326 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the building; here a trap in tlie car was opened and four cooking vats 

 received the fish ; steam was then allowed to enter aud the fish were 

 cooked for twenty minutes ; after draining for an hour, they were put 

 in circular perforated curbs holding 5 barrels of fish each, aud a pressure 

 of 90 tons was applied by means of a hydraulic press. The oil thus ob- 

 tained was purified in the usual manner and the scrap was dried and 

 ground, and sold to the farmers for fertilizing purposes. In connection 

 with this industry seven fishermen and three shoresmen were employed 

 in 1885. 



Statistics. — The men engaged in the fisheries numbered 64, of whom 

 21 were professional fishermen, 36 semi regular fishermen, and 7 shores- 

 men and preparators, The fishing property consisted of 23 gill-net 

 boats, 2 collecting boats, and 8 other boats ; 185 sturgeon gill-nets, 

 34,550 feet long; 82 whitefish gill-nets, 14,685 feet long; 292 herring 

 gill-nets, 80,365 feet long ; 7 pound-nets, 29 trap-nets, 121 fyke-nets ; 1 

 fish-car ; and accessory apparatus and shore property. The capital in- 

 vested in boats amounted to $1,585; in gill-nets, $2,560; in pound- 

 nets, trap-nets, and fyke-nets, $5,120; in wharves, buildings, etc., in- 

 cluding working capital, $7,770; giving as the total sum invested in 

 the fisheries, $17,035. 



The catch comprised 50,000 pounds of herring, 37,300 pounds of bull- 

 heads, 35,000 pounds of pike, 11,100 pounds of sturgeon, 9,730 pounds 

 of bass, 5,950 pounds of eels, 2,200 pounds of whitefish, 400 pounds of 

 trout, and 1,000 pounds of miscellaneous fish. Of the herring 36,220 

 pounds were salted. To the above should be added about a million 

 alewives from which 500 gallons of oil and G^ tons of fertilizer were 

 made. The total value of the fish was $6,945. 



119. THE VICINITY OF CAPE VINCENT, JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Relative importance of the fisheries. — Oape Vincent is a town of 2,000 

 people on the St. Lawrence Eiver, 3 miles from the lake. The inhab- 

 itants are nearly all farmers, of American birth. Compared with farm- 

 ing, the fisheries are of little importance and engage the attention of 

 only a small number of men. Within the last ten years interest in the 

 fisheries has greatly declined, owing to a scarcity of fish. 



Fishing grounds. — The fishing grounds of the fishermen of Cape Vin- 

 cent are Charity Shoal, and the waters of Grenadier and Fox Islands, 

 no net-fishing being allowed in the river. Charity Shoal is in the lake, 

 6 miles from the head of the St. Lawrence; it is three-quarters of a mile 

 long and a quarter of a mile wide, and is submerged to the depth of 5 

 to 7 feet. Whitefish and trout spawn here in considerable numbers. 

 The dimensions of Grenadier Island are 2J by 1£ miles. Fox Island 

 is irregular in shape, the greatest length being 1 J miles, the greatest 

 width three-quarters of a mile. Off these islands the fishing is done 

 in 20 to 30 feet of water. Six or eight men from Oneida Lake fish near 

 the islands, their boats aud nets being shipped by rail to Cape Vincent. 



