FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 65 



27. AU TRAIN, ALGER COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Character of the fisheries. — Au Train, situated a few miles west of 

 Grand Island, is a very small settlement of charcoal burners and lum- 

 bermen. The fisheries are of little importance. A pound-net was fished 

 there in 1884 and another in 1885. In 1885 there was one gill-net boat, 

 with two men and fourteen nets, but the catch was small. A wood- 

 cutter fishes a few set-lines for awhile in winter and at odd times in 

 summer. In winter about a dozen half-breeds, with hand-lines and 

 spears, fish for trout through the ice. The hand-line fishing occurs only 

 during the month of March, the catch for each man during that period 

 being about 1,200 pounds. The spearing is carried on from January to 

 A pril, with long spears having a flat four-pronged iron head. As in other 

 places, little wooden decoys are used to attract the fish. 



Products. — The total yield of the fisheries of the village in 1885 was 

 about 26,000 pounds, having a value of a little less than $1,800. In 

 summer a few thousand pounds are salted, but the winter trout catch 

 is all sold fresh, most of it going to Marquette, where it brings 8 cents a 

 pound. When a stray whitefish is caught through the ice it brings a 

 much higher price. 



28. MUNISING AND GRAND ISLAND, ALGER COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



The village and its people. — Munising is a village of possibly 200 in- 

 habitants, situated at the western end of the Pictured Rocks, on a little 

 bay excellently sheltered from northerly storms by the hills of Grand 

 Island. It is within a few miles of the Detroit, Mackmac, and Mar- 

 quette Eailroad, and its harbor is one of the best on Lake Superior. 

 Some eight or ten years ago an iron furnace went into operation in ihe 

 village, and there was another a few miles away. These, together with 

 several sets of charcoal-kilns gave employment to a considerable num- 

 ber of people, but in two or three years the low price of iron led to the 

 abandonment of the smelting and charcoal burning, and the population 

 fell to its present insignificance. The soil is barren, and the people now 

 derive their principal livelihood from hunting, berry-picking, and lum- 

 bering. 



Fishing by nonresidents of Munising and Grand Island. — The vicinity 

 is much resorted to by sportsmen and anglers, who each year catch 

 many brook-trout. Small fisheries are carried on for profit in the bay, 

 both by residents and by fishermen from other places. The only 

 noticeable fishing of this kind by non-residents in the last two or three 

 years has been by parties from Detroit. An ice-house was built on the 

 wharf at Munising in 1883, and steamers visited the region in 1884, but 

 not in 1885. 



Statistics of local fisheries. — About twenty men are actively interested 

 in the local fisheries of Munising and Grand Island, with capital to the 

 amount of something less than $3,000. 

 H. Mis. 133 5 



