60 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The total number of fishermen in L'Anse Bay and the immediate vi- 

 cinity was twenty-two in the open season, and fifty others during the 

 winter. For about a month in the summer, during the height of the 

 fishing, the number rose to thirty-five. The amount of capital de- 

 pendent upon the fisheries was nearly $4,000, and the products in 1885 

 had a total value to the fishermen of $7,496.33. The total quantity 

 of whitefish, as sold, was 59,914 pounds fresh and 28,000 pounds 

 salted; trout, 54,720 pounds fresh and 1,750 salted; herring, 14,280 

 pounds fresh and 5,250 salted; lawyers, 6,811 pounds; suckers, 6,455 

 pounds; brook-trout, 2,856 pounds ; sturgeon, 4,760 pounds ; pike and 

 pickerel, 1,904 pounds; besides an occasional black bass or perch, 

 making a total production of 186,700 pounds dressed. 



Preparation and trade. — The only fish salted are a portion of the 

 pound-net catch. These are all shipped to Detroit and Chicago. They 

 sell for about $4 a keg, and are 80 per cent, whitefish, 15 per cent, her- 

 ring, and 5 per cent, trout. There are no sturgeon or pike salted. The 

 fresh fish are either sold in the market at L'Anse, peddled about in the 

 vicinity, or used in the families of the fishermen. There are seven or 

 eight persons who have fish stands in the market, occupying about one- 

 third of the entire building. Eight or ten Ohippewas peddle fish irreg- 

 ularly from house to house. 



Proportions and prices of the different species. — Fifty-seven per cent, of 

 the fresh fish in the summer of 1885 were whitefish, 10 per cent, trout, 

 15 per cent, herring, 5 per cent, suckers, 5 per cent, sturgeon, 3 per cent, 

 brook-trout, 3 per cent, lawyers, and 2 per cent, pike and pickerel. In 

 1884 the proportions were about the same, except that there was a larger 

 percentage of herring. Formerly there was a noticeable percentage of 

 perch, but now only an occasional one is taken. The price per pound 

 was 4 cents for whitefish and trout, 3 cents for herring, 5 cents for stur- 

 geon, 20 cents for brook-trout, and 2 cents for pike and pickerel. Suck- 

 ers are sometimes sold, but are usually given away to be used as food 

 or as a fertilizer on land. The lawyers, which are called in the vicinity 

 u larch" or "dogfish," are all given away to the Indians to eat. In 

 winter fewer species are taken, and the proportions are quite different, 

 being, in 1884-'85, about 80 per cent, trout, 10 per cent, whitefish, 7 

 per cent, lawyers, and 3 per cent, suckers. 



Pound-net fishery.— -The first pound-net was introduced in the vicin- 

 ity of L'Anse Bay by Captain Bean many years ago. The number has 

 varied considerably from time to time, reaching eight in 1884 and seven 

 in 1885. About the year 1875, parties from Lake Erie set sixteen to 

 twenty pound-nets along the shore between L'Anse and Portage En- 

 try, but were compelled by the local fishermen to take them up. Some 

 claim that their excessive fishing produced the scarcity of fish which 

 has been felt of late years, but Mr. Earl Egerton, who is thoroughly 

 posted regarding the fisheries of the region, states that the intruders 

 were very unsuccessful, catching only a small quantity of fish. Up to 



