EARLY HISTORY OF THE FISHERIES 
ON THE GREAT CARES. 
By HERSCHEL WHITAKER. 
Stretching away to the northward from the low 
Laurentian hills of New York to the trap-rock cliffs 
of Minnesota, for a distance of sixteen hundred miles, in 
a hydrographic basin embracing an area of one hundred 
and seventy-five thousand square miles, lie the Great 
Lakes of the Northwest, the largest bodies of. fresh water 
upon the globe. Upon their bosoms float vast fleets 
which carry the rich products of prairie, forest and mine, 
while from their depths the fisherman gathers the rich 
bounties that nature has provided for the sustenance of 
man. 
The vessels which constantly pass and repass are not 
freighted with ores from the mines of Golconda nor with 
spices from Far Cathay, but carry lumber from Saginaw, 
iron from Escanaba, copper from Hancock, grain from 
Duluth, provisions from Chicago, and cereals from the 
vast prairie lands of the Dakotas. 
Since the early days of the French occupation of the 
Northwest, when the lilies of France waved over all the 
territory lying north of the St. Lawrence and Ohio and 
west of the Alleghanies, these lakes have been the great 
highway of intercommunication between the East and 
West. The Jesuit missionary filled with holy zeal de- 
parted from Montreal, the seat of French power in 
America, in his bark canoe, manned by his Indian con- 
verts, for the trackless wilds of the far West to raise the 
cross and establish his feeble mission among savage 
tribes. 
Following him came the fur trader with his canoe and 
courrier du bors, who day after day traversed these lakes 
and their connecting rivers to reach some specially 
designated place where he might exchange his tawdry 
