288 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



respectively. Only one man is engaged in this line of work. The 

 caviare is prepared by a secret process and sent to Kussia and Ger- 

 many, through a New York firm. Sounds to be used for isinglass are 

 cut open and soaked in water for twenty-four hours; they are then 

 skinned and only the inside membrane is preserved. 



Statistics. — Nine professional and 29 semi-professional fishermen, 

 and 1 preparator were engaged in the fisheries of this section in 1885. 

 They used 29 boats; 30 whitefish gill-nets, 6,750 feet in length; 65 

 herring gill-nets, 14,550 feet in length ; 2 pound-nets ; 7 seines, 3,102 

 feet in length ; and 121,000 feet of set-lines, with 10,G00 hooks. 



The capital invested amounted to $801 in boats, $450 in gill-nets, 

 $2,400 in pound-nets, $200 in seines, $80 in set-lines, $1,868 in other 

 apparatus, $665 in wharves and buildings, and $300 in cash capital, 

 the total investment being $6,764. 



The products were as follows: 62,500 pounds of sturgeon, 29,550 

 pounds of bull-heads, 22,200 pounds of bass, 23,700 pounds of pike and 

 pickerel, 14,500 pounds of mullets, 11,000 pounds of herring, and 

 4,150 pounds of whitefish, the total value being $7,055. The manu- 

 factured products were 5,500 pounds of caviare, 200 pounds of isin- 

 glass, and 250 gallons of sturgeon oil, valued at $1,050. 



98. BUFFALO AND ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Commercial importance of the city. — Buffalo is at the head of the Niag- 

 ara Eiver. Its harbor facilities are excellent, and many lines of steam- 

 boats plying between the various American and Canadian ports on 

 the lake make it their headquarters. The railroad traffic is very ex- 

 tensive, ten or more roads entering the city from as many directions. 

 The Erie Canal is also an important factor in the commercial develop- 

 ment of the place. The fish consumption of a city with over 200,000 

 people is necessarily great ; and in order to meet the demand an im- 

 portant business, giving more or less permanent employment to many 

 persons, has sprung up, and an extensive trade with Canadian fishermen 

 has been developed. 



Coast-line of the county.— The coastline of Erie County extends first 

 in a southerly and then in a southwesterly direction from Buffalo to 

 Cattaraugus Creek, a distance of about 30 miles. The shores of the 

 lake are mostly sandy or gravelly, here and there broken by rocky ledges. 



Fishery centers. — Outside of Buffalo and vicinity the fishing centers 

 of Erie County are of little importance. The only communities where 

 any fishing is carried on are Bay Yiew, about 7 miles from Buffalo, a 

 small place with no fishery interests save a little pleasure fishing for 

 bass, pike, perch, etc.; Lake View, 9 miles farther to the southwest, 

 with 275 people, mostly farmers, where there is a little trolling from 

 June to November, a little seining in May and June, and a little fishing 

 with gill-nets by the farmers for their own use, bass, pike, and perch 



