numerous. Doubtlessly some of the vessels were home ported elsewhere.

But if so, they risked being ice-bound for the winter months at

Bayfield.®

Peet told us something, as well, about the size of the young
community, and his views of their social life. From the beginning, Peet
did not approve of the "popery" he witnessed in the place; and when he
gave a sermon on this "evil," he drove one member of the congregation
out of the church. But mostly the young Methodist preacher was
horrified at the drinking, gambling and dancing in Bayfield; and when he
chose these subjects for sermons, most of the town got wind of it and
declared him to be a persona non grata. After nearly two years of labor
in the Lord's vineyard, Peet confided to his diary that he thought he did

not have a single friend in Bayfieid.?

The town had grown considerably during Peet's tenure there. At
first, in July 1857, Peet counted 35 houses in town, and guessed there
were 250 inhabitants. Later he had to revise this figure downward when
he helped gather the census figures. On March 4, 1858, he found that
there were 61 adult males, 37 adult females, and 54 children in Bayfield,
for a total of 152 persons. In checking older records at that time, he
learned that the town had grown from 112 persons since the previous fall.
By the time he left, in mid-1859, there were few signs of growth in
Bayfield. The town population was stagnant at about 115 and there were
20 fewer adult males or working men about town. For the first time his
enumeration stated how many people lived on farms nearby, 45 in

number. 1°

It was not the hostility of Bayfielders that finaliy drove Reverend
Peet out of town, but rather the lack of financial support from his flock.
Peet was continuously absorbed in the worldly necessity of making a
living; and bemoaned the fact that he was unable to spend more time on
the care of souls. After he left Bayfield, he compared the people there
with his beloved Minnesotans. Bayfield had, in Peet's estimation, dismal
spiritual conditions, and there was far too much "opposition from the
wicked" and "few to stand by me." He far preferred Minnesotans, who

were “a more religious people.""!

33


the back bone and could process five tons of fish per day. In 1949 Le
Bel moved the machine inside to the warm interior of his boat factory and

boasted that seven operators could dress a hundred fish in a minute with
;, 90
it.

A 1946 Bayfield Press article provided a thumbnail sketch of the
history of the Apostle Islands fishery. Most of the information has been
incorporated in this narrative, but the changes in the several Bayfield
fish companies gave an indication that economic prosperity was not
guaranteed in the profession. Booth Fisheries Corporation was the oldest
and longest survivor in 1946, having then been in business for 65 years.
The S.L. Boutin Company and the Bayfield Fish Company had been
succeeded by the Hadlands and the La Pointe Fisheries respectively. The
newest company was Otto L. Kuenhn's. These companies frequentiy
suffered the fate of their client fishermen who used the companies to get
credit for nets, boats and other equipment. All of them, both capitalists
and lone fisherman alike, had difficulty getting insurance that would
protect them from marine disaster, storms, or other unforeseen events.
Most professionals who followed the fishing enterprise agreed that the
fishery was a good hedge against recession or depression. And it had a
few subsidiary industries such as box factories, cooperage businesses,
dry docks, boat body shops, machine shops, a frozen locker plant, a
float and lead factory, and bulk storage gas and oil companies.
Additionally, the herring season gave a thousand people seasonal work;
250 men were employed the year around with the fishery; and there were
between 75 and a hundred fishing vessels employed around the Apostle
tslands region. All in all, during 1946, the local fishery generated as

much as a half million dollars in annual revenue. 9!

The Hokenson brothers, of course, shared in this general prosperity
of the fishery in the 1940's and early 1950's. Besides the retrospective
recollections of Roy and Eskel about this period of their lives, we have
one contemporaneous document that fills in some details about the thriving
state of their occupation. It is from an article in the October 1953 issue
of the Wisconsin REA News. Because of the specificity of many of its

factual notations, it is worthy of quoting in toto:

97


y ion yl

that were Jess thoroughly smoked. But since they were such a savory
and desirable item, people who had them seldom kept them Jong. Anyone
who wanted to smoke fish in volume would have had a problem preserving
the fish prior to the smoking process, thus adding to the cost through
refrigeration or icing. And the longer such fish were kept until the
smoking began, the less desirable they were for flavor. This factor also
militated against large-scale smoking operations. Most often too, the man
with the smokehouse used smaller fish, as there was both greater demand
for eating larger fish fresh, as well as a greater potentiality for smoking

the smaller varieties throughout their entire body mass.

A similar and parallel story could be told concerning the pickling of
herring with a special multiple-spices recipe. Many people in the Bayfield
area have always put up a few jars of pickled herring. This pickling
used complicated and individuated formulae for preserving the herring.
Thus the solution mixture was not so simple as mere brine or plain

vinegar.
But this too was a more expensive process and it was really intended

to cater to the peculiar tastes or small numbers of people such as a

family.

xxvii


U.S. Congress. Senate. Report of the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, 1875 - 1876. Misc. S. Doc. 107, 44th Cong., Ist
sess., 1878.

Appendix B: The Inland Fisheries. Part Il: "Fisheries of
Chicago and Vicinity," by E. W. Nelson; pages 783-800.

U.S. Congress. House. Report of the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, 1887. Misc. H. Doc. 133, 50th Cong., 2nd sess.,
1888. Appendix |: “Fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1885;"
Part Ill: "The Fisheries of Lake Superior;" compiled by Hugh
M. Smith and Mervin-Marie Snell, with introduction and a
description of fishing vessels and boats by J. W. Collins;

31-70.

U.S. Congress. Senate. The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of
the United States. Misc. S. Doc. 124, 47th Cong., Ist sess.,
1887. Edited by George Brown Goode, Assistant Director of the

U. S. National Museum. Section I: Natural History of Useful
Aquatic Animals (1884). Section 11: A Geographical Review of
the Fisheries Industries and Fishing Communities for the year
1880 (1887). Section J{!: The Fishing Grounds of North

America With Forty-Nine Charts (1887). Section V: History
and Methods of the Fisheries, in two volumes, with an atlas of
two hundred and fifty-five plates (1887).

Wisconsin Magazine of History. Madison: 1917 -

Newspapers

Ashland Daily Press, October 10, 1975. Article: “Report Calls For
Bay Fishery Management."

Ashland Daily Press, November 17, 1975. Article: "Wardens To
Quit Working if Indians Get Unrestricted Rights."

Ashland Daily Press, October 18, 1977. Article: "Great Lakes
Commercial Fishing Outlook is Bleak."

Ashland Daily Press, November 17, 1977. Article: "Chequamegon
Region Good for Ice Fishing."

Bayfield County Press, 1870 - 1977.

Bayfield Progress, 1910 - 1915

Benton, Marjory. Bayfield, | Wisconsin. Newspaper = Clipping
Collection, mostly from the Bayfield County Press, with a few

articles from the Bayfield Progress.

Ouluth News Tribune, February 25, 1976. Article: "Fishing To End
tn Aposties Area."

128

, ne Ss


87.

88.

89.

90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.

Baldwin and Saalfeld, Tables 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, pages 146-8,
150-4.

BCP, October 23, November 13, 1941.

BCP, October 15, 1942, concerning draft deferments; undated 1942
article from Marjory Benton Collection about new herring machines;
November 5, 1942 concerning government orders; December 17, 1942
concerning storms and a summary of the fishing season.

BCP, November 28, 1946, November 27, 1947, November 24, 1949.

BCP, undated 1946 article from Marjory Benton collection, Bayfield,
Wisconsin.

"Scrapbook of a Fisherman's Wife; Mrs. Hokenson's Album Records
Fishing Life on Lake Superior," Wisconsin REA News, (October
1953), p. 12.

A. H. Lawrie and Jerold F. Rahrer, "Lake Superior, A Case History
of The Lake and Its Fisheries," (Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery
Commission, University of Michigan, 1973), also known as Technical
Report No. 19, p. 33; hereafter cited as Lawrie and Rahrer; C. W.
Creaser, “The Lamprey Petromyzon Marinus in Michigan," Copeia 157
(1932); C. L. Hubbs and T. —E. B. Pope, "The Spread of the Sea
Lamprey Through the Great Lakes," Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 66 (1937), p. 172-6.

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Tables 5, 6, 24, 58, 60, 79, 81, 98, 100, and
two supplements thereto; pages 9-10, 30-1, 81-2, 85-6, 118-9, 121-2,
150-1 and 153-4.

B. G. H. Johnson, Bernard R. Smith and J. James Tibbles, "Control
of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus) in Lake Superior, 1953 -
70," (Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery Commission, University of
Michigan, 1974), p. 54; hereafter cited as Johnson, Smith and
Tibbles; Baldwin & Saalfeld, Supplements 1 & 2 to Table 100, pages
153-4.

Johnson, Smith and Tibbles, p. 54; Baldwin & Saalfeld, Supplements
1 and 2 to Table 98, pages 150-1.

John Van Oosten, "The Dispersal of Smelt, Osmerus Mordax
(Mitchill) in the Great Lakes Region," Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 66 (1937), p. 160-171.

John Van Oosten, untitled article from Marjorie Benton clipping
collection, Bayfield Wisconsin, from Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 66 (1937), p. 138.

Matti Kaups, "Evolution of Smelt-O-Mania on Lake Superior's North
Shore," Journal of Popular Culture 11 (No. 4, 1978), p. 959.

Ibid., p. 973.

123


Prepared and published by the Denver Service Center


of ash, ail, cinders or other deleterious substances into the waters of
Lake Superior be prohibited. Regarding the anti-pollution proposal, the
fishermen also sought uniformity among the Great Lake states and
coordination with the Federal government. The fishermen were easy on
themselves regarding commercial fishing licenses, proposing that such
licenses cost only a dollar and apply to men older than eighteen years.
The conservation department accepted these proposals from the fishermen
and incorporated them nearly verbatim in the bill before the Wisconsin

legislature. °@

In July of 1931 an issue of the Bayfield County Press announced the
passage of the commercial fisheries bill practically as proposed by the
Apostle Island fishermen the previous January. Another article in the
same paper mentioned an attempt in 1931 to regulate Wisconsin fish and
game regulations via a standing commission. The article pointed out that
the average legislative session in Madison dealt with hundreds of bills
relating to fish and game. The 1929 legislature, for example, analyzed
225 bills affecting fish and game, about one-seventh of the bills
introduced in that session. The establishment of such a commission would
be both time and money efficient, eliminating piecemeal regulation by
lawmakers who were, for the most part, unfamiliar with fishery problems.
The author argued that Wisconsin already had an |ndustrial Commission
that functioned very well; and that a similar conservation commission
could "make rules and regulations relating to fish and game, setting up a
certain standard for them to follow which would conserve our fish and
game supply and insure our citizens continued opportunity for fishing,
hunting .and trapping." All such rulings would be subject to the
approval of the governor and subject to review by the courts with

authority to set them aside.

This commission would also be required to respond to popular
petition, and through hearings, could correct abuses and adjust
complaints. The law, as drawn up, was imitative of other states'
practice, and a major part of its intent was to bring consistency and
continuity to fishing regulations among the states. The Wisconsin

Conservation Commission was eventually given such powers during the

93


salt fish only. These parties control the entire catch of the
Bayfield fishermen and all! of the salt fish of Ashland, sending
their tugs and sail boats for a distance of 30 or 40 miles to the
westward and 50 or 60 miles along the eastern shore. They
handled in 1885 over 600,000 pounds of fresh and frozen fish
and upwards of 22,000 half-barrels of salt fish. The firms
furnished barreits and salt, delivering them at the fishing
stations to be filled, and freighting the catch to the town. In
1884 the price paid to the fishermen for filling was $3.50 to
$4.00 per half-barrel for Nos. 1 and 2 whitefish, $1.50 to $1.75
for No. 3 whitefish, $2.50 to $3.00 for trout and siscowet,
$1.50 for sturgeon, $1.00 to $1.25 for herring, $2.00 for pike,
and $3.00 to $3.50 for Nos. 1 and 2, $1.00 for No. 3, $2.00 for
trout, siscowet, and pike, $1.00 for herring, $1.50 for
sturgeon, and $1.00 for suckers.

Gill-net fishing in open water. - The following account of the

gill-net and pound fishing is largely obtained from information
kindly furnished by Messrs. Nelson Boutin and J.W. Atwood.
Prior to 1870, when Mr. Boutin came to the region, there had
been three or four crews of gill-net fishermen, in addition to
the Indians that fished for home supply. From that time the
gill-net fishery gradually increased until about 1883, when it
began to be superseded by the pound-nets. In 1885 there were
about 15 crews that fished gill-nets exclusively, and 27 others
that were interested in both gill-net and pound-net fisheries.
The season opens about the Ist of April and continues until the
ice forms and prevents the boats from getting out. In the
early spring they fish about the islands, and later along the
shore between Bayfield and Carp River, remaining till October,
when they return to the islands to fish till the close of the
season, or, as is frequently the case, proceed to Isle Royale
and remain there until stormy winter weather drives them home.
As many as 30 boats, with a total of 75 or 80 Bayfield
fishermen, visited Isle Royale in the fall of 1883, and 20 boats
were there in 1884, but as they met with poor success the

latter year, very few made the trip in 1885.

42


BIBLIOGRAPHY

1, Primary Sources

Courthouse Records

Register of Deeds Office, Bayfield County Courthouse, Wisconsin,
Volume 4, page 34, Death Certificate of Peter Hokanson, dated
February 26, 1910.

Diaries

Peet, James. Diary. University of Minnesota at Duluth, Main
Library. Northeastern Minnesota Historical Collections. James
Peet Diary, 1856 - 1865; accession # 23-632.

Interviews

Bainbridge, Ted. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on July 13, 1978.

Benton, Marjory. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on July 19, 1978.

Erickson, John. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on July 13, 1978.

Hokenson, £skel. Rural Route 1, Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed
by David Fritz, NPS, together with his wife, Florence, on
July 11, 1978 and January 16, 1979.

Hokenson, Roy. Little Sand Bay, Russell Township, Bayfield
Peninsula, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz, NPS,
together with his wife, !rene, on July 10, 1978, July 11, 1978,
October 16, 1978 and January 16, 1979.

Johnson, Herman. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on July 14, 1978.

Johnson, Milford, Jr. interviewed by Barbara J. Sommer, July 14,
1977. North Shore Commercial Fishing Oral History Project,
Northeast Minnesota Historical Center, University of Minnesota
at Duluth Main Library. Catalog # $2207, accession # 2209.

Jones, Emory. Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on July 17, 1978.

Moe, Elvis. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz, NPS,
on July 14, 1978.

Nelson, Julian. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, on January 16, 1979.

126

, Se


The dog had been walking on sawdust for quite a while and |
presume he thought all around was sawdust. So he jumped off
the dock and what he thought was a sawdust field below. But
it happened to be the lake.

He was certainly some surprised dog and the way he pawed
around trying to get his feet on that sawdust was a caution.
The lady was frantic and thought sure her doggie was a goner.
She screamed and cried and the dog whined pitifully, to the

tremendous amusement of the boys.

She finally pleaded with them to do something to save her dog.
So one of them jumped in and grabbing the dog by the ribbon
held him up so that another boy could reach down and rescue
him. He was a sorry looking pup, and ! am afraid the silk
ribbon was ruined forever. The boy that jumped in the water
was given a dollar, and remarked that he wished some more

ladies would bring their dogs down to visit the sawmill "40

While the above story does not address the problem of sawdust as a
threat to the fishery, it does illustrate the fact that the lake was used
for a time as a dumping grounds for sawdust. Later on, as the twentieth
century unfolded, scientific studies revealed that sawdust persisted
underwater in the same way that solid wood was preserved underwater.
Even though thoughtful fishermen suspected that the presence of sawdust
was deleterious to fish, it was many years before specific studies clarified
the influence of sawdust. One recent study, concentrating on herring in
their larval stage, concluded that a higher silt or organic matter level in

a given shoal was probably harmful to egg viability in that area. 4!

By extension, sawdust might have had a similar effect on the
successful breeding of other species. Similarly, largely through the trial
and error method, hatchery people came to iearn that the viability of
their young fish was much enhanced by keeping the small fry in the
hatchery until they could be classified as fingerlings. Once the policy

was adopted of sewing fingerling lake trout or whitefish, it became

53


Marie, shows how Ojibway, as a community group, disapproved of the
lone practitioner of cannibalism, and even prescribed a death sentence as
the remedy to the individual, for the interesting reason that the cannibal
might continue to cultivate his culinary discovery. !n an ironic twist,
this tribal attitude made an eighteenth century argument favoring the
death penalty, not for all the sophisticated twentieth century reasons,
but merely because it was their common sense conciusion that anyone who
had once committed murder, was more liable than any other member of the
community to do it again. And the story does make the point, as
claimed, that a starving time in a northern climate had driven one erring

person beyond accepted social practice, to eat members of his own family.

The other story, from Warren, whose credibility must be considered
extremely reliable, in the opinion of Thwaites and other highly reputed
historians, makes superlatively important claims about the early Chippewa
usage of Madeline Island. In actuality, it is neither appropriate nor
accurate to write Warren off as a mere mythologist. The evidence Warren
gave on Chippewa cannibalism is more certain, for example, than the claim
by an archaeologist who has found a figurine buried in the mounds of the
Hopewell Indians and speculates that the figure's purpose was religious.
The only inexactitude in Warren's account is the precise dating of these
incidents of cannibalism and the minute details of each horrible
occurrence. Even here, on the latter case, Warren stated that he had
heard details, but did not care to repeat them. Warren swore to the
certitude of occurrence by gathering cross references from multiple
narratives. Both he and the elders he talked with were reluctant to

confess the crimes of their people. He wrote:

| have already stated [repeating the fact] that the old men of
the tribe are not over[iy] communicative respecting the bad
practices of their ancestors, which we have noted in this
chapter, yet though backward to mention them, [italics added]
they do not altogether deny the truth of these tales, which |}
have learned from the lips of old half-breeds and traders, who
received the information many years ago, from old men and
women whose parents had been actors in the bloody scenes and
feasts of this period. 1! vividly recollect in my childhood while
residing on the very spot where these scenes had occurred,
that my mother, often stilled my importunities for a story, with
tales of this period which would fairly make my hair stand on

xvii


select streams, the lamprey was found to be virtually extinct. Across the
board, scientists believed they had eliminated about 86% of the spawning
lampreys by 1962. Lampricide was used in 116 of 119 Lake Superior
tributaries known to contain sea lampreys. When the program was found
to be so successful, scientists concluded that fewer and fewer treatments
of streams would be necessary; yet a few select streams were kept under
active treatment indefinitely. The beauty of the technique was that it
could be revived at a moment's notice when lamprey abundance was

deemed a threat to the fishery.

