FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 67 



About half the catch, which is made up almost exclusively of white- 

 fish, trout, and herring, is salted, and the remainder is sold fresh to the 

 mill operatives and other residents of Grand Marais, with the excep- 

 tion of small quanities purchased by collecting steamers from Sault de 

 Ste. Marie or shipped there fresh in ice on the freighting steamer. 



Statistics. — In 1885 there were along this stretch of coast six profes- 

 sional fishermen, using gill-nets and seines, and twelve others that 

 should more properly be considered as semi-professional, as they fished 

 with seines only at intervals. The catch amounted to 22,000 pounds of 

 whitefish, 20,500 pounds of trout and siscowet, 8,000 pounds of herring, 

 and 6,500 pounds of other fish, and was valued at $2,080. 



30. WHITEFISH POINT, CHIPPEWA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Importance of fishing interests. — Whitefish Point at the western en- 

 trance to Whitefish Bay, about 40 miles west of Sault de Ste. Marie, is 

 a favorite fishing station, and the waters of its vicinity have been fished 

 regularly for more than twenty years. In fact, if the fishery interests 

 were taken away, nothing would remain of the settlement. Only a few 

 families remain in winter, and they employ their time in making and 

 mending nets and getting things in readiness for the year's fishing, 

 which begins early in May and continues till late in November. 



History and present condition of the fisheries. — The region was first vis- 

 ited by fishermen from Sackett's Harbor, New York, who, provided 

 with boats and gill-nets, came there in 1863, saltiug their catch, which 

 consisted chiefly of whitefish, and sending it to Detroit and Cleveland, 

 except such portion as they were able to dispose of to the trading ves- 

 sels that occasionally called at the fishery. In 1864 Captain Bean, 

 from Mackinaw Island, fished pound nets in the vicinity for two years, 

 these being the first in the locality, and by some claimed to be the first 

 in Lake Superior waters. In 1866 Mr. Roach purchased other pound- 

 nets from Lake Erie fishermen and brought them to the region, since 

 which time this form of apparatus has been regularly employed. For 

 some years their owner carried them to St. Mary's River and fished 

 them there for several weeks in spring for pike and pickerel, returning 

 to Whitefish Point late in May and fishing there until the middle of July, 

 and again from October 1 to November 15. At present the fishing sea- 

 sou continues throughout the summer without interruption. 



Seines were used in the region in early times and fished by Indians 

 on shares for the owners. . They have been employed to a greater or 

 less extent to the present time, though they are now only occasionally 

 used. The first steamer engaged in the fisheries was the steamer Addie. 

 In 1872 another steamer was employed, both in fishing with gill-nets and 

 in transporting the catch of pound-nets to Point aux Pins, where it was 

 packed for shipment. In 1876 Mr. Endress built the Bertha Undress 

 and used her regularly in gill-net fishing from this locality until 1885, 

 when she was replaced by a larger and better boat. 



