FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 161 



was 450,000 feet, and the number of hooks required was 25,000, the 

 completed lines having a value of $500. The seventy-eight bait-nets 

 were 16,380 feet in length and were worth $468. The steamer Albatross, 

 with 12,000 hooks, took 59,000 pounds of trout ; the steamer George U. 

 West , secured 72,000 pounds of trout with both hooks and nets, of which 

 24,580 pounds were taken with hooks ; one of the small sail-boats got 

 16,000 pounds with 6,000 hooks, and the other 21,600 pounds with hooks 

 and nets, of which 5,300 pounds were obtained with hooks. The total 

 catch, therefore, including 7,000 pounds of sturgeon not before enumer- 

 ated, was 111,880 pounds, which were sold fresh for $5,664. 



Gill-net fishery, — This fishery is not followed exclusively by any of 

 the Kacine fishermen. Two crews, already referred to in connection with 

 the set-line fishery, consisting of six and three men, respectively, oper 

 ated six hundred and fifty nets in 1885, throughout the entire open sea- 

 son on the lake. The nets were each about 200 feet long and 18 meshes 

 deep, with a 4|-inch mesh. The gill-net grounds are from 10 to 25 miles 

 off shore, where the water is 10 to 60 fathoms deep, and the bottom 

 clay and mud. The nets are set across the current at right angles to 

 the shore in gangs of twenty-five to fifty and about a mile apart. Each 

 crew has four or five gangs in the water at once, one set being lifted 

 each day and taken to the shore to be dried and" mounted, its place 

 being filled by a new one. The nets had a total length of 196,000 feet, 

 and were worth $3,575. 



The catch consists almost entirely of trout, the average weight of which 

 is 3 pounds. A few blackfins and ciscoes are taken at times. The total 

 yield was 70,720 pounds, of which 63,720 pounds were trout, and the 

 remainder blackfins and herring, all being valued at $3,476. * 



Other fisheries. — These are of little importance. One seine, 50 fathoms 

 loug, worth $40, was fished regularly in 1885 by two men, who received 

 between $400 and $500 from the sale of the perch, suckers, and her- 

 ring taken. The catch amounted to 19,000 pounds in 1885, which 

 were sold fresh at 3 cents per pound. Three trammel-nets, valued at 

 $20 each, were fished in the spring for perch, suckers, etc., the catch 

 being small and chiefly for home consumption. 



54. KENOSHA, KENOSHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 



Description of the town. — The fisheries of Kenosha County are con- 

 fined to the city of Kenosha, which has a population of 5,000 and a fine 

 harbor, where many of the largest of the lake crafts have their head- 

 quarters. Manufacturing interests engage the attention of most of the 

 people. 



Character of the fisheries. — The fisheries are of less importance than 

 formerly, when pound-nets were in use. In 1885 the only fishery of 

 any consequence was with gill- nets, though set-lines, haul-seines, and 

 fyke- nets were used. 



H. Mis. 133 11 



