56 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES 



fisheries have never been important, though pounds, gill-nets, and 

 seines have been fished in the vicinity, and there have sometimes been 

 eight or ten gill-net crews during a single season. In 1884 a small 

 steamer, the Ella Corgan, of about 10 tons burden, worth about $1,200, 

 and with a crew of three or four men, was used in the gill-net fishery, 

 but met with poor success, most of her nets being lost. The catch did 

 not exceed 250 barrels. The next season she was laid up. There are 

 now three seines, from 330 to 495 feet in length, fished for a num- 

 ber of weeks, two crews engage in the gill-net fishery, and one of the 

 fishermen owns a pound-net located about 15 miles east of the village, 

 near the mouth of Sleeping River. The catch amounted to about 100,000 

 pounds of round fish, more than half of vvhich were whitefish. A small 

 quantity of these were sold fresh to supply the village trade, and the 

 remainder were salted and shipped, chiefly to Chicago. The value of 

 the products to the fishermen was $4,245. 



23. KEWEENAW PENINSULA, KEWEENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Geographical characteristics. — The peninsula of Keweenaw, containing 

 portions of Houghton, Keweenaw, and Baraga Counties, extends in a 

 northeasterly direction from the mainland to about the center of Lake 

 Superior. It is about 25 miles wide at its base and GO miles long, and 

 the upper portion is practically an island, as it is separated from the 

 remainder by Portage Eiver and Lake, and a ship-canal several miles 

 in length, reaching through to the opposite shore. The peninsula is 

 famous for its excellent copper mines, which are, perhaps, the largest 

 and richest mines of that class in the world. The land is rough and 

 rocky, and the shores are, as a rule, quite bold, with few sandy bays 

 or reaches, though there are some good harbors, and others that are 

 partially sheltered. 



Towns and railroads. — The Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon 

 Railroad extends as far up the peninsula as Houghton and Hancock, 

 which together have a population of about 6,000, and are the leading 

 commercial centers of the peninsula. A narrow-gauge railroad extends 

 from this point to the famous Calumet mine, but the villages beyond 

 are reached only by stage and steam-boat. The only settlements of im- 

 portance along the coast are the following : Eagle River, the county 

 seat of Keweenaw County, a village of 700 or 800 inhabitants, with a 

 small harbor, interested chiefly in mining and in trade with the miners 

 of the interior ; Eagle Harbor, somewhat smaller, with several stores, 

 and a fair harbor, where materials are landed for the mines at Copper 

 Falls, 3 miles distant ; Copper Harbor, a settlement of 150 inhabitants, 

 at the end of the peninsula, with an excellent harbor and a saw-mill; 

 and Craig, a fishing village of thirty or forty families, at the mouth of 

 Portage River, on Keweenaw Bay. There are in addition several vil- 

 lages of greater or less size, such as Calumet and Lake Linden, which, 

 being inland, have no interest in the fisheries. 



