FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 277 



The first pound-net was set here in the fall of 1861, but, as the catch 

 was poor and the net was "blown out," no further experiments in that 

 line were made until 1868, since which time several nets have been 

 fished every season. 



Some seining was carried on for a number of years prior to the intro- 

 duction of pound-nets, but it was abandoned in 1869. No gill-nets have 

 ever been fished from Chagrin River. About ten men take catfish with 

 set-lines in summer, the last of them stopping soon after the middle 

 of October. The products of their labor are sold to the pound-net 

 firm, which disposes of them in the same way as those of its own fish- 

 eries. 



It is stated by competent authority that whitefish were never abun- 

 dant here, and that as many are now caught as at any time in the past. 

 Sturgeon and blue pike are taken in large numbers at present, and they, 

 with herring, comprise most of the catch. 



The fish taken in the pound-nets are hauled to Willoughby by land. 

 Two railroads pass through the place, and afford good facilities for 

 shipping the catch, most of which is sent to the city of Cleveland, al- 

 though four peddlers who ply their trade among the small towns of the 

 interior during the whole of the fishing season obtain their supplies of 

 fish at Willoughby. More than five-sixths of the fish are sold fresh, 

 but a number of barrels of blue pike and herring are salted. 



Fisheries of Grand River. — Grand River, 10 miles east of Willoughby, 

 is one of the best harbors on the southern shore of Lake Erie, though its 

 lake commerce is not very extensive. The fishing hamlet of Fairport, 

 with a population of about 300, is situated at the mouth of the river, 

 and the city of Paiuesville, with 6,000 inhabitants, 3 miles above. 



Most of the fisheries of the river are controlled by two firms at Paines- 

 ville, who carry on their fishing operations from Fairport, employing 

 residents of that place to handle the nets and prepare the fish for ship- 

 ment. Fairport is almost entirely dependent upon these fisheries. The 

 independent fishermen, including two gill-net crews and all the catfish 

 fishermen, sell their yield to the two firms for shipment. 



Fourteen pouud-nets are set in three strings in from 25 to 45 feet of 

 water above and below the mouth of the river. One steamer and three 

 sail-boats fish altogether a thousand gill-nets in early spring and late 

 fall for whitefish and blue pike. These nets are 72 fathoms long and 

 5 feet deep, with cork floats and lead sinkers, and have a value of $5 

 to $5.50. There is some fyke-netting, and thirty persons fish for cat- 

 fish with set-lines every summer. 



Whitefish have never been very numerous in this locality, and a 

 considerable portion of those caught in pound-nets, as well as those in 

 the small-meshed gill-nets, weigh only a pound or less than a pound 

 each. The seines that were fished here before the introduction of the 

 other methods caught no whitefish, and the first of them were caught 

 in pound-nets. 