When the sharp drop in sea lamprey numbers became apparent in the
spring of 1962, state officials in Michigan and Wisconsin closed down
commercial lake trout fishing in mid-1962 except for fishing by permit to
obtain the number of fish meeded for biological and statistical data.
Tabulation of data in Lake Superior between 1963 and 1970 reveals that
lake trout population had almost completely recovered by the latter date.
Despite this, state officials still restrict catches of lake trout in Wisconsin
waters. This writer noted when accompanying a pound net fisherman in
the summer of 1978 that the fisherman was obliged to tag each and every
trout with a state-supplied metal label until the tags were used up. Then
his quota was exhausted and he was no longer authorized to take lake
trout for the rest of the season. The available published statistics for
the years 1963 to 1971 reflect this tight control by showing that
commercial fishermen in Wisconsin waters took only an average of 22 tons
of lake trout, when the average for most of the twentieth century had
been 138 tons; and one interval, 1936 to 1956, averaged 269 tons per

annum.

Lake whitefish catches did not improve as rapidly as for trout
during the same interval, but the removal of the sea lamprey as a threat
did permit whitefish recovery. Since controls were not as stringent on
whitefish catches, the yield for them was greater than lake trout for the
most recent years that we have statistics available. Thus, from 1961 to
1969 Wisconsin Lake Superior fishermen averaged 37 tons of whitefish per
annum, as compared with 84 tons per annum in the twentieth century,

and 166 tons per annum from 1936 to 1956. 9°

102

, eh


Wisconsin commercial fishermen on Lake Superior, they first took note of
the rapid decline in whitefish production. 1949 had produced one last
bonanza year in whitefish yield, when Wisconsin fishermen had the best
yield on record, 767,000 pounds. The following year was not a bad one,
but production declined by 32%. Then, in 1951, the inroads of the
lamprey became ever more apparent. The yield was 183,000 pounds,
being only 24% of the peak production two years earlier. The whitefish
rebounded briefly in 1955 and 1956 when catches exceeded half a million
pounds each year in Wisconsin waters. In 1957 the yield fell to nearly
half the previous years' total, and in 1958 the Wisconsinites took only
88,000 pounds of whitefish. '08

The destruction of the Lake Superior lake trout was more sudden.
For twelve years, from 1945 till 1956, lake trout production was nearly
level on Lake Superior Wisconsin waters, averaging about 518,750 pounds
per annum. Then, in 1957, lake trout yield dove precipitously to 287,000
pounds. To this day lake trout production has not wholly recovered from
the predation of the sea lamprey, even though catches have been
somewhat restricted by bureaucratic controls after the defeat of the
lamprey. The best year since the lamprey, for example, was 1977 when
229,000 pounds of lake trout were caught in the Wisconsin waters of Lake

Superior 99

The near disappearance of these two money fish from Lake Superior
played a large role in driving the Hokenson brothers into retirement. As
we have seen, the brothers had drawn back in their participation in the
hectic fall herring season. Their advancing years and the hazzards of
foul weather late in the year, first compelled them to withdraw from the
competition for herring. As fortune would have it, herring production

also began a gradual decline during the mid-1950's.

The brothers were rather philosophical about the decline of the
fishery; but a more difficult blow for them to sustain was the sudden and
unexpected death of one of their number, Leo Hokenson, on November 19,
1957. Although Leo was 61 years of age at the time of his passing, he

was a relatively young and vigorous man at the time of his death, and

108


The fishermen offered their labor in whatever way necessary for the
construction of the hatchery, and volunteered to act as the collectors of
spawn. They stated their observation that yearly catches were declining
by a third for several years hand running and that under such
circumstances the fishing industry was no longer proving remunerative.
Their principal interest was in seeding the lake with larger deposits of
white fish and lake trout small fry. The petition was signed by the

officers of the association and 156 of their member fishermen.

Surprisingly, the U.S. Fish Commission responded rapidly to these
troubled fishermen. Before 1886 was over a hatchery had _ been
established at Duluth; R.O. Sweeney, a former Minnesota state fish
commissioner was put in charge; and the institution was boasted of as
"one of the largest and best appointed establishments of its kind in the

. 130
United States.

But the Wisconsin fishermen were no less public spirited. in their
case, private enterprise stepped in to save the diminishing fish
population. The man of the hour was Captain Robinson Derling Pike, son
of one of the earliest Bayfield pioneers, Elisha Pike. The elder Pike
acquired a whole section of land south of the village of Bayfield, which
land had an ideal setting for a lumber mill on the stream that came to be
named Pike's Creek. The younger Pike inherited the site, and in 1875
and 1876 laid plans to build his own private fish hatchery. In 1877 he
had a functioning hatchery. In 1895, R.D. Pike, along with Isaac Wing
and William Knight, offered to donate the hatchery and 600 acres of land
along the creek to the State of Wisconsin. The offer was accepted by the
state and that same year the legislature appropriated $20,000 for the
construction of a larger hatchery. During the last year as a private
enterprise, the Salmo Hatchery, as the place was then called, seeded
more than 64 million fry in Lake Superior. Under state auspices during
the following year, the production of fry was 11 million greater. During
both of these years, the percentages of white fish and lake trout
predominated; these two species constituted about 60 percent of total
production. Significantly, Pike had greater concern for the replacement
of lake trout; since the trout were 34 percent of his effort. In 1896 the

48


living on the north shore of the Great Lake, for this family had
lately spilled their blood. They discovered a single wigwam
standing on the sandy shores of the lake, and the Martens,
having stealthily approached, raised the war-whoop, and as was
the custom in battle (to show their greater man-hood), they
threw off every article of clothing, and thus, perfectly naked,
rushed furiously to the attack. The Omush-kas, head of the
family occupying the threatened lodge, was busy arranging his
fishnet, and not aware that war had been declared, he paid no
attention to his yelling visitors, but calmly con-tinued his

peaceful occupation.

"One of the Martens, rushing into the lodge, and, throwing his
arms about him, exclaimed, 'Ene-ne-nin-duk-o-nah' (a man |

hold), meaning that he took him captive.

"The simple Omush-kas, looking up, merely remarked ‘Let me
go; you are tangling my net.' Still the Marten, keeping his
hold, more loudly exclaimed, “Ene-ne-nin-duk-o-nah.' The
Omush-kas, now perceiving his nakedness, grasped a sensitive
part of his person, in turn jokingly exclaimed
'Nin-sah-eta-in-ne-ne-nin-duk-o-nah' (‘tis only | who truly hold
a man'), and the simple man continued to consider the attack as
a mere farce. The war-club, however, of the enraged Marten
now descended with fearful force on his head, and he died

exclaiming, ‘Verily they are killing me.1"6

The unfortunate Ojibway died because of his absorption with, and

dedication to, fishing.

To return to our narrative concerning the Chippewa and_ their
connection with Lake Superior, it should be noted that about two
centuries before the time of Columbus' discovery of America, the
Chippewa were in retreat from their furthest eastward advance onto the
Atlantic seaboard. Though unadmitted in the compilation of Chippewa
lore, the Ojibway were probably driven back by the Iroquois.



eee lee

Reiten. Since they were operating during a forbidden period, they could
get no insurance, and lost everything. The Friant and its equipment was
valued at $16,000. Half of that debt fell on the shoulders of Reiten, who
paid off his indebtedness over the next twenty years. “8 The disaster
drove Halvor out of the fishing business altogether, and henceforth he
concentrated his energies on boat building and running a boatyard. On
occassion, over the years, his innovative spirit caught the imagination of
the local paper, which told of his exploits. in 1927 he caught public
attention with his ice-crossing vehicles. {!n January he tested an old
Ford touring car with runners in front on a trip out to Bass Island. A
year later, Halvor was the builder but not the designer of a sled-boat
that receive its locomotion from an airplane propeller. The vessel was
also equipped with an outboard motor for those occasions when it went

through the ice or when used in warmer weather. 49

Cc. The Role of Bayfield County Roads in the Marketing of Fish

During the 1920's the road system around Bayfield was improving to
some extent, helping to break down a bit of the rural isolation for people
in the northern sector of the Bayfield Peninsula. Highway 13, which
wended westward from the town of Bayfield, received regular attention in
the pages of the Bayfield County Press as it inched slowly toward
Duluth. A coded map printed in the paper during 1925 showed that the
entire route was complete, but that very little of it was first class. Only
a few short stretches were classified as "Macadam/ Gravel/Shale/etc."
More commonly the symbols indicated "All Weather Earth." And there
were at least two intervals characterized as "Heavy Clay (Avoid During
Rains)." The road passed through Cornucopia, Herbster, Port Wing, and
met the main road to Duluth from Wisconsin on the southeast edge of

Superior.>°

After 1925 most of the interest in Highway 13 was directed
toward its improvement. A few ambitious critics tried to promote the
re-routing of the road closer to the lakeshore to make it a more scenic
drive. The road was not very close to the shore during the last third of

its extent between Bayfield and Superior, on both ends.

77


Despite such isolated aberrations, the Ojibway that lived around the
periphery of Lake Superior, felt themselves fortunate to live near the
shores of that great lake. One Chippewa Chief, Minavavana, told Henry:
"Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without
bread--and pork--and beef! But you ought to know that He, the Master
of Life, has provided food for us in these spacious lakes and on these

woody mountains."

As time went by, the French made repeated contacts with the
Chippewa of Lake Superior. The most common point of contact was the
Sault Ste. Marie, since it was closest to the French settlements on the
St. Lawrence River. Here the famous Jesuit missionary, Father Rene
Menard found the Ojibway. He took note of the prosperous fishing there
in the fall of 1660; and passed through the Chippewa country to meet his

doom in the interior of latter day Wisconsin.

Five years later, another Jesuit, Claude Allouez, made some unusual
observations along the southern shores of Lake Superior: He not only
found the fishing place of the Chippewa on the southwest corner of
Chequamegon Bay; but he saw that the prosperity of the place had also
attracted a vast concourse of Pottawattomies, Kickapoos, Sauks, Foxes,
Hurons, Ottawas, Miamis, and Illinois. All these Indians thought the
place was also a safe haven from their mutual enemies, the Iroquois and

the Sioux.2°

Father James Marquette also visited Chequamegon Bay, in 1669. He,
like the other Jesuits, had kept a semi-permanent missionary station on
Madeline Island. But in 1671, with the outbreak of one of the perpetual
Sioux-Chippewa wars, he was driven away, together with his wards, in
the direction of Sault Ste. Marie. Although this discouraged Christian
proselytizing endeavors in the region for 164 years, fear of the Sioux did
not dissuade the more venturesome fur traders and merchants from
visiting the Chippewa along the south shore of Lake Superior during the

interim.°"

13


a a a a a oe oo mm Hm Ee ee ee Oe


"20. BAYFIELD, BAYFIELD COUNTY, WISCONSIN, AND THE
SHORE BETWEEN SUPERIOR AND THE APOSTLE ISLANDS.

The main shore. - This strip of coast, about 70 miles in extent,
is bold and rocky, with small bays and sandy beaches scattered
at intervals throughout its length. It is a heavily wooded
region, with no post-office-settlements, and, in fact, only two
places of human habitation, the largest of which is a few miles
off the mouth of the Bois Brule River, where an English colony
has established itself to engage in agriculture. At the mouth of
the tron River a farm has been cleared, and one man divides
his time between agriculture and fishing. The waters abound
in fish, and fishermen from both Duluth and Bayfield have
pounds and gill-nets along the shore. Four or five crews of
Duluth gill-net fishermen occasionally come as far east as the
Apostle Islands, but the pound-net fishing from Duluth has
thus far not extended beyond the mouth of Iron River, while
Bayfield pound-net fishermen have gone as far west as Flag
River, only 8 miles distant, [and about 30 miles due west of
Bayfield], and have nets scattered along the coast from there
to Bayfield.

The islands. - The Apostle Islands are a group of 25 islands of
various sizes lying a few miles to the northeast of Bayfield.
The largest of these is Magdalene Island, which is about 10 or
12 miles long and 2 miles wide, having about 200 inhabitants,
scattered along different coves, about 30 of whom engage in the
fisheries from Bayfield. The only village on Magdalene Island
is named La Pointe. It is located about 3 miles distant from
Bayfield, and is one of the oldest settlements about Lake
Superior. For many years it was the leading trading post of
the region, and the headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company,
who purchased from the Indians salt fish and large quantities of
furs. At one time the town is said to have contained upwards

of 1,500 inhabitants. Within the fast 20 years business

38



70.

71.

72.

73.

74.
75.
76.

77.

78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.

85.

86.

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Tables 98 and 100, pages 151, 154.

Ibid., Tables 95, 96; pages 146-8. Interview with Emory Jones by
David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin, July 17, 1978.

{nterview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin,
July 17, 1978.

BCP, July 4, 1929, May 1, 1930. An article of May 10, 1928
mentioned the seeding of 17 million lake trout, the largest seeding in
a decade.

BCP, January 2, 1930.

BCP, April 19, 1928, February 12, 1931.

BCP, June 7, 1928.

A few of the John Van Oosten articles include: “The Age, Growth,
and Sex Ratio of the Lake Superior Longjaw, Leucichthys Zenithicus
(Jordan and Evermann)," Papers of the Michigan Academy of
Science, Arts and Letters 22 (1937), p. 691-711; and three articles
in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society: "The
Dispersal of Smelt, Osmerus Mordax (Mitchill), in the Great Lakes
Region, 66 (1937), p. 160-171; with Ralph Hile, “Age and Growth
of the Lake Whitefish, Coregonus Clupeaformus(Mitchill) in Lake
Erie," 77 (1947), p. 178-249; "Mortality of Smelt, Osmerus Mordax
(Mitchill) in Lakes Huron and Michigan During the Fall and Winter of
1942 - 1943," 74 (1944), p. 310-337.

BCP, January 30, 1930.

Ibid.

[8

P, January 22, 1931.

wD

CP, May 29, 1930.

|

ive]
Oo

P, February 12, 1931.

, April 16, July 9, 1931.

8 fe |

, April 16, 1931, April 28, 1932, and undated 1938 issue from
Marjory Benton clipping collection, Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Interview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin,
July 17, 1978; BCP, November 6, 1941 and undated 1938 issue from
Marjory Benton clipping collection, Bayfield, Wisconsin.

BCP, undated 1938 issue from Marjory Benton clipping collection,
Bayfield, Wisconsin; also interview with Roy Hokenson by David
Fritz at Little Sand Bay, July 11, 1978; and interview with Eskel
Hokenson by David Fritz at Route 1 Bayfield, Wisconsin, same date.

122


"One clear morning in the early part of winter, soon after the
islands which are clustered in this portion of Lake Superior and
known as the Apostles, had been locked in ice, a party of
young men of the Ojibways started out from their village in the
Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, [Chequamegon] to go, as was
customary, and spear fish through holes in the ice, between
the island of La Pointe [present-day Madeline Island] and the
main shore, this being considered as the best ground for this
mode of fishing. While engaged in their sport, they discovered
a smoke arising from a point of the adjacent island, toward its

eastern extremity.

"The island of La Pointe was then totally unfrequented, from
superstitious fears which had but a short time previous led to
its total evacuation by the tribe, and it was considered an act
of the greatest hardihood for any one to set foot on its shores.
The young men returned home at evening and reported the
smoke which they had seen arising from the island, and various
were the conjectures of the old people respecting the persons
who would dare to build a fire on the spirit-haunted isle.
They must be strangers, and the young men were directed,
should they again see the smoke, to go and find out who made
it.

“Early the next morning, again proceeding to their fishing
ground, the young men once more noticed the smoke arising
from the eastern end of the unfrequented island, and led on by
curiosity, they ran thither and found a small log cabin in which
they discovered two white men in the last stages of starvation.
The Young Ojibways filled with compassion, carefully conveyed
them to their village, where, being nourished with great

kindness, their lives were preserved.

“These two white men had started from Quebec during the
summer with a supply of goods, to go and find the Ojibways


about 60 tons were shipped, nearly all of which went to St.
Paul and Minneapolis. The quantity of salt fish shipped during
the same year was 13,000 half-barrels. The succeeding season
the fresh-fish trade was much more extensive, and a large
percentage of the catch that otherwise would have been salted
was packed in ice and sent into the interior, chiefly to St. Paul
and Minneapolis. No smoked fish have been put up in the
village for shipment, the business being confined wholly to a
few smoked by the Indians and other fishermen for family use.
About 30 barrels of oil were made by the pound-net fishermen
in 1884, but no isinglass or caviare has been prepared since
1878, when Hart Pincus came to Bayfield for that purpose, but
after remaining about two months he became discouraged and
left the place, taking with him 750 pounds of caviare put up
during his stay.

Statistics of fisheries. - In 1885 there were 182 men engaged in
fishing, 27 others in collecting, preparing and shipping the
fish, and 6 others in making barrels and boats for the fish
trade; these, including their families, making a total of 615
persons dependent upon the fisheries. If we exclude the 20
pound-nets owned by Ashland parties, there were 124
pound-nets owned and operated by Bayfield fishermen in
addition to 2,000 gill-nets and eight seines. The total
production of the Bayfield fisheries was 640,000 pounds of fresh
fish and 2,192,000 pounds of salt fish, with a total value of
$60,080.

Bayfield fish trade. - Two steamers were employed in collecting
the fish, one of these fishing for several months in the fall.
There were also two schooners engaged in transporting the nets
of the fishermen to and from the fishing grounds, in supplying
salt and barrels to the camp, and in bringing back cargoes of
salt fish. Three firms, Boutin and Mahan, Rich and Atwood,
and Frank Boutin, each had an extensive fishing business, the

two former handling both fresh and salt fish and the last-named

41


The significance of Highway 13 increased as more fishermen from the
South Shore villages needed access to markets for their fish. Most of the
fishermen who used the port of Bayfield as their base, marketed their
fish with one or the other of the large companies in town. During the
late 1920's a third company was set up in Bayfield by a Chicago
businessman and city official, Mr. Howard W. Elmore. He formed the
Bayfield Fish Company in competition with the Booth Packing Company
and the Boutins. The latter company fell upon hard times and moved
their business out of Bayfield for 1930 and 1931 to Chassel, Michigan. In
1932 the Boutins returned, bringing a load of timber and lumber to
Bayfield aboard the Elsie Nell for the purpose of repairing their buildings

and dock at Bayfield.°!

