FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 217 



ning of the spawning season. The next fishing stations are Sugar and 

 Thunder Bay Islands. Sugar Island is populated only by a half a dozen 

 fishermen and their families, while on Thunder Bay Island the only 

 buildings are the United States light-houses and life-saving stations. 

 Gill-net fishing has been carried on here for over half a century. Prior to 

 1859 it was confined to Thunder Bay Island, but in that and the following 

 year the fishermen all moved to Sugar Island, on account of the better 

 harbor facilities there ; and since that time there has been very little 

 fishing done on the former. Most of the fish caught at Thunder Bay 

 Island are u shoal-water" trout. 



The Sugar Island fishermen catch whitefish and trout, most of the 

 former being obtained during the spawning season, several gill-net 

 crews having their shanties on North Point, which otherwise would be 

 entirely uuinhabited. They catch whitefish on the shoals north of 

 Thunder Bay and Sugar Islauds, making their best hauls in the spawn- 

 ing time, and trout are taken on the shoals southeast of the islands. 

 From the extremity of North Point the upper side of Thunder Bay is 

 lined, for several miles to the east, with pound-nets. Whitefish are 

 seldom caught along the northern and western shores of Thunder Bay 

 during the spawning season, and there has been in the last few years a 

 growing scarcity at all seasons. The pound-net fishery at Whitefish 

 Point, near Alpena, has been discontinued, but there is still a little gill- 

 net fishing, and at Partridge Point, 4 miles south of that town, there is 

 a large pound-net fishery. The most southerly point in Alpena County 

 where the fisheries are prosecuted is Scarecrow Island, about 3 miles 

 north of South Point and 8 miles east of Ossineke, and surrouuded by 

 very shallow water. It has for many years been the site of a pound-net 

 fishery, which is here found most profitable during the whitefish spawn- 

 ing season. 



Trade. — Up to 1872 the entire catch, except the small portion retained 

 for local use, was salted before shipment and packed in half-barrels of 

 100 pounds each. In that year one firm began to pack fish in ice and 

 ship them fresh. At present almost all are sold in Alpena and shipped 

 fresh from that place to Detroit or sometimes to Bay City. The herring 

 are commonly salted, but aside from this species the percentage so pre- 

 pared is exceedingly small. Sometimes the fish are placed side by side 

 in shallow tin pans and frozen before shipping, but this method is not 

 in very general use. 



The fish to be shipped fresh have their viscera and gills removed but 

 the heads are left on. 



The}' ar e usually packed in four-wheeled wooden cars with a capacity 

 of 2,000 pounds. These cars have double sides, inclosing an air cham- 

 ber, and a portion of the top and of one side of each car is removable. 

 For job lots smaller cars are used, and when there are no cars on hand 

 or there are not enough fish to fill a car they are sometimes packed in- 

 stead in rough wooden boxes holding a few hundred pounds each. 



