322 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



trout was also thus prepared. The people of Henderson and a firm at 

 Sackett's Harbor bought most of the fresh fish. 



Statistical statement. — There were 10 men engaged in fishing in Hen- 

 derson Bay in 1885; of these only 2 were professional fishermen. The 

 outfit of these men consisted of 3 gill-net boats and 9 other boats ; 40 

 sturgeon gill-nets, 13,200 feet in length ; 16 whitefish gill-nets, 5,280 

 feet in length; 52 herring gill-nets, 14,526 feet in length ; 1 trap-net; 3 

 fyke-nets ; 37,500 feet of set-lines, with 2,500 hooks; and shore property 

 and accessories. The amount invested in boats was $330; in gill-nets, 

 fyke-nets, trap-net, and set-lines, $714; in wharves, buildings, and mis- 

 cellaneous apparatus, $720; the value of the entire fishing outfit being 

 $1,764. 



The following is the catch for 1885: 7,100 pounds of herring, 5,300 

 pounds of sturgeon, 3,810 pounds of trout, 2,250 pounds of bass, 2,000 

 pounds of whitefish, 1,200 pounds of bull-heads, 500 pounds of eels, and 

 300 pounds of pike. Of the herring 4,100 pounds and of the trout 60 

 pounds were salted. The total value of the fish was $860. 



117. BLACK RIVER BAY AND PILLAR POINT, JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW 



YORK. 



Black River Bay and its fishery interests. — Black River Bay is 6 miles 

 long and 1J miles wide. Its upper third is shallow and almost unnavi- 

 gable, while the lower part has an average depth of from 6 to 10 fathoms, 

 the bottom being mostly mud. Dexter is a village of 400 people at the 

 head of the bay ; its inhabitants are chiefly farmers and fishermen. 

 The good harbor at this place is rendered almost worthless by large 

 sand-bars which make it impossible for vessels or boats drawing moie 

 than 2 feet of water to reach the village. The fishermen residing here 

 set their nets off Pillar Point. Sackett's Harbor is the only other com- 

 munity of any importance on the bay; it has a fine harbor, with deep 

 water, and is a railroad terminus. It has about 1,000 inhabitants, who 

 are, with a few exceptions, farmers of American birth. 



Bound-nets and traps. — Pound-nets were introduced into Black River 

 Bay in 1850 by a man from Connecticut; from that time until a compara- 

 tively recent date they were almost universally employed by the fisher- 

 men. Of late, however, their use has declined and they have been so 

 completely superseded by the smaller and cheaper trap-nets that in 

 1885 there were only six pounds in the bay or vicinity. The same changes 

 are to be observed here as in all other localities in Lake Ontario in 

 which pound-nets were formerly set. 



Four men from Oneida Lake fish in the bay off Campbell's Point from 

 May to September; they use trap-nets, which, with boats and other ac- 

 cessories, they send by rail to Sackett's Harbor. 



Fisheries off Billar Boint. — This point is a large promontory separat- 

 ing Chaumont and Black River Bays. At one time the fishing-grounds 

 off its shores were perhaps the best in the entire lake. This was about 