D. Lake Superior Fishing Becomes Intensive: A Variety of Marketing

Techinques Developed

H. W. Elmore, mentioned above, diversified his interests into
commercial fishing during 1926. Although his principal investments were
in Chicago, he had had a summer home in Bayfield for several years.
Studying the Apostle Islands scene for a number of years, he concluded
that Bayfield could use a third fishing concern. He at first leased
facilities in Bayfield; then, in 1927, he built a small plant in Red Cliff,
north of Bayfield. Then, in 1928, he constructed a $40,000 refrigerator
plant and warehouse on the waterfront at the foot of Second Street in
Bayfield. The establishment measured 38 by 70 feet and had a twenty
ton Frick refrigerator on the ground floor that kept two sharp-freezing
rooms at subzero temperatures and an "ante-freezing chamber" in which a
temperature of many degrees below freezing could be maintained. The
second floor held offices and equipment storage rooms. On the dockside,
a sheltered porch eighteen feet wide ran the length of the building.
Here fish could be cleaned and prepared before freezing. The entire

edifice was made of fireproof brick, steel and concrete. °°

When the Hokenson brothers commenced fishing for profit in the late

twenties, their first marketing outlet was with H. W. Elmore. But they

78

, ee Se


Hokensons have been members of the Bayfield Electric co-op for

the last six years and Leo is on the board of directors. "9"

The article was accompanied by six photos, depicting various facets
of the fisherman's trade, including a picture of the three Hokenson
brothers on their dock, a shot of Eskel's son Gary in a makeshift boat, a
picture of ice cutting on the lake, a shot of ice-loading into the ice
house, a photo depicting the lifting of a pound net, and a shot showing
Jeanette Hokenson (Leo's wife) with her granddaughter Nancy in the new

home financed by the fishery.

H. The Mid-50's and the Decline of the Fishery.

Despite the thriving condition of the Lake Superior fisheries during
the 1940's, there were ominous signs that became visible already during
the previous decade. Fishermen in the other Great Lakes noted the
presence of the sea lamprey (petromyzon marinus) during the early 1930's
and the first recorded instance of the famprey in Lake Superior was
1946.98 A speculative guess theorized that the sea lamprey migrated
through the lakes either by attaching themselves to the hulls of upbound
ships or by swimming. The fishermen would either find the parasites
attached to the bodies of whitefish and lake trout when the money fish
were netted, or find scar-tags where the predators had been attached.
The nature of the lamprey infestation was such that the parasite
population tended to multiply at such a rate that it would eventually
destroy totally the species of fish it attacked. Catches of lake trout and
whitefish nosedived dramatically in all of the Great Lakes where the
lamprey spread. Lake Ontario's production declined steadily during the
1930's. Lakes Michigan and Huron were decimated during the 1940's.
Lake Erie had lost its lake trout population in the nineteenth century,
but it had a dramatic drop in whitefish production in the mid-1950's, as
did Lake Superior. 24

The gathering gloom among fishermen galvanized them and political

agencies into action when the extinction of commercial fishing on the

Great Lakes became a real possibility during the 1950's. At first the

100



feet] of water | have often seen the shadows of the fish on the
bottom, following them as they moved; and this when the ice

itself was two feet in thickness ."29

The cabin or cover under which the Indian ice-fisher worked had a
two-fold function: it both sheltered the spearsman from the weather, and
wholly excluded light for deceiving the fish. The shelters consisted of
small branches of trees covered with skins. The whole affair needed to
be only two feet in height since the spearsman lay prone.

Alexander Henry also described another unusual mode of Indian
winter fishing that is especially interesting, insofar as it has been
imitated all the way up to the present, by European descendants who five
along the shores of Lake Superior.

"The white fish is taken in nets which are set under the ice.
To do this, several holes are made in the ice, each at such
distance from that behind it as that it may be reached under
the ice by the end of a pole. A line of sixty fathoms [360
feet] in length is thus conveyed from hole to hole till it is
extended to the length desired. This done, the pole is taken
out, and with it one end of the line, to which the end is then
fastened. The line being now drawn back by an assistant who
holds the opposite extremity, the net is brought under and a
large stone is made fast to the sinking line at each end and let
down to the bottom, and the net is spread in the water by
lighters on its upper edge, sinkers on its lower, in the usual
manner. The fish, running against the net, entangle their gills

in the meshes and are thus detained till taken up.29

From the above description it is obvious that the Indians were
capable of making a primitive version of the gill-net. Needless to say,
modern fishermen have copied this design and have only improved on it
through the quality of material from which it is made.

19


It is disputed how long the Booth company had been active in
Bayfield. Several historical studies state that the A. Booth Packing
Company was established in Bayfield in 1880. Another version stated that
"In 1892, the Chicago firm of Booth Fisheries moved north and became the
main one on both the north and south shores." For most of its years in
Bayfield, the company was known as Booth Fisheries Corporation. There
are still branches of the Booth operation in Duluth and Chicago.9

For most of the years that the commercial fishery prospered on Lake
Superior, the Bayfield area and the Apostle !slands region dominated the
Wisconsin portion of the catch. An article in the January 6th 1910
Bayfield Progress illustrates this principle. About 86.8% of the Wisconsin
catch in herring was marketed through Bayfield. Bayfield also got 87.3%
of the lake trout caught by Wisconsin fishers that year. Similarly nearly
all of the Wisconsin whitefish from Lake Superior were marketed through
Bayfield. All told the catch at Bayfield for 1909 was valued at $43,188.
About half of this sum came from trout sales, 42% came from herring
sales, and the remaining 8% included sale of whitefish, pike, suckers,
siscoes, sturgeon and pickerel. The fishing fleet had about 157 men who
spent one to eight months of the year on the fishing avocation. There
were 55 fishing boats, 830 gill nets for trout, 364 gill nets for herring,

and 36 pound nets in operation. '?

Basically, the yield for whitefish was in a prolonged slump during
this era. From 1908 until 1935 the average annual yield of whitefish in
Wisconsin waters was only about 30 tons per annum. During the same era
the lake trout average yield was about eight times as great by weight.
An article in the Bayfield County Press during 1900 speculated on this
whitefish decline. W. D. Tomlin, secretary of the Fisheries Association,
said that in the Duluth area he thought that sewage and other water
pollutants accounted for the decline. Implicit in the article was an
understanding that fishermen were overfishing certain areas and that
restocking the lake with small fry was the answer. But even here the
author of the article had a premonition that stocking methods were not
correct. The writer thought it unwise to dump the fry in the wake of a
steamer; and he thought the depth of 100 to 150 fathoms was not the best

61


Islands, or be merely a seasonal squatter on someone else's land. Elvis
Moe of Bayfield had been a native-born permanent inhabitant on Sand
Island, across the bay from the Hokenson dock. Moe's case was more
exceptional than regular. He and his family lived on the island the year
round, unlike the average fishing camp operator. Moe felt that in his
case and that of his family, they were fess isolated from the world than
were the Hokensons. Moe even went to school on Sand Island with the

other island children.

Most fishing camp people were gill-netters and marketed their fish
through the companies. Their equipment might be their own or was
provided company-store fashion from the Bayfield companies. The
squatter-campers would set up their posts on other people's land and
build a small shack for shelter at a chosen site. Doubtlessly landowners
occasionally chased a shacker, but more often they were tolerated through
immemorial custom. They lived this isolated existence on their chosen
island from about May to October and usually got their supplies through
the company steamers. Sand Island had a better than average supplied
community, and a person there could buy provisions on the island. Once
in a while during storms or long severe winters, the inhabitants of Sand
Island would share food with one another to tide neighbors over a period
of shortage. Shackers elsewhere had to be evacuated from their perches
when winter came, and there were instances of short-lived starving times
for them when they postponed their departure so long that they could no

jonger safely cross the channel over thin field ice.

The shackers were practically all gill-netters who used small (for
Lake Superior) boats to get to their chosen fishing grounds. The boats
were sailboats in the nineteenth century and outboard motor powered
Mackinaw boats in the twentieth century. Such a fisherman could handle,
alt the maximum, a gang of nets, and that would have been a taxing
amount of netting. He had to time the retrieval of his nets for the
moment when the company steamer came for his catch. He had to have on
hand enough chipped ice to cover the volume of his harvest. He had to
keep a weather eye out for deteriorating climatic conditions, and be able,

with a reliable motor, to run to the sheltered side of his island or his


PREFACE

Complementary Nature of Three Studies: Because of questions

arising in the review cycle for these studies, it becomes necessary to
emphasize the complementary nature of the Historic Structure Report
(Historical Data Section), the Historic Furnishing Study and this Historic
Resource Study. Both the structure report and furnishing study, for
example, inspired factual anecdotes connected with some of the artifacts
of the Hokenson fishery, anecdotes that related in an equally relevant
manner to the chronological history given here. It was therefore deemed
inappropriate to repeat such information in this Historic Resource Study
because it was felt that the battology and/or redundancy of such data
would draw this study out to unnecessary lengths. Thus, too, in
discussing the tools of the fishery, and using illustrations from technical
publications of the nineteenth century in the furnishing study, it was
found that the advance of technology was adequately covered there, and
would not need repetition in this portion of the coverage. This aspect of
avoiding redundancy applies to other subject matter related to the
Hokenson fishery, and the reader who familiarizes himself or herself with

the three divisions, will find the answers to most of his or her questions.

The Role of the Booth Company and Others: Since the focus of the
10-238 for these three studies was declared to be the "Hokenson Fishing

Dock," this resource study viewed the background for the three brothers
in a way that was intended to show the surroundings and atmosphere in
which the brothers functioned, that is, their milieu. It was therefore not
thought germane to develop in extenso such topics as the various large
companies at Bayfield or the squatter summer fishing camps on the
Apostle Islands. Such things were mentioned only briefly insofar as they
impinged upon the existence of the Hokenson brothers. But a brief word
here will give a glimpse of the companies, yet nonetheless as a backdrop
for the brothers. As it is, in the course of the chronological narrative
that follows in this resource study, mention of the companies occurs

frequently.


101.

102.

103.

104.

105.

106.

107.
108.
109.
110.

111.

112.

114,

115.

Interview with Milford Johnson, Jr., by Barbara J. Sommer, July
14, 1977, North Shore Commercial Fishing, Oral History Project,
Catalog # S 2207, Accession # 2209, University of Minnesota at
Duluth, Main Library.

Edward Schneberger, "The Biological and Economic Importance of the
Smelt in Green Bay," Transactions of the American Fisheries Societ
66 (1937), p. 139-142.

Richard G. Burbidge, "Age, Growth, Length-Weight Relationship,
Sex Ratio, and Food Habits of American Smelt, Osmerus Mordax
(Mitchill) from Gull Lake, Michigan, Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 98 (1969, No. 4), p. 631-640.

Ibid., p. 631.

Emory D. Anderson and Lloyd L. Smith, Jr., "Factors Affecting
Abundance of Lake Herring (Coregonus Artedii Lesueur) in Western
Lake Superior," Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 100
(1971, No. 4), p. 691-707.

Wayne R. MacCallum, James H. Selgeby and Donald V. Swedberg,
"Predation by Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus Mordax) on Lake Herring
(Coregonus Artedii) in Western Lake Superior, Journal of the
Research Board of Canada 35 (1978), p. 1457.

Ibid., p. 1457-1463.
Baldwin & Saalfeld, Table 98, p. 151.
tbid., Table 100, p. 153-4 and Supplements 1 & 2 thereto.

Interviews of Roy and Eskel Hokenson by David Fritz at Route 1,
Bayfield, Wisconsin, January 16, 1979.

Interviews of Roy and Eskel Hokenson at Route 1, Bayfield,
Wisconsin, October 16, 1978 and July 11, 1978 respectively.

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Tables 96, 98, 100 and 101 and Supplements 1 &
2 thereto; pages 146-8, 150-1, 153-5.

. Ashland Daily Press, November 7, 1975.

Donald G. Albrecht, ed., The Chequamegon Bay Apostle Islands
Fishery; Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Northland College May
15, 1975, (Ashland, Wisconsin: Northland College, 1975) p. 26;
hereafter cited as Symposium; Ashland Daily Press, “Report Calls
For Bay Fishery Management," October 10, 1975; Duluth News
Tribune, "Red Lake Band Takes Fish Rights to Court," October 31,

1975.

Symposium, p. 35.

124


this they put Indian corn into the mortar and crush it with the
pestle. When it is sufficiently pounded they winnow it and the
bran is separated, so that only the meal is left, which is sifted
in order to remove the dust; the result is that the meal remains
pure, clean, and white like rice. It is put into a cookingpot
with water to boil; and at the same time they cook some white
fish in another pot; when they see that the meal is half cooked
they take out the fish and soak it in the boiled meal, which is
reduced to a white liquid like milk. They then throw it into
the pot and stir it with a wooden spoon in the same way as one
does rice, until it is thoroughly cooked; and as it is the custom
of the country for each person to have his dish, each fills his
own dish with this broth, which the Indians call Sagamity, that
is to say, different things mixed together to be eaten.

"This is not dainty food, but it is certainly very wholesome,
for it always keeps the bowels open, and it is very aperitive,
for one urinates as often as 50 times a day and if one never ate
any other food, he would never by thirsty, as many persons
have found out who have gone whole months without thinking of
drinking. | can affirm that | have gone twenty days without
feeling the slightest thirst; which makes me think it would be a
good diet for those who suffer from gravel. In the evening
they eat fish cooked in all sorts of ways--fried, roasted,
boiled, smoked, or stewed; they have neither oil nor butter,
but they have grease or marrow from the elk, moose or
buffalo. (025

Cadillac went on to tell more of the salubrity of this northern
latitude, its good air and excellent food. As proof of his words he noted
the appearance of old men whose grandsons were growing grey. Almost
jokingly he would modify his comments concerning their great age by
saying: "They have good hearing and good sight, but their memory
often plays them tricks, for they sometimes claim that they are 150 or 200
years old. They tell tales and recount events which they maintain

happened at that time, which is not credible; but they have this

16


Eschmeyer, Paul H.; Hile, Ralph; and Lunger, George F. "Status
of the Lake Trout Fishery in Lake Superior." Transactions of
the American Fisheries Society 80 (1950): 278-312.

Hale, John. "Some Aspects of the Life History of the Smelt
(Osmerus mordax) in Western Lake Superior." Minnesota
Department of Conservation, Division of Game and Fish, Section
of Research and Planning, Investment Report 204 (1959): 1-22.

Hankinson, T. L., and Hubbs, C. L. "The Establishment of Smelt
in the Great Lakes Waters." Copeia 109 (1922): 57-9.

Hile, Ralph. Collection and Analysis of Commercial Fishery Statistics
in the Great Lakes. Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery
Commission; University of Michigan Press, 1962. Also known as
Technical Report No. 5.

Hile, Ralph., and Van Oosten, John. "Age and Growth of the Lake
Whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformus (Mitchill) in Lake Erie."
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 77 (1947):
178-249.

Hubbs, C. L., and Pope, T. £. B. "The Spread of the Sea
Lamprey Through the Great Lakes." Transactions of the
American Fisheries Society 66 (1937): 172-6.

Johnson, B. G. H.; Smith, Bernard R.; and Tibbles, J. James.
Contro) of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Lake
Superior, 1952-70. Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery
Commission, University of Michigan Press, 1974. Also known as
Technical Report No. 26.

King, George R., and Pycha, Richard L. Changes in the Lake
Trout Population of Southern Lake Superior in Relation to the
Fishery, the Sea Lamprey, and Stocking, 1950-70. Ann Arbor:
Great Lakes Fishery Commission; University of Michigan Press,

1975. Also known as Technical Report No. 28.

Koelz, Walter N. "Fishing Industry of the Great Lakes."
Department of Commerce, Report of the U.S. Commissioner of
Fisheries for 1925. Washington: Government Printing Office,
1926. Appendix Il, pages 553-617.

Lawrie, A. H., and Rahrer, Jeroid F. Lake Superior; A Case
History of the Lake and its Fisheries. Ann Arbor: Great

Lakes Fishery Commission, University of Michigan Press, 1973.
Also known as Technical Report No. 19.

MacCallum, Wayne R.; Selgeby, James H.; and Swedberg, Donald V.
"Predation by Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax) on Lake Herring
(Coregonus artedii) in Western Lake Superior." Journal of the
Research Board of Canada 35 (1978): 1457-63.

135


Mervin-Marie Snell, toured the entire lake shoreline seeking information

a7 At Whitefish Bay on the eastern end of the lake, a

about the fisheries.
longtime fisherman told them that the first pound-net was set in Whitefish
Bay during 1864 by Captain Bean who had had previous experience with
this apparatus on Lake Michigan near Mackinac island. 28 When Smith
and Snell moved on westward to Chequamegon Bay, they heard a different
story from Nelson Boutin of Bayfield, that a man named St. Germain set
the first Lake Superior pound-net off Ashland in 1869. Doubtlessly both
sources spoke from their own limited experience and were accurate.
Boutin himself then commenced setting pound-nets at Ashland in 1870; but
found the location inconvenient, and moved his pounds nearer Bayfield
the following year. Boutin, like Captain Bean, the pound-netter at
Whitefish Bay, had learned how to construct the apparatus on Lake
Superior. As the report stated, "He set three nets along the shore in
the immediate vicinity of the village, [Ashland] and in three weeks caught
1,100 half-barrelts of large fish, throwing away as many more of a size

that would now be considered marketable. "22

Cc. The Bayfield Hatchery

Even though there was no systematic method of compiling fishery
statistics for Lake Superior in the nineteenth century, newspaper stories
and occasional reports in government documents made it abundantly clear
that the lake was being exploited with little concern for the future. But
it did not take long before awareness grew among the citizenry that
unless steps were taken, a valuable food resource would be destroyed.

Surprisingly, one early initiative was taken by the fishermen themselves.

tn early 1886, after various federal investigators had combed
lakeshore communities for data regarding the fishery, a group of Duluth
fishermen formed themselves into an association for the promotion of wise
fishery legislation and sent a petition to Professor Spencer F. Baird, the
U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. In the petition, the suppliants
sought reasonable and uniform regulations for the governance of Lake

Superior fishing, and the establishment of a fish hatchery in the vicinity.

