194 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Salted and smolced fish. — Only a small proportion of the catch is salted 

 or smoked. In 1885, 151 packages of whitefish and 223 packages of 

 trout were salted. The smoking of fish is of recent origin at Charlevoix; 

 it began in 1883, trout being the only species used. 



In 1884, 8 tons of fish were smoked, and in 1885, 12 tons, of which 

 three-fourths were trout and one-fourth whitefish. Two men were then 

 engaged in smoking fish at Charlevoix. The smoked fish are all dis- 

 posed of locally at 10 cents a pound. 



Wages.. — The boat fishermen as a rule own the nets which they use. 

 The men on the steamers, however, are mostly hired, and receive $30 

 each per month. The captaius and engineers of the steamers are paid 

 $50 a month. Packers of fish, net meuders, and other shore hands re- 

 ceive $40. 



Markets and prices. — The fish of this place go principally to Chicago, 

 Detroit, and Petoskey. A Detroit firm has a branch house at Charle- 

 voix, which handles a large proportion of the fish taken there. The 

 secondary products of the fisheries — caviare, souuds, and oil — are sent 

 chiefly to a dealer in Saugatuck. The prices received by the fishermen 

 are .3 cents a pound for whitefish and trout, and 7 cents for sturgeon. 

 Salt whitefish and trout are worth about $3 a package. Smoked fish 

 are disposed of locally at 10 cents a pound. Sturgeon roes are sold at 

 3 cents a pound, sounds at 5 cents each, and oil at 30 cents a gallon ; 

 caviare brings 10 cents a pound and isinglass $1.25 a pound. 



Statistical sumynary. — Forty-nine fishermen, of whom 37 were pro- 

 fessional and 12 semi-professional, were at Charlevoix in 1885; there 

 were also 8 shoresmen, preparators, and mechanics. 



The four steamers fishing from this place were valued at $12,100, and 

 the small boats at $1,265; the gill-nets were worth $18,369, and the 

 other apparatus of capture $500 ; the shore property was valued at 

 $3,000, and the cash capital amounted to $800 ; the total investment in 

 the fisheries being $36,034. 



The quantity of products taken in 1885 was much in excess of pre- 

 vious years and amounted to 733,850 pounds of fresh, salt, and smoked 

 fish, of which about half were trout. Thirty-seven thousand four hun- 

 dred pounds of trout and whitefish were salted, and 24,000 pounds of 

 these species were smoked. The value of the catch was $21,819. The 

 secondary products consisted of 700 pounds of caviare, 50 pounds of 

 isinglass, and 375 gallons of oil, valued at $260. 



68. LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY, EMMET COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



General observations. — The only villages on the shores of Little Traverse 

 Bay are Harbor Springs and Petoskey, with populations of 2,000 and 

 3,000 respectively. The fisheries are of comparatively little import- 

 ance, but a Petoskey firm handles large quantities of whitefish and 

 trout, which are purchased from fishermen of the Fox and Manitou 

 Islands, Grand Traverse Bay, and Charlevoix. 



