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. 
“Hayward” and “Huron” boats are also used in the pound-net fishery in some localities. 
PILE-DRIVERS 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. Ou 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 hasa 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 OF 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 feet 
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 are 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 