47


17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

1871 and 1872, by James W. Milner, pages 14-34; hereafter cited as
Milner, 1872/3 Report.

Andreas, North Wisconsin, p. 83.

SmithSnell, Lake Superior, table, p. 37.

Bayfield County Press, December 3, 1870; hereafter cited as BCP.
BCP, July 4, 1877.

BCP, July 11, 1877.

BCP, December 5, 1877.

BCP, December 19, 1877.

BCP, January 16, 1878.

BCP, November 8, 1879.

SmithSnelil, Lake Superior, p. 48-53.

Ibid., p. 33, 54.
Ibid., p. 67.

Ibid., p. 33-34.
ibid., p. 36-37.

Bayfield Progress, February 16, 1911; Burnham, p. 345.

Bayfield Progress, February 16, 1911.
Ibi

a

BCP, April 27 and June 15, 1895.

Norman S. Baldwin and Robert W. = Saalfeld, Commercial Fish
Production in the Great Lakes, 1867-1960 (Ann Arbor: Great Lakes
Fishery Commission, University of Michigan, 1962), also known as
Technical Report No. 3, and Supplements (1961 to 1968) and 2 (1969
to 1977) thereto; Tables 95, 98 and 99, pages 146, 150 and 153;
hereafter referred to as Baldwin and Saalfeld.

BCP, January 21, 1899.

BCP, February 4, 1899, and undated copy from 1900 derived from
Marjorie Benton clipping collection, Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Ibid.

56

\


*."""ar"-oTM

B&W Scans
Zl4-Zoas

historic resource study
february 1984

NATIONAL LAKESHORE / WISCONSIN

D-2I'74


of all the hatchery fingerling seeding. The annua! catch average was
44.75 tons, up from 34.8 tons in the previous decade. Lake trout were
more steady, but high in production: 257.5 tons per annum as compared
with 243 tons per annum during the 1920's. Herring, as always, had the
greatest volume of production. But it too increased, and dramatically,
from a 458 tons per annum rate in the 1920's to 1095 tons per annum rate

in the 1930's.59

For the Hokensons this was the decade when they entered commercial
fishing heart and soul. tn collaboration with their boat-builder cousin,
Halvor Reiten, they built their 38 foot, diesel powered fishing boat, the
Twilite. During the spring and summer months the brothers towed a
pound-net boat behind the T
their pound nets. In the fall they would not need a pound boat, as they

te, using the smaller rowboat to service

harvested the spawning herring by means of gill-nets. The herring
season would sometimes commence in late October, but most certainly by
the first week in November. Depending upon the weather, the herring
rush could last up to six weeks; but it was invariably over by Christmas.
Then, when the inland waters among the Apostle Islands froze over for
the winter months, the Hokensons would engage in some through-the-ice
fishing. They would either string gill nets in a line under the ice or do
some "bobbing" with hooks. At the opportune moment the Hokensons
would cut a quantity of lake ice for their ice house, to complete the

annual fishery cycle. °°

The large fishery companies in Bayfield harvested the ice on a
larger scale than such private operations like that of the Hokensons.
H. W. Elmore and his Bayfield Fish Compnay would have as many as 25
men working for several weeks to transport 800 tons of ice to the
warehouse. The Booth Packing Company had a larger operation, with
forty men loading 2200 tons of ice into their sheds. Ice cakes weighed
between 400 and 500 pounds, and were cut from the lake surface several
hundred feet from shore and rafted through a narrow channel the
workmen had cut through the ice field leading to the ice-house chute. At
shore, a team of horses provided the power for pulling the cakes up the
chutes by wire cable. Booth had sixteen men in the ice house skidding

the ice cakes into position in tiers 61

82


s"-"TM""_r""r"—o TM

The best means of maximizing catch-efficiency for smelt was for him
to convert to pound nets. A friend taught him how to construct the
pounds; but he had to move to Wisconsin waters where there was a
shallow, soft bottom amenable to pound net poles. Once Johnson got into
the business, he saw how profitable it could be. A single pound could
produce as much as 25 to 30 tons of smelt per day. The only problem
was that he could not empty the pounds fast enough. During the twenty
day season he was unable to service all of his dozen pounds every day.
The mere chore of transfering the fish from the pound to his fishing boat

became a herculean labor.

At first Johnson used an industrial track with roller wheels for
sliding 25 pound boxes of fish from pound boat to trawler. Scooping was
done with dip nets that were inadequate to handle such large volumes of
smelt. In time, other smelt fishermen designed a 36 inch power scoop for
emptying the pounds. This process cut time consumption to a minimum.
The scoop could transfer 15 tons of smelt in four to five hours.

On occasion, the trawler would not finish emptying a single pound,
before the ship, filled with smelt, had to return to port. Then a second
trip to the same pound became necessary. Even at three cents a pound,
the fisherman could turn a $900 profit from a single day's trip.
Regrettably, the smelt run was so short lived that it constituted only a
seasonal occupation. Even though a few smelt could be caught the year
around, the payoff was mostly concentrated during the spawning season,

so as to render pursuit at other seasons unprofitable. 107

As has been said, this coincidental increase in smelt and decrease in
fake herring continued to puzzle scientists. A 1937 study of smelt in
Green Bay, Lake Michigan, by Edward Schneberger, tended to show that
smelt were not a threat to lake trout, as no trout fry were found in smelt
stomachs. On the contrary, there was evidence to show that the trout
preyed on smelt. In fact, more recently, Apostle Islands fishermen say
that the taste of trout has deteriorated from the time that trout

commenced feeding more on smelt than on herring. 102

105


Pett, Mrs. W. F. "A Forgotten Village." [La Pointe} Wisconsin
Magazine of History 12 (September 1928): 3-18.

Rakestraw, Lawrence. "The Apostle Islands National Park Movement,
1929 - 1932." Inland Seas 32 (Winter 1976): 263-9.

Rankin, Ernest H. “Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Visits Lake Superior."
Inland Seas 20 (Fall 1964): 201-210.

Rankin, Ernest H. “Lake Superior - 1854." inland Seas 19 (Winter
1963): 311-7.
Scott, William E. "Fishing in Lake Superior." Inland Seas 2

(Spring 1946): 81-5.

"Scrapbook of a Fisherman's Wife; Mrs. Hokenson's Album Records
Fishing Life on Lake Superior." Wisconsin REA News (October
1953): 12.

White, Peter. "Development of the Lake Superior Region." Inland
Seas 11 (Summer 1955): 92-102.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. "A Coastal Packet on Lake Superior." Inland
Seas 22 (Fall 1966): 179-184.

wolff, Julius F., Jr. "Before the Days of Radar: Ship Collisions on
Lake Superior." Inland Seas 25 (Summer 1969): 137-149.

Wolff, Julius F., Fr. "The Coast Guard Comes to Lake Superior,
1874-1875." Inland Seas 21 (Spring 1965): 14-21.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. "1905 - Lake Superior at Its Worst." Inland
Seas 18 (Fall 1962): Part !: 190-8. Part II1: Inland Seas 18
(Winter 1962): 273-9.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. "One Hundred Years of Rescues: The Coast
Guard on Lake Superior." Inland Seas 32 (Spring 1976):
32-51.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. “The Shipwrecks of Lake Superior." Part 1:
Infand Seas 27 (Summer 1971): 130-142; Part 2: (Fall 1971):
174-187; Part 3: (Spring 1972): 51-63.

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. "Some Shipwrecks on the Pioneer North Shore
of Lake Superior." Inland Seas 17 (Summer 1961): 114-122.

Technical Reports

Albrecht, Donald G., ed. The Chequamegon Bay Apostle Islands
Fishery; Proceedings of a Symposium Held at Northland College

May 15, 1975. Ashland, Wisconsin, Northland College Press,
1975.

133


PREFACE .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I:

A. Prehi

Lake Superior as a Fishing Grounds During Its Prehistory,
Ethnohistory and Nineteenth Century History .

story and Ethnohistory

B. Into the Nineteenth Century

CHAPTER II:

The Lake Superior Fishery in the Latter Half

of the Nineteenth Century

A. The Development of a Commercial Fishery at Duluth
and Along the North Shore of Minnesota .
B. The Early Development of Private Commercial Fishing

yfield

Cc. The Bayfield Hatchery

Legislative Attempts to Preserve the Fishery

The Lake Superior Fishery in the Twentieth Century,

with Particular Regard to the Apostle Islands.

at Ba

D. Early
CHAPTER If:

A.

and t
B.
Cc.
D. Lake

The State of the Fishery at the Turn of the Century

he Hokenson Role In It

Perils on the Lake During the 1920's :
The Role of Bayfield County Roads in the Marketing of Fish .

Superior Fishing Becomes Intensive: A Variety of

Marketing Techniques Develop . . : .
E. The Heyday of the Apostle Islands Fishery: Smoked Fish,

Ice H

n

arvesting, and More Perils at Sea

The 1930's: Renewal of the Apostle Islands Fishery

Through Legislation and Hatchery Replenishment

orig

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The 1940's and Early 1950's.

The Mid-1950's and the Decline of the Fishery

The Retirement of the Hokenson Brothers -

Recent Conditions Relating to the Apostle Islands Fishery

iii


Another fishery-associated industry that always existed along the
Lake Superior littoral was the avocation of smoking fish. It never became
a major business that provided large quantities of smoked fish for distant
patrons. The nature of the art was such that smoking could only be
done on a limited scale. Mostly fishermen or people who lived close to
the lake could participate. Each smokehouse was unique and reflected the
particular objectives of the builder/designer. Most of them were made of
wood that eventually dried out and would catch fire from repetitive use.
It seems that the builder expected his smokehouse to burn down in time.

So he built on a small scale to restrict his loss.

Occasionally a Bayfield Press article described such smokehouse
procedures. In 1928, Ed Baldwin of Bayfield had his operation written
up in the local newspaper. Ed's smokehouse was six feet by eight feet
and six feet tall. {tt was made of some unspecified type of wood and had
a sheet-iron covering to fireproof it somewhat. The fish to be smoked
were attached to nine boards that were each six inches wide. Nails were
driven into the boards as pegs for the fish. Baldwin was smoking
herring, and the capacity of his house could accommodate 350 pounds of
the small fish at a_ time. He had four different fires burning
simultaneously, using a mixture of green and dry hard and soft maple as
the combustible. It took five hours to smoke a batch of herring, and
Baldwin completed 15 batches over a three-week span. He apparently was
marketing the smoked herring to his neighbors, with a modest supply for
his own family. Baldwin purchased fresh herring from the nearby Booth
Fish Company dock during the regular herring run of November. He
intended to fish for herring through the ice when the regular herring

season terminated .62

Over the years Bayfielders continued to smoke whatever kind of fish
they took from the lake waters, but always in limited amounts. One very
popular smokable fish peculiar to Lake Superior was the Siscowet, a type
of lake trout. For years fishermen debated with scientists concerning the
distinctiveness of the Siscowet and finally the academics came to admit
that the fishermen were right, that the Siscowet should be acknowledged
as a subspecies of the Salvelinus Namaycush or lake trout. A noted

83


"By the shores of Gitche Gumee, [Lake Superior]
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis

Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis

Dark behind it rose the forest,

Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,

Rose the firs with cones upon them;

Bright before it beat the water,

Beat the clear and sunny water,

Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water."

in passing, it is interesting to note that Longfellow included a
chapter in that poem on Hiawatha's fishing in Lake Superior. As commen-
tary on the advent of Europeans to that pristine paradise, the poet
portrays Hiawatha's principal quest as the sturgeon, "Mishe-Nahma," than
which all other lake species was unworthy of Hiawatha"s fishing prowess.
Afterwards, when the white man came to fish, the sturgeon all but

disappeared from Lake Superior.*

Returning to our present subject, the Chippewa, it is noteworthy
that this tribe was one of the few to have the rare good fortune of
having their history written in English by a man who was at least
partially of their race and who spoke their language fluently. This man
was William Whipple Warren, who completed the History of the Ojibway
Nation in 1853, but failed to get it published in his lifetime. This book
appeared in print only in 1885 when the Minnesota Historical Society
sponsored the publication of Warren's manuscript. Warren's history,
based largely on ora! traditions, was put together by means of patient
and long-suffering attentiveness at hundreds of Ojibway campfires over a
span of years. The historical reach of his narrative was extended
considerably by relying on the stories of the most venerable and ancient
Chippewa warriors. Warren admitted the deficiencies of this method; and
the narrative is weak in trying to date any event with precision. But
Warren set it down in writing after this fashion, lest all traces of the

Chippewa history be lost.


The Bayfield newspapers during those years gave evidence that
commercial fishing was expanding its facilities westward from the Apostle
islands toward Duluth. Booths, for example, built a fish house and dock
at Port Wing in 1910. In 1911 the Jones brothers of Cornucopia were
operating a tug tramp for gathering the catches of neighboring fishermen.
Emory Jones, who still claimed to be active as a dock operator in
Cornucopia in 1978, comes from that well-known fishing family of the

Joneses. 3

The recurrent quarrel between the Chippewa Indians = and
neighboring whites over fishing privileges surfaced again in 1913. In
this case, Indian policemen confiscated the fishing tackle of several
Ashland fishermen who invaded reservation territory in the Kakagon
Sloughs, part of the Bad River Indian Reservation. The Chippewa
marshalls were retaliating for an arrest of several Indians "two or three
years ago" by Game Warden George Buchanan, who had pressed charges
against them for fishing out of season. The whites seemed to take the
Chippewa reprimand with good grace when the editorial writer summarized
the incident by saying: "There has been little trouble in enforcing the
order and Sunday's episode shows that the Indians still propose to keep

the reservation hunting [and fishing] grounds to themseives."""4

The Indians' rights under the 1854 treaty were often appealed to in
disputes over fishing. But sometimes it took years for the Chippewa
petitioners to receive redress for grievances. In 1915 there was a bill in
the Wisconsin legislature to repay a Red Cliff Indian named Mike Morrin

$4,000 for nets confiscated in 1907 by a deputy game warden. !®

The year 1913 found one Bayfield paper again boasting of the
herring harvest. According to the County Press, the 1913 catch in the
Bayfield vicinity was "hundreds of tons'" and Booth's new shed and dock
often had more fish available than it could readily process. The article
editorialized that the abundant herring catch meliorized an otherwise
dismal economic year in the area, since wage scales in lumbering were
down for the 1913-1914 season. The statistical summaries of herring

catches from recent technical reports do not agree precisely with the

63


CHAPTER (lt: THE LAKE SUPERIOR FISHERY IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY, WITH PARTICULAR REGARD TO THE APOSTLE ISLANDS
ENVIRONS

A. The State of the Fishery at the Turn of the Century and the

Hokenson Role In It

The narrative to this point has shown that the Bayfield area
commercial fishery was a going concern when the calendar turned the
corner into the present century. All three of the Hokenson brothers, of
prime relation to this study, were born in the 1890's; and the two
surviving brothers, Roy and Eskel, tell that they did not engage in
fishing at first, as a business. Since they lived near the shore of Lake
Superior, they had many occasions as boys or young men, to fish for
sport or to supplement the family diet by fishing. It was not until
several years after World War | that they began to think seriously about
fishing as a commerical enterprise. Thus the brothers real role, once
they did engage in commercial fishing, was to become one unit in a very
large industry; an industry that had been flourishing for a considerable
period of time, and an industry that fluctuated so much in production,
that even as early as 1885 observers were fearful for its continuance and
survival. Despite these fluctuations, the industry did flourish for the
most part until after World War ||. Then the inroads of the sea lamprey
became a factor to be reckoned with, as that parasite nearly destroyed
the lake trout and whitefish population in Lake Superior. This problem
also seems to have been solved and the fishery hopefully may remain a

Permanent commercial enterprise in the region.

Statistically, there was no systematic keeping of records concerning
the fishing catch on Lake Superior. The few statistics that we do have
concerning Wisconsin commercial fishermen before 1900, at least tell us
that a healthy fishery was in operation. For example, the annual harvest
of jake herring by Wisconsin fishermen from 1893 to 1896 averaged 1376.85
tons per annum. | This was an amazing figure when one considers that
the herring season lasted little more than the month of November. And

this herring harvest took place before the twentieth century bonanza.

58


This writer does not insist either on the accuracy of Warren's

contention that the Chippewa came to the Chequamegon region as early as
1490. That too was enshrouded in the mists of elders' fireside legends.
They were presented as such in the narrative and have only the value of
such type evidence. Thwaites, incidentally, trustingly followed Warren's
temporal computations (WHS Colls., Xttt, 403-4). But the representatives
of the MWAC do not contribute to the knowledge of the era by saying:
"No archaeological evidence is available for placing the Chippewa, or their
Algonkian ancestors, at Chequamegon at such an early date." Negative
evidence does not prove (or disprove) a positive statement. We have
some positive evidence, Warren's account, however weak, which is not

contradicted by archaeologists who have found no evidence for it.

The same difficulty applies to the MWAC contentions regarding recent
excavations at the Marina site (47AS24) near the village of La Pointe on
Madeline Island, that no evidence was found of Chippewa occupation
dating before 1700. The fact that they found no evidence does not mean

that there is none on Madeline Island. Someone may find such evidence

in the future. Also, the negative results of the dig at 47AS24 might tend
lo confirm Warren's contention that there was a 120 year interval when
the Chippewa did not occupy Madeline Island because of their
superstitious fears relating to cannibalism. Then the only problem is with
fixing the dates of that interval; Warren after all, admitted that his best
guess was for the interval 1490 to 1610, which he was willing to

acknowledge as being subject to miscalculation.

The Warren story of the two starving white men on Madeline Island
was included in this study for two reasons: It gave the account of the
first contact of Chippewa and whitemen in the Apostle Islands region from
a redman's perspecitive; and secondly, the medium of fishing provided
the occasion for that meeting. This latter reason tended to emphasize the
importance of fishing to the Chippewa existence. Peripherally, the story
demonstrates the benevolency of the Indians toward the whitemen, which
in turn provides a counterpoint to the discussion of cannibalism, to follow

in due course.

xiv


7.

18.

19.
20.
21.
22.

23.

24.

25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.

32.

33.

34,

Milo Milton Quaife, ed., Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures
in the Years 1760-1776 (Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1921), Chapter 7,

pp. 63-71, hereafter cited as Henry.

Henry, pp. 198-201; other instances of cannibalism are cited on pp.
206 and 212.

Warren, p. 404; Ross, p. 29.

WHS, XIII, pp. 404-6.

