

 which a block of wood, faced with iron and weighing about 150 pounds, works upward and down- 

 ward. This weight or hammer is attached to a rope and suspended by means of a patent double 

 block. When in operation the pile-driver is anchored at the four corners. 



Driving stakes is considered the hardest work connected with the pound fishery. Under the 

 most favorable circumstances, the weather being calm and the bottom clayey, four men can drive 

 about twenty stakes in a single day. The stakes are driven into the bottom from 3 to 10 feet, 

 according to their length and the character of the bottom. 



On the west shore of Lake Michigan, in the vicinity of Two Rivers, the pile-drivers are built 

 more substantially than in some other localities. On account of the frequent storms and heavy 

 seas, they are not mounted on rafts, but on two pound-boats lashed together. 



In removing the nets a sort of scow, about 30 feet long and 12 feet wide, is sometimes em- 

 ployed. It has a slit, about 2 feet wide and from 4 to 6 feet long, cut in the bow. When in opera- 

 tion the scow is run on to the stake, the latter passing to the end of the slit, where, by means of a 

 low, stationary windlass, it is easily removed. Such scows are owned only by the wealthier firms, 

 and are borrowed or hired by their neighbors. 



METHOD OP FISHING. The length of the fishing season varies largely in different parts of 

 the lakes. In the upper lakes the season opens about the middle of May or the first of June, and 

 closes ordinarily about the middle of September. At the west end of Lake Superior, however, 

 some nets are removed in August, from the more exposed points, while at the Magdalen Islands 

 they are allowed to remain until ice forms. In Green Bay some nets are removed in July and 

 reset in October. 



In Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, and also to a greater extent in the river, pounds are allowed to 

 freeze into the ice in fall, and are not removed until it breaks up in spring. A channel 2 fct-t 

 wide is cut over the sides of the bowl, and the large cake of ice loosened is moved to one side 

 when the fish are to be removed. 



The season in Lake Erie opens about the middle of March or the first of April and closes in 

 June. The nets are reset in fall for about two or three weeks during the latter part of September 

 and the first of October, or until the weather becomes too stormy for fishing. In Lake Ontario 

 the ordinary season is from June to October. 



At the Green Bay fisheries, and indeed in nearly all localities, the nets are visited daily during 

 the height of the season, if the weather permits. During summer, however, the fish are removed 

 only once in three days. The fishermen go out early in the morning as soon as it is light. In the 

 vicinity of Bronhelm Bay, Lake Erie, the nets are usually visited in the afternoon. 



Three men arc generally employed to work the nets, except in very heavy weather or when 

 fish become unusually abundant, when the number is increased to four or five or even to seven. 



In transporting the catch to market from the more remote fisheries, schooners are commonly 

 employed. The boats of the dealers at Green Bay City and other towns on the bay cruise along 

 the north shore and among the islands, and collect whatever supplies of fish the pound fishermen 



