66 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The total production in 1885 for all kinds of fishing by local fisher- 

 men was nearly 100,000 pounds, of which two-thirds were whitefish and 

 over one-fifth trout, with a total value of $3,770. Over a third of the 

 catch was salted and shipped into the iuterior, aud a few hundred 

 pounds, mostly trout, were smoked by the keeper of the East Channel 

 Light-house, on Grand Island, for himself aud his neighbors. The 

 rest was used fresh in the village or sold in neighboring settlements or 

 lumber camps. Suckers and lawyers are not made use of. 



Pound-net fishery.— -The first pound-net was set in the bay about the 

 year 1865 by Captain Bean, and that form of apparatus has been fished 

 there ever since, there being five in the bay in 1884 and 1885. They 

 have a mesh averaging from 2£ to 3f inches. Three of the nets are 

 run out from Grand Island and the others from the mainland, one on 

 each side the village. 



Gill-net fishery.— Gill-nets were introduced among the Indians aud 

 half-breeds of this vicinity many years ago, and a few are used in the 

 village now, there being, in 1885, four in winter and about a dozen 

 in summer. They are 495 feet long and 16 meshes deep, with a 4£inch 

 mesh. Six reels are used for drying the nets. 



Spearing. — Two of the pound-net fishermen, two other white men, 

 and a dozen Indians or half-breeds devote considerable time to spear- 

 ing trout when the bay is frozen over. The spears have handles 20 feet 

 long, and in most cases flat four-pronged iron heads; although another 

 form, called the box-spear, is also used, which has four points arranged 

 in the form of a square and a fifth one in the center. The outfit for 

 each man, including spear, blanket, and decoy, is worth about $6.50. 



Other fisheries. — Hand-liues are used in winter by three or four Chip- 

 pewas to catch fish for their own families, but no set-line fishing has 

 been done. A seine was hauled about 1870, but there has been no sein- 

 ing since that time. 



29. GRAND MARAIS, ALGER COUNTY, MICHIGAN, AND VICINITY. 



Description of the locality. — The coast-line from Grand Island to 

 Whitefish Point, a distance of 80 or 90 miles, is for the most part bold 

 and rocky, with no harbors, except at Grand Marais, a village of 200 or 

 300 inhabitants, extensively engaged in lumbering. It is 25 miles from 

 Seney, the nearest railroad station, and thus far has only one steamer, 

 which makes tri-weekly trips from Sault de Ste. Marie. The shore, if 

 we exclude this village, is practically uninhabited, except by light-house 

 keepers and the crews of the life-saving stations located at intervals 

 throughout its length. 



Character of the fisheries. — The fisheries are of little importance, and 

 are confined to gill-netting, with sail-boats, and a little seining. At 

 Grand Marais village there are two gill-net boats, with two men each, 

 and one seine, in addition to four seines and a gill-net boat used by 

 Indians and the crews of the life-saving stations. 



