FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IK 1885. 231 



Rivers there are about fifty fishermen, of French descent, each of whom 

 lives throughout the year, with his family, upon a small scow, making 

 his living by fishing, principally for perch and sunfish, and by the capt- 

 ure of musk-rats. They own, on an average, two fyke-nets apiece, and 

 also do considerable spearing and hook-and-line fishing; their stock 

 amounting to about $150 each annually. South of the Milk River, be- 

 tween that stream and Grosse Point, there are twenty-two pound-nets 

 set, with from one to six in a string; and there is a single seine oper- 

 ated at Grosse Point, near the head of the Detroit River. 



The seines used differ greatly in size. The greatest length is 1,023 

 feet, the least is about 188 feet, while the average would be about 600 

 feet. The depth varies from 8 to 25 feet, averaging about 13 feet. The 

 fishing season for two of the seines in the vicinity of New Baltimore is 

 in the fall and winter, and that for the seine at Grosse Point is in the 

 latter part of May and during the month of October ; for all others it 

 is confined to two months in the spring. The pound-nets are G to 20 

 feet deep, and are fished during the months of May, June, October, 

 and November. The set-line season is in July, August, and Septem- 

 ber. Fykes are fished throughout the year. 



Products and trade. — The principal species caught are herring, perch, 

 sturgeon, and pickerel. No whitefish are taken north of Milk River. 

 The fish are shipped fresh to Detroit; in the summer they go by water 

 in barrels packed with ice ; in the winter they are hauled by teams. 



Statistics. — The number of fishermen in 1885 was 99, of whom 81 were 

 professionals and 18 semi-professionals. They used 162 boats valued 

 at $3,884 ; 41 pound-nets valued at $6,950 ; 6 seines valued at $1,050 ; 

 196 fyke nets valued at $3,044; 21,600 feet of set -lines, with 2,700 hooks, 

 valued at $26 ; other apparatus, including 1 trammel-net and 40 spears, 

 valued at $1,253, and wharves and buildings valued at $1,800. 



The catch amounted to 1,142,710 pounds, and was valued at $20,509. 

 The herring and perch constituted nearly three-fourths of the catch, 

 namely, 907,210 pounds, the quantities of the other species being 157,- 

 600 pounds of sturgeon, 68,650 pounds of pickerel, and 9,250 pounds 

 of whitefish. 



84. THE DETROIT RIVER, WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN* 



The town of Ecorse. — In addition to Detroit, there are many other 

 smaller towns on the shores of this river of which the only one inter- 

 ested in fishing is Ecorse, 10 miles south of Detroit. This place was 

 settled in 1840, and now has about 400 inhabitants, principally depend- 

 ent upon the lumber mills and brick burning. Seine-fishing was intro- 

 duced on the site of Ecorse before 1830. 



The fisheries of Detroit and Ecorse. — There are several firms at De- 

 troit by whom fisheries are operated, on a large scale, in all parts of 

 the lakes; but the fisheries in the vicinity of the city itself are of com- 

 paratively small importance. Eleven pound-nets and eleven seines, 