Ibid., pp. 406-7.

Louise Phelps Kellogg, ed., Early Narratives of the Northwest,

1634-1699, "The Journey of Dollier and Galinee, by Galinee,
1669-1670," (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917), p. 207.

Walter Havighurst, ed., The Great Lakes Reader, (New York:
Collier Books, a Division of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. 1966), p.
28.

Milo Milton Quaife, ed., The Western Country in the 17th Century;
the Memoirs of Antoine Lamothe Cadillac and Pierre Liette, (New
York: The Citadel Press, 1962), "The Memoir of Lamothe Cadillac,"
p. 12-13; hereafter cited as Cadillac.

Cadillac, pp. 13-14.
tbid., p. 15.

Henry, pp. 60-61.

Ibid., p. 55.

tbid., pp. 65-66.

bid., pp. 56-57.

Guy M. Burnham, The Lake Superior Country in History and in
Story, (Ashland, Wisconsin: Ashland Daily Press, 1930; reprint

ed., Ann Arbor: Browzer Books, 1975), pp. 75-87; hereafter cited
as Burnham, also Ross, p. 57.

Northwest, (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc. 1925;
reprint ed., 1968), pp. 298, 299.

Louise Phelps Kellogg, The French Regime in Wisconsin and the

Warren, p. 14.

Grace Lee Nute, “The American Fur Company's Fishing Enterprises
on Lake Superior," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, (December
12, 1925): pp. 483-503; hereafter cited as Nute, Lake Superior

Fishing.

28


had solidified their conclusions regarding the superiority of planting
fingerlings over fry. for the 1925 season there were 8.5 million lake
trout, 3.5 million brook trout, 2 million brown trout, .5 million salt water
salmon and a million silver trout for planting. Most of the silver trout
and some of the others were destined for small lakes, but the
preponderance were to be seeded among the Apostle Islands. Later in
the year the hatchery discontinued permanently its policy of propagating
rainbow trout, since the rainbows preyed too voraciously on the brown

trout. 38

Despite hatchery efforts, Bayfield area fishermen were worried about
their livelihood. In February of 1927 they banded together to form the
Northern Wisconsin Commercial Fishermen's Association. Their goals were
to lobby for legislation favorable to their interests and to secure
conservation laws. Twenty fishermen attended a meeting at the Pageant
Inn to elect Oscar Bodin as president of the new organization. Carl
Hanson became vice president, G. G. Boutin secretary-treasurer, and the

directors were Henry Johnson, Martin Erickson and Charles Benson. 29

There were no immediate visible results from the formation of the
fishermen's association, but the hatchery continued to provide active
assistance to their concerns. In 1928 the Salmo hatchery provided 17
million fingerlings for planting among the Apostle Islands. During that
era, however, the fishermen themselves did act in concert with state
officials. Not only did they strip females of eggs and males of milt for
the hatchery, but they also volunteered their time for the distribution of
the young fish. This practice continued for many years, and the
fishermen always did it gladly and willingly because it was to their own

advantage. 40

In June of 1928 a larger fishing organization, the Wisconsin
Federation of Commercial Fishermen met at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, to
promote conservation and protective legislation for the fishery. One
indication that the convention was trying to put commercial fishing onto a
scientific basis was the presence on the program of the noted

academician, Dr. John Van Oosten of the University of Michigan. One

70


state hatchery emphasized replacement of white fish, as they added up to
36 percent of the total seeding. It is interesting to note the other
varieties of fish raised at the hatchery, since they show concern for more
than just the big money varieties. Several million brook trout and
rainbow trout frys were released, as were smaller quantities of black
bass, white bass, wall-eyed pike, yellow perch, black-spotted trout, and
even carp. It should be mentioned that not all of these latter varieties
were released in Lake Superior, since the State of Wisconsin had a
railway car called the "Badger" for transporting fish to lakes all over the

state.>!

In order to get an idea of the progress made at the Salmo Hatchery
during the first 15 years, one can compare the early statistics with the
production for 1909 and 1910. In the former year the total volume was
142 million fry; while in the latter year the figure had declined to 106
million. The principal reason, as stated by the Wisconsin Commissioner of
Fisheries in his annual report, was that the United States Bureau of
Fisheries had been unable to supply the state with whitefish eggs. In
that category, production had declined dramatically from more that 17
million to less than 2 million. Lake trout production remained practically
level between 22 and 26 million fry. The greatest change in conservation
strategy, however, was in the new emphasis on replenishing fish in small
lakes. Most particularly, there was a concentration on wall-eyed pike.
In 1909 the hatchery produced 85 million wall-eye frys and in 1910 there

were nearly 71 million 22

D. Early Legislative Attempts to Preserve the Fishery

Despite the considerable strides being taken in Wisconsin to
replenish the food-fish supply, the State Commissioner of Fisheries was
dissatisfied in 1910 with the neglect of interstate and international control
of the fisheries on Lake Superior. For Wisconsin fishermen believed that
their state was doing its duty in propagating fish for the future; while
other states were either not following their example or their fishermen

were exploiting Wisconsin waters. °°

49


who every year had brought rich packs of beaver to the
sea-coast, not withstanding that their road was barred by
numerous” parties of the watchful and jealous !roquois.
Coasting slowly up the southern shores of the Great Lake late
in the fall, they had been driven by the ice on to the
unfrequented island, and not discovering the vicinity of the
Indian village, they had been for some time enduring the pangs
of hunger. At the time they where found by the young
Indians, they had been reduced to the extremity of roasting
and eating their woolen cloth and blankets as the last means of

sustaining life.

"Having come provided with goods they remained in the village
during the winter, exchanging their commodities for beaver
skins. The ensuing spring a large number of the Ojibways

accompanied them on their return home." !4

One portion of the above story refers indirectly to another major
motif in the traditions of the Chippewa: The occurrence of cannibilism
and occasional failure of the fish supply. The reason the Ojibways were
superstitious about setting foot on Madeline Island early in the seven-
teenth century, was that their collective conscience bothered them about a
period of cannibalism that had been perpetrated on the island. Warren
referred to the interval as “a dark chapter of their history, on which the

old men dislike to linger. !°

{[n summarizing this era, Warren stated that the Chippewa had dwelt
on Madeline Island for about three generations, or from about 1490 to
1610. Both the chronology and causes of the cannibalism are confused in
Warren's account. One version attributes the Ojibway departure from
Madeline Island to the coming of the white man and his bestowal of
firearms on the Indians. These deadly weapons enabled the Chippewa to
conquer and push back their old enemies, the Dakotas and the Foxes,

according to this version of the story.

10


daughters. William Whipple Warren, the historian of the Ojibway Nation,
was born of the union of Lyman Warren and Marie Cadotte in 1825. By
blood, William Whipple Warren was seven-sixteenths Chippewa, and it is
well known that he mastered their language so thoroughly that many
Indians of that tribe admitted that he understood their language better
than they, and frequently served as an interpreter 23

The above tracing of the descendancy of the Cadottes/Warrens is
important to this study since the first professionally commercial fishing
enterprise on Lake Superior grew out of these early fur trading
organizations. John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company got a foothold
in the Apostle Islands after the War of 1812, and by 1824 Lyman Warren
was its factor at La Pointe. Astor himself retired from the organization
in 1834 and Ramsay Crooks took over the leadership of the American Fur
Company at that juncture. Crooks could perceive the imminent decline of
the fur gathering industry at that early date, and immediately decided to
diversify his business by entering the commercial fishing field. His move
was partially tactical, for he perceived that if he tried to retrench the
fur collecting trade by letting people go, these unemployed men would
join rival organizations destructive of his own. By diversifying, he

would keep his own people happy, content, and gainfully employed.

Though the fur company had a very wide-ranging geographic field,
the fishery established in 1835 covered Lake Superior only. Two major
fishing stations were set up at the western end of the lake, one at Grand
Portage, the other on Isle Royale. Grand Portage had an average of
about 20 working people during the few years the fishery lasted. Each
post had one or two coopers making the shipping barrels, while the rest
of the company engaged in handling the boats or the nets. The Isle
Royale fishery had a larger compliment, between 25 and 35 men. The
other large fishery base was at La Pointe in the Apostie Islands, and it
was also the headquarters of the Lake Superior end of the operation. La
Pointe had between 30 and 40 working personnel. Lesser stations around
the lake were as follows: Fond du Lac near present-day Duluth, Isle
Encampment about 45 miles up the North Shore from the former place,

Keweenaw Point and Grand Island on the southeastern shore, White Fish

22



Since this academic and legislative work was of such commanding
importance to fishing communities, the Bayfield paper continuously
commented on it. In January 1930 the states of Wisconsin and Michigan
got together with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to conduct an
investigation of Lake Michigan's west shore from Kenosha north. The
knowledge gained would doubtlessly benefit Lake Superior fishermen as
well. Most of the $24,336 was provided by the Federal agency, and Dr.
John Van Oosten was the scientist in charge. An article on the subject
in the Bayfield paper stated that Van Oosten had previously completed a

similar survey of Lake Erie. /8

Van Oosten stated his eleven-fold objectives to the newspapers:

"1. experiments to determine the size of net meshes for chub
net fishing, and the effects of various sized meshes on
immature lake trout and immature chub population. This
experiment will be very detailed and will determine the percent
by the weight of fish and number, and will also determine if
possible, the correct size mesh for chubs which will take less
than 10 percent trout. The direct purpose is to recommend the

most satisfactory mesh.

2. experimental chub nets to determine the effect of the
method of stringing on the taking of trout;

3. experimental nets to test newly developed net

preservatives;

4. small mesh nets to locate yearling trout;

5. to correlate depths, temperatures, bottom materials, and
chemical conditions of water with the distribution of trout and

chubs;

6. to study the food of trout and chubs;

91


10.

11.

V2.

13.

14.

16.

CHAPTER 1: FOOTNOTES

William W. Warren, History of the Ojibway Nation (Philadelphia:
Collins Printer, 1885, Vol. V of the Collections of the Minnesota
Historical Society, St. Paul; reprint ed., Minneapolis, Minn.: Ross

& Haines, Inc., 1974), p. 99; hereafter cited as Warren.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Song of Hiawatha (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 1883; reprint ed., New York: Bounty Books, division
of Crown Publishers, 1968); poetry selection from pp. 27-28; on
fishing, pp. 73-82.

Warren, p. 40.
Ibid., pp. 44-45.

Ibid., p. 87. Details of the Chippewa migration are related in
Chapter IV, pp. 76-94.

ibid., pp. 84-85.
ibid., p. 87.

Hamilton Nelson Ross, La Pointe--Village Outpost (Ann Arbor;
Edwards Brothers, {nc., 1960), pp. 37, 43, hereafter cited as Ross;
Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., Collections of the State Historical
Society of Wisconsin (Madison: Democrat Printing Co., 1895), "The
Story of Chequamegon Bay," by the editor, p. 404, hereafter cited

as WHS.

Warren, pp. 88, 96.
ibid., p. 97.

Ross, pp. 19-20; Pierre Esprit Radisson, Voyages of Pierre Esprit
Radisson (New York: Peter Smith, 1943), p. 175; WHS, XI, pp.
66,67 and 70.

Ross, p. 20.

Ibid., pp. 14, 16. Ross derived his data regarding Brule and
Grenolle from Gabriel Sagard-Theodat's Le Grand Voyage du Pays
des Hurons, (Paris, 1865), p. 74; and the same author's Histoire du
Canada, (Paris reprint, 1866, p. 716. The former volume is a
reprint of a Paris edition of 1632.

Warren, pp. 121, 122.
Ibid., p. 108.

ibid., p. 110.

27


“We are known as skiff fishermen. We use a 12, 14 or 16 foot
boat. What has hurt us is the cost of boats, nets, workers,

prices.

The Indian fisheries is [sic] not what it is blown up to be. We
have only two boats well enough equipped to catch all! kinds of
fish. There are 16 individual fishermen and most of them (11)
are part-time. | had to take a part-time job driving a bus to
help meet expenses. We are using poor quality nets with a
poor production return. We do not have depth sounders. So,
we can't make it fishing. It costs about $100 a day for us to
fish. Mother Nature sure can be cruel to commercial fishermen.
As far as us making it we can't. It's just too tough with small

boats and poor nets.114

The last topical discussion of the day at the Northland symposium
dealt specifically with the Native American Treaty rights. Different
speakers dealt with the legal background, the historic cases and law, and
the position of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The
consensus of the discussants was that the Indians were also bound by the
conservation features of laws regulating the fisheries, but that state
agencies had not made their case to demonstrate that the Native
Americans had indeed substantially depleted fish supplies. Surprisingly,
the majority admitted that the Chippewa legal position was stronger than
anyone else's, in that the Indians could assert a bona fide legal right to
fish, while the others were only pleading for a "privilege". John Wiley,
Director of the Wisconsin Judicature, asserted that, "based on a recent
federal court decision, they would have to eliminate sports fishing, then

nt15 In

non-tndian commercial fishing, before eliminating Indian fishing.
another forum, interrogating Eskel Hokenson on this question, at his
home, the present writer learned that many commercial fishermen felt
indebted to the Chippewa for asserting their fishing rights. For, as
Eskel Hokenson said, if the Indians had not made an effort to defend
their right to fish, no one would have been able to inspire an effort to
revive the fishery through better management and regulation, restocking,

and scientific research. 116

W2

,


Point near the eastern end of the lake, Montreal River just north of the

Sault, and the Sault itself 24

Lyman Warren was the factor and inspector in charge at La Pointe,
but he got into trouble because of fish spoilage and was replaced in 1838
by Dr. Charles W. Borup. All of the Lake Superior catch was shipped to
market in company vessels via the Sault and was forwarded to final
markets by William Brewster who was stationed at Detroit. Brewster was
also the agent who funnelled supplies back to the working portions of the
organization. He shipped packing salt for the fish, corn, flour, cheese,
lard, blankets, knives, trinkets, twine for nets, floats, sinkers, and
other provisions toward the Lake Superior posts.

The fishermen used mainly gill nets, but a few seines were included
to catch white fish, trout, and pickerel. The fish were salted and
packed in barrels that grossed 200 pounds each. All stations combined
contributed less than 1,000 barrels to the export total in 1835; but in the
following year, they exceeded the 1,000-barrel sum. Despite a slow
start, 1837 produced more than 2,000 barrels of fish. In 1838 the catch
was variously reported at between 3,000 and 4,000 barrels. The increase
continued in 1839 when somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 barrels of
salted fish were shipped. When the fishing season of 1840 opened, the
men manning the nets indicated that it would be another bonanza year.
But they were running counter to the national trend which was then
falling into a deep economic depression. Before the season was well
underway, William Brewster at Detroit notified the Lake Superior fishers

that he could not even market the fish he had on hand.2>

Aside from an instance in 1837 when great quantities of fish spoiled
because of carelessness in packing, the universal indications had augured
well for the success of the new industry. Up until that year, Brewster
had been able to market siscowet, their best quality deep-water trout, at
$14.00 a barrel. Late in the year, because of the bank panic that had
occurred in the spring, hard cash was scarce. By the end of the year,
because of slackening demand, Brewster was forced to bring the price of
the better quality fish down to $10.00 a barrel 2°

23


Despite the positive note regarding the steelheads, the outlook was
grim in 1901 for the most reliable food fish, the whitefish. Another Press
article in 1901 developed data from the U.S. Fish Commission report.
The article stated generally that the reproductive cycles of the various
fish species in the lake were, at best, imperfectly understood. Thus
much of the article was mere speculation, without scientific basis. Yet it
touched on certain facts that were insightful. One guess was that some
sort of bacterial disease was attacking the young fry planted by the

hatcheries.

The article mentioned that the U.S. Commission dumped 183 million
whitefish fry into Lake Superior in Wisconsin waters alone during the
previous year. The writer stated that Canada and the other states
adjacent to the lake may have equalled this fry planting figure. The
author's guess was that disease was the entire explanation for the fish
depletion, as most fish were cannibalistic and would spread a disease by

eating their own kind.32

Other speculations in the article were probably closer to the truth:
At that point in time Lake Superior was being polluted in two ways, by
sawdust and sewage. The latter mode was not a serious threat to the

fish, as it polluted in modest amounts mostly near Duluth.

But sawdust was something else. Many sawmills dumped all of their
sawdust into the lake for a number of years. One story about the
Bayfield sawmill makes the point well:

"In those days the sawmill had no burner or refuse consumer so
a great deal of the sawdust was dumped into the lake to get rid
of it. On a calm day around the docks the lake would appear
like a vast sawdust field. A lady tourist with a= small
frizzle-haired dog with a large red ribbon tied with a bow at
his neck came down to the mill and then walked out on the
dock. The dog was here and there, much to the amusement of
a number of boys that had been in swimming but a short time

before.

52


choice. Such complaints doubtlessly led to the more scientific methods of
later years where the hatchery fish were kept until they became
fingerlings or yearlings and the optimum depth for planting was found for
each species. The most significant complaint of the article, however, was
the notion that the variance in fishing laws of the several states along
the shores of Lake Superior was the greatest cause of mischief to the
fishery. The author of the article therefore proposed the necessity for
an interstate protective association. This crying need was not met until
after World War {1 when the inroads of the lamprey eel made it patently
clear that there had to be an international protective association. The
culmination of this trend was the establishment of the Great Lakes Fishery
Commission in 1955.11

During the first decade of the twentieth century, Wisconsin
fishermen on Lake Superior enjoyed a profitable trade selling lake trout;
but the brief herring season, even then, seemed to attract more
publicity, since such large volumes of fish were taken in a two to six
week season. In 1911, for example, the Bayfield County Press boasted
proudly of the achievements of the Booth and Boutin companies during
the past herring season. By weight, Booth's marketable herring
constituted two-thirds of their produce for 1910. This is not to say that
the herring catch was as valuable as the trout. Booth processed more
that a million pounds of herring, while S. L. Boutin Company handled
nearly a million and a quarter pounds of herring. In other words, the
two companies processed about 1113 tons of herring, the lion's share of
that fish taken in Wisconsin waters. Booth Fisheries had twenty boats on
the lake supplying them with fish, utilizing fifty men as crew members.
There were a hundred men employed for the 32 day season in the sheds
and packing houses of Booth. S. L. Boutin had about 540 half-barrels
packed with salted herring during the herring run and sold another 60
tons as fresh frozen. Boutin paid fishermen $3.50 a day for their
services; while dresser/packers were given 35¢ for each half-barrel

packed. A speedy packer could fill a half-barrel in forty minutes.

