FISHERIES OP THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 57 



Fishermen. — The fishermen of the region are mostly foreigners, many 

 of them recent immigrants from Finland, and the majority of the re- 

 mainder French Canadians and Swedes, with a few Indians and half- 

 breeds. They are scattered about at the different harbors, as follows : 

 Nineteen at Houghton and Hancock; four at Delaware Mine; eight 

 at Eagle River; six at Eagle Harbor; four at Calumet, and nearly all 

 of the remaining sixty-four at Craig, at the mouth of Portage River, 

 which is settled wholly by fishermen, and is the only settlement in the 

 region where any considerable percentage of the people are interested 

 in fishing. 



Apparatus and methods of the fisheries. — The gill-net fishery takes the 

 lead, aud there were fifty-three boats, carrying two men each, employed 

 in this way during the greater part of 1885, in addition to five crews of 

 Indian half-breeds that fished for home supply. In 1884 there were six 

 pound-nets fished in these waters, and the number was largely augmented 

 the next season, one of them being owned by parties from Marquette. 

 The fishermen usually camp along the lower portion of the peninsula, 

 especially on the shores of Keweenaw Bay, during the spriugand early 

 summer, moving towards the outer headlands in the fall to engage in 

 the trout fisheries, and some crossing to Isle Royale, where two of the 

 pound-nets and a gill net crew were fishing in 1885. They erect com- 

 fortable shanties in the vicinity of their fishing grounds, and some of 

 them arrange to have their families with them during the fishing period. 



Trade. — Only one firm, the Houghton Fishing Compauy, is exten- 

 sively interested in the purchase aud shipment of fish, though another 

 party at Craig ships small quantities. A few of the fishermen ice their 

 fish for shipment to the larger markets, but a majority sell their catch, 

 both fresh and salt, to peddlers, who distribute them among the miners 

 of the peninsula. The Houghton Fishing Company has no regular col- 

 lecting boat, but charters a steamer every three or four weeks to make 

 the round of the fishing stations, purchasing such fish as may have 

 been secured and leaving with the fishermen salt and barrels for curing 

 their future catch. 



/Statistics. — The fisheries for 1885, if we include the shore as far west 

 as Pine River, occupied the attention of 130 men, with 2,295 gill-nets, 

 10 pound-nets, and 10 seines, the catch amounting to 444,000 pounds 

 of fresh and 4,206 half-barrels of salted fish, valued altogether at 

 $34,170. 



Gill-net fishery. — Gill-nets have been in use since the first settlement 

 of the region, and are still more extensively employed than any other 

 form of apparatus. Each boat has forty nets, worth about $10 apiece. 

 The nets average 450 feet long and 15 meshes deep, with meshes 4f to 

 6 inches. Formerly all were rigged with floats aud stones, but about 

 1875 corks and leads were introduced and have now superseded the 

 others. The fishing begins early in May, or as soon as the ice will 

 permit, and continues until the middle or last of November. The larg- 



