FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885, 171 



58. BERRIEN AND VAN BUREN COUNTIES, MICHIGAN. 



Location of the fisheries. — There are three fishing communities in this 

 section, New Buffalo and St. Joseph, in Berrien County, and South 

 Haven, in Van Buren County. Of these places St. Joseph is by far the 

 most important, both as regards the extent of its fisheries and in other 

 respects. At one time the people of New Buffalo were more extensively 

 engaged in fishing than in 1885, when it had only six fishermen and its 

 700 inhabitants were chiefly railroad men and mercbauts. It is situated 

 near the southern county line, and the shore on either side is sandy and 

 broken by hills. St. Joseph, a town of about 3,500 people, is nearer the 

 northern county line, at the mouth of the St. Joseph Eiver. It has a good 

 harbor, two lines of steamers plying daily between it and Chicago; is a 

 lumber center of importance; and has a large fishery interest. About 

 two- thirds of the people are of German descent. South Haven is at the 

 mouth of the South Black Eiver. Its people, numbering about 1,900, 

 are chiefly engaged in farming, lumbering, and mercantile pursuits. 

 Over a. hundred men were at one time employed in the fisheries at this 

 place; in 1885 there were only thirty-six fishermen, and of these but 

 fifteen were professional. 



Fisheries of New Buffalo. — In 1879 the fish taken at New Buffalo 

 amounted to 75,000 pounds ; in 1885 the catch was but a little more than 

 one-tenth as much, viz., 7,800 pounds. The apparatus consisted of one 

 pound-net, fifty whitefish gill-nets, and set-lines with three thousand 

 three hundred hooks, together with some minor apparatus. The only 

 fish caught are perch, whitefish, and sturgeon ; the first named consti- 

 tuting more than two-thirds of the total yield. The value of the prod- 

 ucts in 1885 was $290. 



The fishermen of St. Joseph. — Nine-tenths of the fishermen of St. 

 Joseph are Germans. They have at times met with serious disasters and, 

 in addition to losing much valuable apparatus by storms, twenty- seven 

 fishermen have lost their lives during the past twenty-five years. The 

 men employed in the fisheries in 1885 numbered seventy-three profes- 

 sionals and sixteen semi-professionals, with five shoresmen and prepar- 

 ators. The greater part of these are hired by the firms operating the 

 different fisheries, and receive from $1.50 to $2.50 per day, $2 being 

 the average daily wages. 



Pound-net fishery of St. Joseph. — The pound- net fishery carried on from 

 St. Joseph is important and increasing yearly. The number of nets 

 operated in 1885 was thirty-two, this being an increase x>t eleven nets 

 over 1884. The nets are fished chiefly in the spring and fall, and take 

 small whitefish and trout, sturgeon and herring. They are also set in 

 the summer when there are runs of fish close in shore. The pound- 

 net grounds are from 1 to 12 miles north and south of the town. The 

 inner ends of the leaders are from 1,000 to upwards of 7,000 feet distant 

 from the shore. The average gross stock of the pound-nets in 1885 was 

 $390. 