Occasionally a dresser/packer made more than $5 per day. In summing
up the herring season, the newspaper article rejoiced over the fine catch
in herring, in contrast to a less successful season in trout and
whitefish. '2

62


advantage, that there is no one who can contradict them or call them tiars
except by inference. "25 More recent observers also state the
healthfulness of such a fish diet and the stranger to the region is forced
to ponder whether these ancient Indians might have achieved the great
age they claimed.

Alexander Henry, a fur trader of the eighteenth century, was one of
the few observers who set down more details of the Indian fishing
methods than other early witnesses. Describing the Sault, he wrote:

"These rapids are beset with rocks of the most dangerous
description and yet they are the scene of a fishery in which all
their dangers are braved and mastered with = singular
expertness. They are full of whitefish much larger and more
excellent than those of Michilimackinac, and which are found
here during the greater part of the season, weighing in general

from six pounds to fifteen.

"The method of taking them is this: each canoe carried two
men, one of whom steers with a paddle, and the other is
provided with a pole ten feet in length, and at the end of
which is affixed a scoop-net. The steersman sets the canoe
from the eddy of one rock to that of another; while the
fisherman in the prow who sees through the pellucid element
the prey of which he is in pursuit, dips his net and sometimes
brings up at every succeeding dip as many as it can contain.
The fish are often crowded together in the water in great
numbers, and a_ skillful fisherman in autumn will take five

hundred in two hours.

"This fishery is of great moment to the surrounding Indians,
whom it supplies with a large proportion of their winter's
provision; for having taken the fish in the manner described,
they cure them by drying in the smoke, and lay them up in
large quantities.

17


*"”""*a—-r:""e TM

Another puzzling change in the Lake Superior ecosystem was a
decline in the lake herring population at the same time that the lamprey
made its inroads during the 1950's. Commercial fishermen simply noted
the correlation between the rapid mulitiplication of the rainbow smelt
(Osmerus mordax) population and the decline of herring, and concluded
to a cause-and-effect relationship. Scientists have learned that the
connection is a bit more sophisticated than smelt eating smaller or ovular
herring. Van Oosten did a study of the dispersal of smelt through the
Great Lakes in 1936, and at that time it was by no means patently clear
that the smelt was a threat to the life cycle of any other fish.27 Yet Van
Oosten was suspicious of tinkering with the natural environment in any

body of water. In another article during 1937, he wrote:

"The last item that ! wish to mention briefly is the introduction
of exotic forms. Such introduction can upset and complicate
the best planned management program. We are at present
undergoing a bitter experience with the introduced smelt in the
Great Lakes and the time has arrived when some definite
decision must be made concerning this species. Shall we
attempt to exterminate it and bring forth curses on our heads
from the sporting populace, or shall we protect the species,
permit the introduction of small meshed gill nets to take the
adults and threaten the existence of the larger and more
valuable native species by wiping out their young? ! believe it
would be good policy never to introduce into the Great Lakes
an exotic form but rather to cultivate the highly prized native
species of which there is no dearth of variety "98

Von Oosten's warning went unheeded and the rainbow smelt
multiplied beyond belief. Only on Lake Michigan did the commercial
fishermen take an early interest in catching smelt. They started
harvesting the sharp-jawed small fish in volume starting with the 1934
season. For this reason Lake Michigan smelt never multiplied to the

extent of the other lakes.

103


was such that when they knocked on a cabin door, the proprietor
slammed the door in their faces. But as fortune would have it, the cabin
dweller knew their grandfather, and finally took them in. After several
days of recuperation, the Boutin brothers were safely returned to their
families. Through it all, Wilfred lost sixteen pounds, and both young

men nibbled at snacks during the entire trip home.68

While the perils at sea received frequent mention in the pages of the
Bayfield County Press, this area contributed a small part of the total
chronicle regarding the genera! story of hazzards on Lake Superior. One
author found the largest of the Great Lakes to be such a rich vein from
the larger cache of maritime disasters, that he contributed articles on the
subject to the magazine Inland Seas for a period of fifteen years. This
man, Julius F. Wolff, Jr., wrote about storms, shipwrecks, collisions,
Coast Guard rescues, and assorted other Lake Superior mishaps from
earliest historical! times to the present. Wolff merely echoed the
sentiments of many a Bayfield Peninsula fisherman: that Lake Superior
could rival the ferocity of storms on any of the seven seas, and scare the

breath out of any old salt or fresh water seaman. °?

F. The 1930's: Renewal of the Apostle Islands Fishery Through

Legislation and Hatchery Replenishment

Although hatcheries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan had been
replenishing the stock of commercial fish in Lake Superior for more than a
half century, the improvement in the abundance of whitefish and lake
trout became most apparent during the 1930's and 1940's. The whitefish
increase was most dramatic in the latter decade, when the Wisconsin yield
peaked at an average of 206 tons per year. Lake trout too improved in
yield; but their production in Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior had
always been consistently high. The lake trout average for the 1940's was
291 tons per annum, up from 257 tons during the 1930's. All of this
improvement in the volume of money fish doubtless could be attributed
mainly to the widening of knowledge concerning the life cycles and

feeding habits of these fish, from fingerlings to spawning adults. 7°

87


tons per annum, 44% higher than the typical year. Lake herring were
the biggest bonanza of all: The average annual tonnage for Wisconsinites
of Lake Superior was 2727. That figure was also nearly double the
average yield of the small fish during a typical twentieth century

87
season.

Part of the explanation for the extraordinary fish yield was the spur
of patriotism during the war years. Younger fishermen could be
exempted from the draft for working in a crucial food-producing
industry. The profit incentive was not wanting either, since increased
demand has always encouraged higher prices. Already for the 1941
herring run, Booth Fisheries had revived an older attempt to can the
small fish. Salted herring were sealed in six-pound tin cans rather than
the traditional small wooden pails. Of course this was only a_ small
portion of the total yield. But it demonstrated the diversification and
modernization of methods on the Bayfield Peninsula. 22

The 1942 herring run saw three companies functioning at Bayfield:
Booth Fisheries, Silver Moon Foods (the successor to H.W. Elmore's
Bayfield Fish Company), and the Hadland Fish Company. Hadlands added
new machines that would scale, behead and fillet the herring. The
efficiency of these machines hinged upon the dexterity of the operators
who had to learn the art of speedily feeding fish into them. Despite
these new methods, storms interfered toward the end of the season, and
herring production in Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior declined by

nineteen percent for 1942 from the previous boom year of 1941.89

The 1940's saw Bayfielders utilizing still other modernized equipment
for fish processing. Joe Le Bel of Bayfield came up with a conveyor belt
system that would transport herring aboard the fishing boats to fish
boxes on the docks. Unfortunately Le Bel's device still required hand
laborers who worked at tables beside the conveyor belt, picking the
herring from the mesh of the gill nets. In 1947 Le Bel added another
"endless belt" that carried the small fish at the correct angle for an
operator to feed it into a beheading machine and a device that removed
the intestines. Another mechanism split the herring longitudinally along

96


."""—_rr"—e TM

cooperation between Americans and Canadians was informal, such as in
the formation of the Great Lakes Sea Lamprey Committee in 1946. This
latter organization merged with the Great Lakes Lake Trout Committee to
form the Great Lakes Lake Trout and Sea Lamprey Committee in 1952.
The following year this organization changed its name to the Great Lakes
Fishery Committee. In 1953 the Canadians set up the Great Lakes
Federal-Provincial Fisheries Research Committee. But the real culmination
of all this worry and concern was the establishment of the international
Great Lakes Fishery Commission in 1953. This organization was well
funded to do effectual research and to implement procedures found

necessary by research.

Experiments for lamprey control ranged over a wide variety of
methods, including mechanical traps, electric barriers and chemical
additives to spawning streams draining into the various lakes. In
studying the life-cycle of the lamprey, scientists narrowed down the
number of streams feeding into Lake Superior that were suitable for
lamprey reproduction. This reduced the number of suspected tributaries
from 1293 to 267. 97 of these streams received intensive concentration
from electric barriers. Some of these barriers were operated for as much
as eight years, from 1953 to 1960. But the most effective
countermeasures were discovered to be in the chemical realm. During the
1950's more than six thousand different chemicals were tested against the
lamprey larvae. Out of this group, ten chemical compounds with selective
toxicity were found to be effective antidotes for the larvae. The final
choice, and most effective agent, was found to be
3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM). Even after discovering the
effectiveness of this compound, biochemists had to determine by bioassay
the minimum concentration necessary to kill all lamprey larvae and the
maximum concentration that could be used without causing significant
mortalities of other fish. Because of its commercial value, the lake trout
was used as the test-fish together with the lamprey larvae. Eventually,
in 1958, the scientists came up with successful formulae. Because of
variations in stream alkalinity or acidity, the proper ratio of
TFM-to-water differed from stream to stream. Occasionally there was a
mishap and valuable fish were killed. But by 1961, after tests in certain

101


s"""r":"r":":"—e°TM

116.

117.

118.
119.

120.

121.

122.

123.

124.

125.

126.

Interview with Eskel Hokenson by David Fritz at Route 1, Bayfield,
Wisconsin, July 11, 1978; Duluth News Tribune of November 8, 1975,
"Indian Fish, Game Law Voided by State Law," concerning fishing
regulations/litigation in Minnesota waters; Ashland Daily Press of
November 17, 1975, “Wardens to Quit Working if Indians Get
Unrestricted Rights;" Duluth News Tribune of February 26, 1976,
“Chippewas Eye DNR Challenge to Fishing Ban," in which an Indian
spokesman, Franklin Basina, stated that the Chippewa had
established bans similar to those of the state wherein fishing was
forbidden in spawning grounds during the known spawning seasons;
Duluth News Tribune, of February 25, 1976, "Fishing to End in
Apostles Area," concerning cloture of trout spawning grounds near
Gull and Michigan Islands during the spawning season; and The
Daily Press (Ashland) of October 20, 1977, "DNR Studies Gull Island
Trout."

Ashland Daily Press, October 18, 1977, "Great Lakes Commercial
Fishing Outlook is Bleak."

Ibid.

BCP, January 29, 1976, “Needed: A New Concept of Commercial
Fishing."

Ibid., "Senate Bill Would Ruin Commercial Fishing."

Duluth Times, February 1, 1976, "Fish Refuge Size Reduction
Asked."

Lawrie & Rahrer, p. 22.

Superior Evening Telegram, June 3, 1977, "DNR, Health Officials
Oppose PCB Proposal."

ibid.

Duluth News Tribune, March 9, 1976, "DNR Officer Finds Trout OK
To Eat."

Ibid.

125


eo -”""-rnr:""6 TM

Duluth News Tribune, February 26, 1976. Article: "Chippewas Eye
DONA Challenge to Fishing Ban."

Duluth News Tribune, October 31, 1975. Article: "Red Lake Band
Takes Fish Rights to Court."

Duluth News Tribune, November 8, 1975. Article: “Indian Fish,
Game Law Voided by State Law."

Duluth News Tribune, March 9, 1976. Article: "DNR Officer Finds
Trout OK To Eat.”

Duluth Times, February 1, 1976. Article: "Fish Refuge Size
Reduction Asked."

Superior Evening Telegram, February 4, 1977. Article: "Trout
Fishermen Owe Thanks to Fish Hatchery."

Superior Evening Telegram, February 16, 1977. Article by Donna
Sanders, "Is Food of Future Underwater?"

Superior Evening Telegram, June 3, 1977. Article: "DNR, Health
Officials Oppose PCB Proposal."

129


HISTORIC RESOURCE STUDY

HOKENSON FISHING DOCK
APOSTLE ISLANDS NATIONAL LAKESHORE
Wisconsin

The Hokenson Fishing Dock as an Example of a
Family-managed Commercial Enterprise in the Apostle
Islands Region During the Twentieth Century; with a
Background of the Prehistory, Ethnohistory and
Nineteenth Century History of Fishing on Lake
Superior

by

David L. Fritz

U.S. Department of the Interior / National Park Service


17.

18.
19.
20.

21.

22.

23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

28.

29.

30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.

37.

Peter Hokanson Death Certificate, February 26, 1910, Volume 4,
page 34 of Deaths, Bayfield County Courthouse, Register of Deeds
Office, Washburn, Wisconsin: interviews with Roy Hokenson, July 10
and 11, October 16, 1978, January 16, 1979, by David Fritz, at
Little Sand Bay, Wisconsin; interviews with Eskel Hokenson,
July 11, 1978 and January 16, 1979, Route 1, Bayfield, Wisconsin.

BCP, April 16, 1915, December 14, 1917.
BCP, December 14, 1917.
BCP, Novermber 15, 1918.

Interview with Florence Hokenson by David Fritz, July 11, 1978, at
Route 1, Bayfield, Wisconsin; and BCP, December 6, 1918.

BCP, December 27, 1918; and interview with Halvor Reiten by David
Fritz, July 13, 1978, at Bayfield, Wisconsin.

BCP, February 21, 1919.

aD

Cc

u

, February 28, 1919.

|

(2)
u

, March 28, 1919.

BCP, July 4, 1919.

BCP. November 12, 1924.

BCP, November 12, 19, 26, 1924, April 9, 1925; the story of the 4th
of July celebration is in the issue of July 9, 1925; a story about the
Wednesday Club is in the issue of November 26, 1925.

For more precise information, dates, etc., concerning the Hokensons'
entry into commercial fishing, consult the Historic Structure Report
(Historical Data Section) and Historical Furnishing Study for the
Hokenson Fishing Dock.

BCP, July 19, August 23, October 11, 1928.

BCP, February 27, September 25, 1930.

BCP, September 11, 1930.

BCP, March 24, 1932.

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Table 95, p. 146-7.

BCP, April 23, 1920.

o

CP, December 10, 1920; Baldwin & Saalfeld, Tables 98, 100 and
1, pages 150-1, 153-5.

|

7

i)

oO

CP, December 8, 1922.

119


the Cornucopia fish that Ehlers provided at the standard Chicago market

price.

Grace Lee Nute, who wrote one of the better histories of Lake
Superior, told of this propensity of Finns and Scandinavians to organize
cooperatives. Her focus was on Minnesota fishermen and the North

Shore. She wrote:

"Almost from the beginning they had such an organization,
called the Duluth Fishermen's Union. They met once in while to
organize opposition to some pending legislation or to make
contracts. Theodore Thompson of Larsmont was chairman and
D. W. Tomlinson was secretary. About fifty per cent of the
fishermen of the American north shore belong today [1944] to
the North Shore Fishermen's Trucking Association, whose
trucks gather up the fish along the shore. It has been in
operation about ten years. The truckman hauls with his own
truck at a commission of twenty per cent of the value of the
fish sold. The fishermen feel that they get better prices by

thus combining in their own sales agency."

While the cooperative at Cornucopia did not have identical methods to the
North Shore operation, it too functioned to garner better prices.

Emory Jones related more of the Cornucopia marketing history of the
1930's. He said that the combination of a fishing boom on Lake Superior
and the national Depression, often made it impossible to market all of
their catch in Chicago for cash. Jones stated that it was the depressed
price of lake trout to only four or five cents a pound that compelled him
to resort to barter. Jones would load up his pickup truck with iced fish
and drive off to the nearby towns of northern Wisconsin. Many of his
customers had no cash, so he would accept almost anything in payment:
chickens, eggs, milk, vegetables, clothing, firewood, tools, or used
equipment. Oftentimes Jones had no personal use for some of these
acquisitions, but he could market many of them at his own roadside

stand. Emory Jones said that often on these fish-bartering expeditions

80

Di me me i ee a Oe oe


Description of Bayfield fisheries. - Owing to its location in the

immediate vicinity of excellent fishing-grounds Bayfield has for
quite a number of years been largely interested in fishing, and
the fisheries occupy the attention of a majority of the citizens.
According to the estimates of Mr. Frank Boutin, 25 percent of
those engaged in the fisheries are Indians and half-breeds, and
the remainder are chiefly Canadians and Americans. The
fisheries are prosecuted during the entire year, though there is
little activity in winter. The season practically opens with the
first breaking up of the ice in spring, when the gill-net
fishermen, who formerly were the most numerous class, begin
catching whitefish and trout among the Apostle Islands and
along the shore of the mainland both east and west. By the
middle or last of May many of these, with a large number of
additional men, begin setting pound-nets about the islands and
along the shores for a distance of nearly 100 miles. The
pound-net fishery began to be important about 1880, and since
then the number of nets has increased annually until Bayfield
has become the center of one of the most important pound-net
fisheries on the whole chain of lakes. By the last of July the
greater part of the pound-net fishing is over, and one after
another the nets are removed, the fishermen again starting out
with their gill-nets. By the first of October all of the
pound-nets have been taken up and gill-net fishing occupies
the attention of a majority of the people.

Shipments and preparation of Bayfield fishery products. - Until

recently almost the entire catch of fish from both pounds and
gill-nets was salted and shipped to other towns on the lakes,
including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo. No fresh
fish were shipped prior to 1876, but from that date until 1883 a
small quantity was shipped annually. The introduction of the
first collecting steamer, the N. Boutin, and the building of the
railroad gave an impetus to this industry, and in the spring of
1884 a second collecting steamer was purchased. An important

trade in fresh fish was soon developed. During the year 1884

40


Just when it seemed that fishing would drop back merely to a
subsistence occupation, metallurgists took increased interest in northern
Wisconsin for extracting copper and iron ore. The ingress of technical
people and miners gave new incentive for the local fishers to recommence
their trade for profit. By 1848 the La Pointe production of salted fish
had revived to the number of 1,000 barrels. The entire business was
very much localized, with holdover coopers from the previous era making
the barrels, and a few new fishermen from the neighborhood doing the
fishing.*?

There had been a time in the dim past when French adventurers
were seeking mineral wealth around Lake Superior; but had despaired of
removing the wealth they knew to be there, since they thought there was
an insufficient food supply to feed a work force. Now the new extractive
industries provided an occupation for part of the little village of La
Pointe, then numbering 500 people. 44

26


, iii yale

come to assist them. Finally the rising water put out the fire in the

boiler. Miller ordered the crew to abandon ship.

