154 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Statistics. — The number of persons employed in the fisheries of Mil- 

 waukee County in 1885 was 145, of whom 94 were fishermen, and the 

 rest shoresmen and preparators. These represented a directly depend- 

 ent population of between 500 and 600. Iu addition to the 7 steamers, 

 with a value of $20,500, there were 7 gill-net boats, worth $1,230, 2 

 pound-net boats, worth about $115, and 12 other boats, worth about 

 $250. The apparatus of capture consisted of 4,796 trout gill- nets, 80 

 herring and sucker gill-nets, 2 pound-nets, 12 haul-seines, 1,500 cray- 

 fish pots or baskets, and about 168,000 feet of set- Hues, besides a num- 

 ber of dip-nets and a few fykes and trammel-nets. The total value of 

 the apparatus of capture was $23,000 ; of buildings and shore property, 

 $33,800; of accessories and fixtures, $9,000; and cash capital, $17,000. 

 The products consisted of 37,750 pounds of fresh whitefish, 300 pounds 

 of salt whitefish, 690,600 pounds of fresh trout, 9,700 pounds of salt 

 trout, 1,500 pounds of pike and pickerel, 1,200 pounds of sturgeon, 32,900 

 pounds of fresh herring, 300 pounds of salt herring, 60,000 dozen of cray- 

 fish, 50,000 pounds of eel-pouts, 45,000 pounds of lawyers, 73,000 pounds 

 of perch and bass, and 200,000 minnows, the whole having a value 

 of $46,300. 



Gill-net fishery. — The first regular fishery with gill-nets seems to 

 have beeu in 1846 or 1847. In 1852 about a dozen sailboat crews were 

 fishing with gill-nets. Each crew contained four men besides one who 

 remained on shore to dry and mend the nets. The fishing outfit of one 

 boat was six gangs of eighteen nets each, three gangs of which were 

 kept in the water, one in the boat, one was drying, and one was being 

 mended in the shanty. The nets were of the same length and nearly 

 the same mesh as in later years, but the twine was coarser. 



The catch consisted entirely of whitefish, except on the reefs, where 

 trout was the only species obtained. The average amount of fish taken 

 at a lift was from 1,500 to 2,000 pounds, and the largest catches were 

 about 3,000 pounds. In 1854 and 1855 whitefish were exceedingly abun- 

 dant and in the latter year the fisherv reached its height, no less than 

 thirty-three crews then being employed. Whitefish were then selling 

 at $13 or $14 a barrel. 



The products were, at the outset, sold in the local market, but soon 

 the fishermen began to take their fish in boxes on the steam-boats to 

 Chicago and peddle them in the streets of that city. 



In 1857 the fishermen, who had previously fished on the inner reef in 

 15 fathoms of water, began to frequent the outer one instead. In 1858 

 the railroad entered the city, and shortly afterwards ice began to be 

 used for the first time in the preservation of fish. In bad weather the 

 shipments were made by rail instead of by steamer. About that time, 

 however, the fishing began to decline and one after another the fisher- 

 men left for Kenosha, Grand Haven, and St. Joseph, especially the 

 latter point, until the number of crews was reduced to three. After 

 about five years the number increased to four. Since 1869 there have 



