42 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Present condition of Isle Boyale fisheries. — In the year 1S85 there 

 were two pound-nets, one fished by Houghton and the other by Duluth 

 fishermen. There were in addition one steamer and eleven crews of gill- 

 net fishermen from Duluth and an equal number from Houghton and 

 other places. About the year 1883 steamers from Duluth began visit- 

 ing the Island at regular intervals for the purpose of buying the fish 

 and supplying the fishermen with provisions and such additional ap- 

 paratus as they might require. The business has continued to develop, 

 until now a large percentage of the catch is sold fresh. The fishing 

 season is usually from the middle or last of August until well into 

 November, when the weather becomes too stormy to admit of regular 

 work, and the fishermen return to their homes and either discontinue 

 the work for the winter or fish from the vicinity of their own towns. 

 The statistics of the catch at Isle Boyale is included in the figures 

 for the places where the fishermen reside. 



In the fall of 1883 the yield at Isle Boyale was unusually large, and 

 in 1884 not less than thirty boats were there, but, owing to a heavy 

 storm early in the season, which drove the fish away, the catch was so 

 light that they hardly paid expenses, and in 1885 there were not more 

 than twenty boats. The fishing is principally from Bock Harbor, near 

 the eastern extremity of the island, Siscowet Bay on the south side, 

 and Washington Harbor on the western end, there being very little 

 from the north shore. 



/Statistical recapitulation. — The number of persons employed in 1885 

 in the fisheries of that part of Minnesota bordering the northern side 

 of Lake Superior was thirty. These used eighteen gill-net boats, two 

 pound-boats, and fifteen other boats. The apparatus of capture con- 

 sisted of three hundred gill-nets, four pound-nets, five haul-seines, 

 twenty-five set-lines, and a number of spears. The total value of 

 apparatus of capture was $3,378, of shanties $300, and of cash capital 

 and accessories $200. The products consisted of 38,000 pounds of 

 fresh whitefish, 40,000 pounds salt whitefish, 28,000 pounds fresh trout, 

 18,000 pounds salt trout, 10,000 pounds siscowet, and 2,000 pounds 

 pike, the whole having a value of $3,970. 



19. DULUTH, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MINNESOTA, AND VICINITY, AND 



DOUGLAS COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 



Development of the city. — Duluth, situated at the extreme western end 

 of Lake Superior, at the mouth of St. Louis Biver, is to-day one of the 

 most important shipping points on the lake. A settlement was made 

 there many years ago, but for a long time the growth of the village was 

 very slow, owing to the lack of railroad communication with the in- 

 terior, and in 1880 the town contained less than 4,000 people. The build- 

 ing of railroads gave it a new impetus, and during the next five years it 

 developed with remarkable rapidity, the percentage of increase being 

 perhaps greater than that of any other city in the United States. The 