As the crew worked to lower the lifeboat which would hold nineteen
persons, Reiten decided to change his clothes. He had gotten soaked to
the skin performing his duties in the deepening bilge water. "You talk
about a quick change act in the theatre. | never put clothes on so dang
fast and put all new clothes on - top to toe - clean new underwear and
everything. | stepped aboard the life boat like a president of a
corporation. | was the best dressed ship wrecked man you ever saw in
your life." The men abandoned ship at about 1600 hours on the 6th of

January.

Shortly before the Friant sank, the wind had changed once again,
this time back to the northwest again. The nine men in the lifeboat knew
they could not use the wind to return to the Wisconsin shore because
they would doubtlessly run into the ice field. So they had to buck the
wind and row into the storm toward the North Shore of Minnesota. As
they rowed away, they saw the Thomas Friant go down bow first. "She
was at an angle, about a thirty degree angle or so, the hind doors of the
house on her, poof, went out like that from the air pressure that was
trapped in there and she started down you know, just like a man down a

ski slide.“ These were part of Reiten's recollections fifty years later.

Halvor Reiten said it was a funny sensation to see that boat
disappear, since it was sort of his home with all his possessions on it.
He felt very lonely at that moment. After fifty years he could still
remember Captain Miller's big pocket watch hanging on a hook in the
wheelhouse, swaying with the rising waves. He thought for a moment of
taking the watch off the hook, but his mental processes vetoed the motion
when a contrary thought predicted that Miller would salvage the vessel
and recover his watch. Now Reiten thinks that some scuba diver will get

it, a real prize, stored in a vault sixty to seventy fathoms deep.

As for the survivors, their task was still cut out for them. The

lifeboat crew guessed they were halfway between Port Wing on the South

75




arrival in port. In such wise the average fisherman was limited to a
small radius of action around the better ports, and so most of the fishers
were clustered near a port for a home base. Also most of them were
compelled to sell their fish through the companies with the concomitant
cut into their profit. In this way an operation like the Hokensons was
rare and unusual; and it competed successfully in an era when technology

enabled them to use other forms of transport, such as the truck.

Therefore, from the 1880's to 1920, the railroads dominated as the
mode for marketing fish in volume. At first there were railway cars
using chipped ice to preserve the fish; but eventually refrigerator cars
were invented. Also, most of the herring catch was shipped packed in
salt or brine. Of course, the major distribution centers for Lake
Superior fish by rail were Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Doubtlessly
some fish were marketed beyond these centers or to the satellite towns
around them, or even exported through Sault Ste. Marie to other ports
among the Great Lakes as had happened in the 1830's.

Nonetheless the Hokenson mode of marketing was novel; yet, in
microcosm, their experience illustrated the coming of age of the American
trucking industry. So when they joined a cooperative based in
Cornucopia, Wisconsin in the late 1920's or early 1930's, their purpose
was to get fresher fish (from pound-nets) to market faster than their
competitors, the companies, and reap the higher profits at their
destination by eliminating at least one middleman. Balanced against these
considerable benefits from trucking were the risks involved in having an

occasional spoiled shipment of fish.

The fishing companies stayed with railroad shipping longer than did
such independent entrepreneurs as the Hokensons. But the decline of
the railroads after World War I! coincided pretty closely with the era of
the lamprey eel and the near destruction of the Lake Superior commercial
fishery. Today, professional fishermen catch only a small volume of fish
and there are innumerable scares regarding pollutants and contaminants in
their produce, so that transportation is no longer an important aspect of
the Lake Superior fishery.

XXIV


s""""""r"r""e TM

quickly came to the conclusion that they could get better prices for their
fake trout and whitefish elsewhere. Roy Hokenson said that for a brief
interval he and his brothers were getting only two to four cents a pound
for their "money" fish. This discouraging return forced the brothers to

turn to the port of Cornucopia as a potential outlet.°2

Emory Jones of Cornucopia told something of the marketing practices
at that fishing village. He said there was always a limited market for
Lake Superior fish in the towns of Norther Wisconsin. Notices to that
effect appeared regularly in the Bayfield newspaper. Jones complained in
afteryears about the risks the fishermen took; sometimes they would lose
the total value of a rail shipment to Chicago, if the refrigerator car failed
to keep the fish fresh enroute. Similarly, shipping the fish either to
Bayfield or Duluth added to the time lost by commercial fishermen, if they

carried the produce over water to port in their own boats.°4

Emory Jones stated that the fishermen around Cornucopia, including
the Hokensons, finally put their heads together and devised a plan to
form a cooperative association for marketing their fish. They received
the active support of Hermann J. Ehlers, manager of the
Flieth Ehlers Mercantile company of Cornucopia. Ehlers would call the
Chicago market directly by telephone to find out the current price per
pound on lake trout and whitefish. One item in the Bayfield paper in
1931 told how the Cornucopia fishermen shipped their fish to Chicago by
truck, using three drivers on the two day trip. As Jones explained, this
was done strictly by "gentlemen's agreement" with Ehlers. in time,
Ehlers was able to come up with an even better arrangement. He was
dealing with a man named Sachs in Chicago, and Sachs did not know that
every fisherman in Cornucopia was marketing through Ehlers. So Sachs
thought he could get a corner on the market by temporarily giving Ehlers
two cents more than the Chicago price. In time Sachs thought other focal
fishermen would come to him and he would eventually have all of the
Cornucopia fish. He was unaware that he already had the entire market
from the start. After six months of overpaying Ehlers, Sachs had to
admit he had been duped by the "country bumpkins." At that point
Sachs good naturedly admitted defeat and agreed to continue buying all

79


As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the
Interior has basic responsibilities to protect and conserve our land and
water, energy and minerals, fish and _ wildlife, parks and recreation
areas, and to ensure the wise use of all these resources. The
Department also has major responsibility for American Indian reservation
communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S.
administration.

Publication services were provided by the graphics staff of the Denver
Service Center. NPS 2174


relative harmony. Radisson's commentary on the place took note of the
fish: “in that bay ther is a chanell where we take great stores of fishes,
sturgeons of a vast bigness, and Pycks seaven feet long. At the end of

this bay we landed." 12

Some historians have argued, consistent with Warren's presentation
of Chippewa folklore, that white men made contact with the Chippewa
before Radisson and des Groseillers. Hamilton Ross, using early French

sources, wrote:

"It is generally accepted as fact that the first white man of
record to see Lake Superior was Etienne Brule, in about 1622.
However, the diary of Grenolle, who accompanied Brule, shows
that upon their arrival at the Sault, the Ojibway were calling
the rapids Sault de Gaston, after the brother of Louis XIII.
This would seem to prove that some unsung white had been
there before that time.

"It is believed that the map which Champlain published in 1632,
and which is fairly accurate save in respect to Lake Superior,
was the result of Brule's explorations. This map called the

lake Grand Lac.

“An Ojibway legend which may bear considerable weight,
because of its supposed hieroglyphic record on a somewhat
mythical copper plate, indicated that there were two white men
on Madeline Island about 1610, and there are other legendary
references to traders who might have been there before 1622.
The thought occurs that the two might have been Brule and

Grenolle. ut3

The Ojibway legend to which Ross refers is interesting also because
it has an association with fishing on Lake Superior. Warren told the

story in this way:


There were a number of these hatcheries around the state, and most of
them had the responsibility to look after the game fish in the thousands
of smaller lakes scattered throughout Wisconsin. Thus even the hatchery
at Salmo near Bayfield provided fingerling german brown and brook trout
for streams and small lakes. But Salmo also contributed several million
lake trout fingerlings yearly to Lake Superior. Both the Bayfield Fish
Company (H.W. Elmore), the Booth Fish Company and the Boutins

donated their boats and crews free of charge to perform this service. /?

The State of Wisconsin was also experimenting with legislative
methods of conserving commercial fish during those years. Sometimes,
when the new laws were explained to Bayfielders, a stringent
interpretation would throw a scare into Lake Superior fishermen. Once,
in 1930, the Ashland Press told its readership that ice fishing was now
banned in Ashland County waters. A closer reading of the text of the
new law and a clarifying statement from the state conservation commission
revealed that the ban on ice fishing applied only to inland waters and not
to the surface of Lake Superior.

Bayfield fishermen were always active in defending their interests.
When problems were greatest, they formed ad hoc organizations and sent
delegates to state or regional conventions on fishing. In April of 1928 35
fishermen met at the Bracken Hotel in Bayfield to select two delegates to
attend a regional meeting to be held in June either at Milwaukee or some
other place. The organization, calling itself the Northern Wisconsin
Commercial Fishermen's Association, had members who came from as far as
Houghton Point on the east to Port Wing on the west. They elected J.O.
Bodine to represent the pound-net fishers and Charles Benson to
represent the gill netters. The regional meeting had been called by
Governor Green of Michigan and was actually held in Two Rivers,
Wisconsin instead of Milwaukee. Henry O'Malley, the U.S. Fish
Commissioner was also in attendance as were Canadian representatives.
Every state adjacent to any of the Great Lakes sent delegates. The
Bayfielders were aware that other states had stricter laws at the time on
the taking of lake trout and whitefish. Wisconsin, for example, permitted

the taking of twelve-inch trout and thirteen-inch whitefish. Their

89


by Wisconsinites. If the solution to the herring problem lies in the
removal of rainbow smelt from the lake, available statistics give no
comfort. From 1970 to 1977 an average of 197 tons of smelt per annum
have been taken from Lake Superior by Wisconsin commercial fishers.
But the appeal of smelt at the market may be declining; since the figures
for 1976 and 1977 indicate that only 105 tons and 127 tons respectively,

were taken commercially in those years. 112

Thus the relative strength of
the various species in Lake Superior waters continues to fluctuate, as it
has in the past; and we know that man has, and will continue to have, a
role in changing the relative balance in the ecosystem of these fish

species of the lake.

A 1975 article in the Ashland Daily Press agonized over the
mysterious decline of lake herring in Lake Superior. Bruce Swanson, a
spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, (the DNR)
admitted that they did not as yet have a scientific explanation for the
herring's disappearance. He stated that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission were both doing
extensive research on the subject, but had no satisfactory solution to
date. Swanson repeated all of the old hypotheses about smelt predation
on herring fry or larvae and the rivalry between smelt and herring for

food; but said that these theories were inadequate.

The only new possibility mentioned in the article was a discovery
that some herring were afflicted with parasites and had cysts in their
stomachs. If this problem was not clarified and a remedy imposed soon,
the herring would disappear altogether. The newspaper article was
interesting as well because it indicated that the several political entities
near Lake Superior had drifted back into their old ways of imposing a
variegated rather than a uniform contro! program: Ontario had poundage
quotas on herring; Minnesota had a fixed closed season on the small fish;
and Michigan had both quotas and a closed season. Wisconsin was
experimenting with small closure areas, but there was very little herring
fishing going on in that state. Yet, despite the lack of uniformity, all of
the controls functioned in the direction of conservation. The article

writer stated, in addition, that there really was no overfishing of

110



B. The Early Development of Private Commercial Fishing at Bayfield

As has been stated earlier in this narrative, subsistence fishing
continued at La Pointe after the failure of the American Fur Company in
1842. One writer revealed that the La Pointe output of fish in 1848
amounted to 1,000 barrels.” The St. Paul Minnesota Pioneer of
January 30, 1850 told the story of a Frenchman who brought a load of
fish overland on dog sled from the Chequamegon Bay area. It took the
man 12 days to make the 175-mile trip, and he sold the trout he had for

37 cents each and the white fish for 25 cents.°

Since various forms of mining started to expand in the region, La
Pointe fishermen were able to market some of their produce via water to
the ports of the Upper Michigan Peninsula. There was one pressure,
however, that tended to diminish the population at La Pointe--that was
the Treaty with the Chippewa of 1854, whereby the Indians were induced
or enticed to move to newly forming reservations. Since some of them
left the island for a place due west of Madeline Island on the mainland,
there was an equal attraction for whites to settle nearby. Thus, in 1856,
the City of Bayfield was established directly opposite the southern end of
Madeline Island on the Bayfield Peninsula. Most of the waters among the
Apostle Islands were sheltered from the brunt of either northeaster or
northwester storms, so that Bayfield became a relatively safe haven for
boats even without a breakwater. For this reason, many fishermen

shifted their home port from the island to the mainland.”

An early recorder of the Bayfield fishing industry during this era
was the Reverend James Peet, a Methodist minister. Peet did some
fishing for himself on occasion, and once went out with a commercial
fisherman in the latter's sailboat: "Saw the Sun rise from the Lake, then
went out with some fishermen to see them take up their Nets--they got
some 4 or 5 barrels full.” In early December of 1857, he wrote in his
diary that he could see 23 fishing boats on the bay and that "they are
getting very good hauls now, | understand." A week later, he could see
29 fishing boats on the adjacent waters. It is both surprising that the

catch was so good so _ late in the season, and that the boats were so

32



fisherman in separate boats setting gill-nets in the morning hours of April
25th, when the squall came up, accompanied by blowing snow. Herman
Johnson says he can remember the tragedy as it if were yesterday. As
the storm came up, all of the fishermen tried to start up their outboard
motors. Everyone succeeded except Harold Dahl. All wanted to propel
their boats into leeward waters behind Sand Island. Johnson said he
could see Dahl! struggling fiercely to start his outboard motor. Johnson
would get a glimpse of Dah! when either his own boat was atop a swell or
Dahl's was. Johnson kept looking back as his own boat reached smoother
water in the lee of the island. Once he saw Dahl's boat rise atop a giant
wave; then the billow descended, and Dahl was out of sight. When the
next wave arose, Johnson looked where he expected man and boat to be.
There was nothing. Another fisherman, Louis Moe, was closer to Dahl,
and tried unsuccessfully to rescue the helpless Dahl. Moe did not see
the hapless fisherman go down either: one moment he was there,

struggling with his motor, the next instant he was gone.®”

The same storm nearly drowned three other fishermen off Port Wing
nearby. They spent a bone-chilling night out on the lake and were
rescued by a Coast Guard cutter. Variants of this theme were repeated
endlessly on Lake Superior. jn January of 1932 two of the Boutin
brothers drifted for six days in a powerless boat. Shifting winds
variously blew them toward lake center or back shoreward. Finally they
drifted ashore safely near Ontonagon, Michigan, more than sixty miles
east of their home. During their ordeal Allison and Wilfred Boutin had
only a can of sugar for food; but their main problem was the cold at
night. They had a small stove onboard, into which they slowly pushed
pieces of broken up fish-boxes and portions of the boat's floorboards.
When the wood was gone they took old rags and a jacket, soaked these
small parcels of cloth into the crankcase oil, and let them smoulder slowly
in the stove. Huddling close to this dismal fire, they ended up with
blackened faces. Yet they lasted five nights this way. Several times the
winds almost drove their boat into cliffs on the south shore, but at the
end a lucky current drove them past a formidable stone wall onto the only
available sandy beach west of Ontonagon, at Union Bay. They still had
to walk an agonizing mile on shore to find a cottage. Their appearance

86


The Bayfield County Press commented from time to time on various
legislative experiments designed to stop overfishing and _ wasteful
practices. An issue of June 1895 expressed some doubt as to the
efficiency of a one-mile limit rule banning nets, since the wording was
ambiguous and did not make clear whether the mile limit was drawn
around every island in the Apostles or just along the mainiand. The law
also made Chequamegon Bay a temporary fish sanctuary, as the use of
nets was totally banned there. Probably the most efficacious portion of
the law was that it made the capture of small whitefish of less than a
pound illegal. This Wisconsin law must have been severely restrictive, as
it delineated open and closed seasons on various species of fish. For
example, it stated that "The use of nets is prohibited in catching fish
and only whitefish may be caught with a net from November 1st to
December 8th in each year. "34

Compilations of available statistics indicate that the years 1890 to
1896 were banner ones for the capture of lake trout, whitefish and lake
herring on Lake Superior. Though there are gaps in the tables,
indicating a lack of information, the few available figures show a decided
decline for whitefish and herring between 1897 and 1902. From 1890 to
1910 the Canadian and Michigan fishermen dominated the Jake trout and
whitefish catches. During this period the Wisconsin fishermen
concentrated on lake herring and had their greatest success for that era

in 1896 when they took more than five million pounds of herring.2”

By 1899 the Wisconsin netters had grown increasingly angry about
the closed season on trout and whitefish. The Bayfield County Press
printed their grievance in the issue of January 21, 1899. Canadians and
Michiganders were making huge hauls of those two species, and were
probably taking fish that might have been caught by the Wisconsinites.
The article read in part:

"The fishermen of this vicinity are circulating a petition which
will be presented to the legislature this winter, asking for the
abolishment of the close season for whitefish and trout in the
outlying waters of the state. A large portion of the outlying

50


Today there are still analogies between the Apostle Islands fishery of 1930
and 1980. Many of the fishing units are still family endeavors. Bodin
Fisheries in Bayfield inherited the position of wholesaler from some of the
earlier, but more numerous, companies. Some of the oldtimer fishermen
still survive. | talked to some of these retirees: Elvis Moe, Herman
Johnson, Ted Bainbridge, and Halvor Reiten, in Bayfield; Emory
"Squeaky" Jones in Cornucopia; and Roy and Eskel Hokenson on Route
One near Little Sand Bay. In some cases, sons, nephews or other
relatives of these men carry on the fishing heritage today. A few
members of the Boutin Family, so prominent in the early days, still do
some commercial fishing on at least a part-time basis. "Jack" Erickson
fishes for profit out of the dock at Little Sand Bay. His father before
him was a fisherman. There are others still in the trade, with names like
Frostman, Hadland, Hokenson, Nelson, Noring, Nourse, Bodin, La Pointe,
just to name a few. Their operation is on a smaller scale now, with each
lake trout being tagged and the weight of the whitefish being closely
recorded; but the quantity of these two favorite fish seems to be steadily

increasing.



them that diversification into fishing was a necessity for survival. Late
in the decade they commenced construction of their dock, ice house, and
twine shed. As they worked on building construction, they participated

at least part time in the commercial fishery .29

A few items in the Bayfield County Press gave year to year
information on domestic events in the lives of the Hokensons. A July
1928 paragraph told of the completion of Roy and Irene Hokenson's
"cottage" on Little Sand Bay. Another item during the same month told
of the release of Mrs. Eskel (Florence) Hokenson from the Pureair
Sanatorium after nearly two years. It is a reminder that tuberculosis was
still a health threat during that era. Social notices in the paper kept
neighbors aware, as well, of the growth of the Leo Hokenson family.
There were items about a fruitless fishing expediton near the Pageant
Grounds where Leo took his five year old son Bobby; and a notice about

30

the arrival of Leo's second child, Elaine, in October of 1928. Roy

Hokenson got his name in the paper now and then for trapping bounty
animals such as bobcats and coyotes. >! A notice was printed too, in
1930, of the arrival of Eskel's new daughter, Marjory .22 During the same
period Leo Hokenson became one of three supervisors for roads in Russell
Township. His interest, as that of his brothers and neighbors, was the
improvement of Highway 13 to Superior, which was _ frequently

characterized as being "mostly mud "33

Roads were not the only requirement for assisting the fishing
industry in northern Wisconsin. Numerous experiments were conducted in
the 1920's to increase the dwindling fish population in Lake Superior.
For some reason, little was ever done to assist the propagation of lake
herring. It may have been nothing more complicated than herring
migration that accounted for the cyclical disappearance of the herring in
certain locations. The decade of the 1920's was a poor one for herring
catches in Wisconsin waters, while North Shore fishermen in Minnesota
had a bonanza in that commodity. Curiously, when herring production on
the Wisconsin shore improved during the 1930's, Minnesota catches

remained high.24

68


docking place. For a single shacker it was a lonely summer existence,
but many of them made it a family industry which gave them the support
and comfort of friendly human numbers who could also help increase the

volume of his production.

