174 



FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1908. 



1 Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake are included in the Lake Superior district in 

 1908, and in the Mississippi River district in 1894 and 1899. 



Persons employed. The following tabular statement 

 gives the number and distribution of the persons em- 

 ployed in the fisheries of Minnesota in 1908. Over 

 two-thirds of the total number were independent fish- 

 ermen in the Mississippi Eiver district. 



1 Exclusive of six proprietors not fishing. 

 1 Includes provisions furnished to the val 



ue of $4,200. 



Equipment and other capital. The following tabular 

 statement gives statistics of the investment of the 

 state in fisheries, including the value of vessels, boats, 

 and apparatus of capture, together with other capital 

 employed in 1908: 



1 All reported by the shore and boat fisheries. 



The four transporting vessels on the Lake Superior 

 waters were steam and motor craft. The rowboats 

 were divided between the Mississippi River and the 

 Lake Superior fisheries in proportions about equal to 

 the relative size of their respective total fleets. All of 

 the sailing craft reported belonged to the Lake Supe- 

 rior district. 



The value of the transporting vessels belonging to 

 the Lake Superior district makes the investment in 

 vessels and boats in that district much higher than that 

 in the Mississippi River district, which had products of 

 a greater value. 



In the fisheries of the Lake Superior district 39 per 

 cent of the capital was invested in floating craft, while 

 29 per cent was invested in apparatus of capture. A 

 little over one-half of the investment in vessels and 

 boats represented the value of transporting vessels. 



The following tabular statement gives detailed sta- 

 tistics of the number of vessels and boats: 



Tonnage, 45. 



A large increase is evident in the total value of the 

 floating craft of the Lake Superior fisheries in 1908, as 

 compared with 1899, when the value was only $7,900. 

 In the earlier year this district had only 91 boats, none 

 of which were motor boats, while in the later year there 

 were 211 boats, of which 18 were power boats. In the 

 Mississippi River district the value of the boats was 

 only $3,000 in 1899, and in that year only 263 boats 

 were reported, as compared with 482 in 1908. 



The total investment in apparatus of capture was 

 $43,000. The investment of the Lake Superior dis- 

 trict in apparatus of capture exceeded that of the 

 Mississippi River district, and was confined to gill nets, 

 lines, and pound nets. In the interior waters of the 

 state, except for a few dip nets, only hand lines and 

 spears were reported. In the following tabular state- 

 ment detailed statistics concerning the number of 

 various kinds of apparatus of capture are given : 