Many of the Minnesota North Shore fishermen lived an analogous
existence to the Apostle Islands shackers. They too were gill-netters,
had relatively small skiffs, and sold to the cruising company steamers out
of Duluth. One difference in their lives was their relative invulnerability
to storms. A northeaster did not hinder them too much from getting back
ashore, and at the worst might drive them into Duluth. A northwester
had to be calculated from experience; a North Shore fisherman knew how
close or how far from the cliffs he had to be, so that the overhanging
cliff protected him from being blown across the lake. Casual observers
were amazed at their bravery, as often they were found several miles out
in the lake, with only a set of oars to propel them homeward. A
southeaster storm, rather rare, was a "piece of cake" for the
Minnesotans, as it blew them home. Nevertheless storms took a few lives

there over the years.

Some Correctives on Chippewa History in the Apostle Islands Area:

The prehistory section of this resource study runs into several clashes
with modern anthropological discovery regarding the Chippewa.
Representatives of the Midwest Archaeological Center (MWAC), take issue
with the early coming of the Chippewa to Chequamegon Bay and much of
the early history of the Chippewa people from earliest times, as presented
here. As they rightly pointed out, the present narrative derives
considerably from Warren, whose account leans heavily on the elders'
tales, with all the associated evidential weaknesses of such data. Yet in
some cases this is the only and best evidence that posterity has inherited
from them. Be that as it may, the present author merely presented this
narrative as a version of Chippewan history, and not the definitive
version, and identified it for what it was worth, based on Warren and

others. Warren's History of the Ojibway Nation, incidentally, is still

highly respected in historical circles for its unique perspective, an

insider's narrative from a half-blooded Chippewa derived from the ancient


waters of the state are on Lake Superior and the harbors and
bays connected therewith. The fishermen have always been
opposed to this close season and are going to make a strong
effort to have it done away with. Superintendent Nevin, [the
state commissioner] in his paper read before the American
Fisheries Society which met at Omaha last July, considers that
the close season for fishing on the Great Lakes as being in the
interest of the syndicate of fish dealers, who, while the fishing
is closed for 30 days, are given an opportunity to dispose of
their frozen fish which they have stored in their freezers in
the northwest, to the disadvantage of the small fishermen on

the lakes. 036

The Bayfield County Press continued to harp on this theme in the
following weeks, stating that the closed season was preventing the
securing of spawn. The article gave statistics for 1897 and 1898 which
indicated that about 28 million fry, both whitefish and lake trout, were
sewn in 1897, while only about 10.5 million were sewn in 1898. About a
year later one of their headlines read: "Lake Superior Whitefish
Decreasing Very Rapidly." The same article expressed doubts about
stocking methods and locations, and advocated the establishment of an
interstate protective association .2” The fishermen were unhappy, as
well, with the unresponsiveness of state and federal bureaucrats to their

complaints and suggestions. 22

But the United States government had one modest success with fish
propagation in 1901, when it was learned that their seedings of 1897 were
thriving. One particular variety, the Steelhead Salmon from the Pacific,
was being caught in increasing numbers, and some of them weighed as
much as five pounds. The United States Fish Commission had sewn them
near the Canadian Shore; but Bayfield fishermen were taking them near
the Apostle Islands. A correspondent for the Bayfield County Press
speculated that the new variety was also propagating naturally. The
article also urged the return of smal] steelheads to the lake for continued

reproductive replenishment.

51


39.

40.

Aq.

42.

BCP, undated 1901 clipping from Marjorie Benton collection,
Bayfield, Wisconsin. The BCP article was derived from the
Milwaukee Sentinel, date unknown.

Burnham, p. 284.

Emory D. Anderson and Lloyd L. Smith, Jr., "Factors Affecting
Abundance of Lake Herring (Coregonus artedii Lesueur) in Western
Lake Superior, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 100
(No. 4, 1971): 691-707, especially page 706; A.H. Lawrie and Jerold
F. Rahrer, Lake Superior; A Case History of the Lake and its
Fisheries (Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery Commission, University
of Michigan, 1973), also known as Technical Report No. 19, pages 1,
12-14, 48.

BCP, undated 1901 article from Marjorie Benton clipping file,
Bayfield, Wisconsin.

57


After the ice harvesting season, the companies cut back to their
skeleton staff. But there was not a very lengthy interval before the
field ice in the Apostle Islands channels broke up in the spring and the
companies could bring aboard the necessary people for the active fishing
season operations. Then, in late April or early May the steamer service
commenced for collecting fresh fish from fishermen who had contracted to
lower the nets for the company. This was the onset of the lake trout
and whitefish season which extended from about April to October,
depending on the timing of the ice breakup. In the 1930's this season
was shortened somewhat, to terminate in September, because of a legal
ban that forbade fishing for lake trout and whitefish during their
spawning season. Doubtlessly the companies did some fishing themselves,
but mostly they collected the harvest of others. In turn, most of the
companies received fish from gill-nets rather than from pound-nets. The
reason for this was that the pound-netters had a greater investment in
the business, both in the backbreaking labor of setting the pounds as
well as the extra equipment required. Yet pounds were very cost
effective and efficient, so the pound-netters tended to desire the added
independence and profit of marketing their fish by themselves. But a
few pounds were operated for the companies.

Next in season came the biggest event of the year for the
companies, the herring season. This was an indeterminate period whose
duration was controlled entirely by the spawning season of the lake
herring. It could extend from October to December, but be interrupted
by storms at any point and terminated by the onset of bitter winter
weather and the freeze-up of the harbors. Most often the schools of
herring disappeared at an unpredicted and unpredicatable moment, the
small fish dispersing as mysteriously as they had congregated, with the

spawning cycle completed.

During the herring interlude each company hired a considerable
number of townspeople for work at the docks for the herring harvest.
Both men and women found employment, the heavier chores going to the
men. People were needed to pick the nets clean either onboard the boats
or near the docks. Boxes full of herring were moved from dock to fish

vii


imperiled the lives of innumerable seamen on Lake Superior. The Bayfield
paper characterized the November 1927 storm as the worst experienced
there since 1905. Fortunately, neither storm took any lives on Lake
Superior, but the toll on Lake Michigan was more than fifty when three
vessels went down, including a car ferry. Material and monetary losses
were considerable in both storms around the Apostle Islands. The 1927
northeaster took a thirty foot chunk out of the city dock and undermined
the storage shed on the old Boutin dock north of the Booth Fish Company
slip. The shed fell into the water just when men from the Booth dock
were trying to rescue a touring car. They were lucky to escape with
their lives. In the same storm several hundred feet of railroad roadbed
washed into the lake, isolating several refrigerator cars on a safe stretch
of track. Both in 1927 and 1929 Bayfield fishermen lost valuable time
during the herring season because of these storms, but in neither case
did the delay affect overall production. Yet a lot of gill-nets were lost
or torn to pieces, and many docks among the islands were damaged or
destroyed. The 1927 storm was particularly damaging to the town of
Bayfield because the storm blew directly down the North Channel between
Stockton, Michigan and Madeline Islands. Thus, in this instance, these

islands did not function as a breakwater to protect the mainiand. ©

As destructive as the above storms were, lesser storms hit
Bayfielders more emotionally when they took lives of friends or neighbors.
Jack Erickson of Bayfield stated that in recent times excellent weather
forecasting almost gave too much warning for fishermen. He said that if
a successful fisherman stayed ashore for every weather warning he heard
on the radio, he would hardly ever go out on the lake. Erickson stated
that the old timers had many personal rules of thumb, as well as visual,
oral and other cues. At times they put to sea knowing in their bones
that trouble was brewing. They just kept an alternative plan at the back

of their heads to run for shelter when a real blow began. ©

Oncé in a while the fishermen did not make it. Herman Johnson of
Bayfield recalled an instance that happened fifty years previously, in
1928. On this occasion it was a spring squall off Sand Island, just after
the ice had broken up. There were at least four different Sand Island

85


10.

11.

13.

14.

15.

16.

FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER 1!

Matti Kaups, "North Shore Commercial Fishing, 1849-1870," Minnesota
History 46 (Summer 1978): p. 48; hereafter cited as Kaups, North
Shore.

Kaups, North Shore, pp. 49-52.

Ibid., p. 54.

Ibid., pp. 54-55.

Owen, Geology, Pp. 437.

Kaups, North Shore, p. 46.

Ross, pp. 115-122.

James Peet Diary, Northeastern Minnesota Historical Collections,
University of Minnesota at Duluth, Main Library, Accession No. 23-
632: entries for July 3, 1856, September 3, 1857 on fishing,
December 7, 1857, December 14, 1857, and August 10, 1858;

hereafter cited as Peet Diary.

Peet Diary, entries of August 30, 1857, February 2, 1858, February
1858, April 1859, and April 30, 1859.

Peet Diary, entries of March 4, 1858 and March 24, 1859.

Peet Diary, entries for April 9, April 18, September 3, 1858;
March 15, April 27, April 30, May 15, December 31, 1859.

Ross, p. 124.
Kaups, North Shore, p. 54; Ross, pp. 13, 137.

U.S. Congress, House, Report of the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, 1887, Misc. Doc. 133, 50th Cong., 2d. sess., 1887,
Appendix |, Fisheries of the Great Lakes, Part !!1, The Fisheries of
Lake Superior, page 49; compiled by Hugh M. Smith and
Mervin-Marie Snell, with introduction and a description of fishing
vessels and boats by J.W. Collins; hereafter cited as Smith-Snell,

Lake Superior.

A.T. Andreas, compiler, History of Northern Wisconsin, (Chicago:
The Western Historical Company, 1881), p. 83; hereafter cited as
Andreas, North Wisconsin.

U.S. Congress, Senate, Report of the Commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries for 1872 and 1873, Misc. Senate Doc. 74, 42nd Cong.,
3d. sess., 1874, Appendix A, The Fisheries of the Great Lakes, and
the species of Coregonus or White Fish, Part |, Report on the

Fisheries of the Great Lakes; the Result of Inquiries Prosecuted in

55


he would return home with his pickup truck more heavily laden than when
he started out. Jones called the Depression years in Cornucopia the most
prosperous years of his life. His family had an abundance of food and
everything else necessary to sustain life. He said that by 1936 the cash
market for fish had recovered and he could again sell everything he
caught.57

As the 1930's progressed and the most prosperous fishing decade of
the 1940's commenced, marketing of fish continued to be done in a variety
of ways. Shipping by railway refrigerator cars to large urban markets
such as Chicago and St. Paul, continued to be a major distribution mode.
But it was also an era when independent or large-scale trucking made
inroads inte the onetime railroad monopoly. One 1940 article in the
Bayfield Press illustrates this phenomenon. According to the article,
Thomas Jones and Sons of Cornucopia broke a local fishing record when
their family boats and equipment took more than 60,000 pounds of fresh
fish in three days' work. They shipped their catch by truck to various
market centers. In the three day bonanza, the family took 25,250 pounds
of fresh fish on the best day. About sixty percent of the haul was lake
trout and all of their luck was attributed to the efficiency of pound nets.
The Joneses broke the family record of thirty years standing by taking
7,500 pounds of money-fish from a single lift of one pound net. That
was nearly four tons of fish from one net on a single day! The family
spokesman, E. N. Jones, said that this achievement was made despite the
fact that the family business had not increased the number of its pound
nets during the previous ten years. He added: "This catch offers
conclusive proof that the supply of trout in these waters is increasing,

rather than becoming depleted."°8

£. The Heyday of the Apostle Islands Fishery: Smoked Fish, Ice

Harvesting, and More Perils at Sea

The decade of the 1930's, as has been indicated above, was a revival
time for the commercial fishery in Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior.

There finally was a noticeable increase in whitefish production as a result

81


generation, Eskel, Leo and Roy, settled upon a different spelling with

an "e,"el

Also listed among the returning soldiers was the cousin of the three

Hokenson brothers, Halvor Reiten. Reiten too, for a time was a
fisherman; and he later designed and helped build the Hokenson fishing

vessel, the Twilite. 22

These men did not go into professional fishing immediately after the
war. The Hokensons continued their noble effort with the poor soil in a
northern clime for a few more years. But they could not help noticing
the continuing success of the fishery: An interesting number of the
Bayfield County Press in February of 1919 gave the statistics provided by
James Nevin, Wisconsin State Conservation Commissioner. The figures are
not entirely apropos, since they mix Lake Michigan catches with those of
Lake Superior. But the statistics provided, comparing 1916 with 1917,
show that whitefish prices went up from 11¢ to 15¢ a pound because of
greater scarcity of that commodity, thus illustrating the law of supply
and demand. Oddly, even though the trout catch was more abundant, it
too went up from 10¢ to 12¢ a pound; but that was due both to the
inflationery pressures of a wartime economy; as well as increased demand
because of the relative cheapness of fish compared to meat. In the same
way, the average prices of all species of fish went up from 4.5¢ to 6¢ per
pound. Herring also increased from 2¢ to 3.5¢ per pound. The article
went on to bemoan the decline in whitefish production and attributed it
Principally to overfishing and the taking of whitefish weighing less that a
pound. Needless to say, the author advocated a larger role for the fish

hatcheries, and legislation to control unwise fishing practices °°

At about this time too, greater emphasis was being placed on
improved methods of fish preservation enroute to market. More and more
use was being made of refrigerator cars on the railroads, and ice packing
was becoming as frequent as packing in salt. Mostly, however, the
Bayfielders relied on a natural supply of ice, rather than the artifical
way. In February of 1919 there was concern that the several companies

in Bayfield would not put by a large enough quantity of ice from the lake

66


Peet was not the only one who left the area. The town of Ashland
was almost completely deserted during the Civil War. Only one family,
that of Martin Roehm, stayed in Ashland from 1863 to 1865. Bayfield was
more populous for the time being because of its sawmill and fishing

industry. v2

It was the lumber industry and its accompanying railroads that
eventually brought booming times to the Chequamegon Bay area and made
demands for the expansion of the supportive fishing industry. The early
sawmills had to rely too extensively on ships to transport the lumber to
market and could not carry the requisite volume. Aside from the Lake
Superior and Mississippi Railroad into Duluth, the first rail line to
Chequamegon Bay was that of the Wisconsin Central which opened at
Ashland on June 2, 1877. Bayfield got its first rail connection on
October 12, 1883, when the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha
("The Omaha") completed its roadbed on the Bayfield Peninsula. So the
growing fishery of the Apostle Islands region did not gain access to a

national market until 18 years after the Civil war. /3

So far as can be determined, the key year for Bayfield's blossoming
was 1870. At that point, the town had 300 inhabitants; and one source
says that none of them were professional fishermen. Doubtlessly the
impetus for an influx of professionals at that moment was the completion
of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad into Duluth. Bayfielders

could Jand their catches directly at the docks in DuLuth. '4

Whatever the reason, Bayfield had a sudden large increase in the
number of fishermen in 1870. The most significant part of this growth
was a fishing family, the Boutins. Among eight brothers, the leaders
were Nelson and Frank, who quickly formed a fishing company called N &
F Boutin. Nelson, the elder, had been born in Canada East on August
17, 1831. The family moved first to Detroit in 1837. The next move, in
1848, was to Mackinac Island, Michigan. By that time, the family was
definitely in the fishing business. During the next 5 years, the Boutin
family, father and sons, moved frequently around the shore of Lake

Michigan, as they sought the best fishing grounds. Their stops included

34



CHAPTER 11: THE LAKE SUPERIOR FISHERY IN THE LATTER HALF OF
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

A. The Development of a Commercial Fishery at Duluth and Along
the North Shore of Minnesota

A fishery analogous to that at La Pointe grew up at the same time
near the western end of the lake, then called Fond du Lac, but soon to
be known as Duluth. About 1850 there were only two fishermen at that
place. In any case, there were only about 300 people living at the tip of
the lake in 1854; so these were the only potential customers for a
commercial fisherman. But that year, with the signing of the Chippewa
Treaty of September 30, mining prospectors started to filter into the
area, legally, particularly along the North Shore of Minnesota.

The copper mining camps near the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan
soon became a marketing place for fish caught in western Lake Superior.
But the lion's share of fish-for-sale were shipped via the Sault, as they
had been during the heyday of the American Fur Company fishery.
Additionally, during the 1850's, there were known instances in which
frozen fresh fish were shipped overland in the winter to St. Paul from
both Duluth and Bayfield. These towns were established in 1854 and 1856
respectively. Still the magnitude of the fishery operation was stunted
mainly by a lack of rapid overland transportation, and secondarily by a
dearth of population around the lake. Yet the fishery grew slowly.

In 1855, $20,000 worth of fish was shipped through the Sault to the
lower lakes. The 1857 census of the North Shore indicated there were 89
full-time fishermen in Lake County and 10 more in St. Louis County.
The Panic of 1857 affected commercial fishing in the area because mining
failures reduced the population. The year 1860 saw at least 438 barrels
of fish shipped from Superior to the lower lakes. There was no growth
to the industry during the Civil War. Thus, only 356 barrels of fish

were shipped over the lake in 1864. 2

30



something derogatory about himself or his group, the evidence is more
credible than that given by the same individual praising himself or his
people. This axiom strengthens the case for accepting Warren's testimony
on cannibalism. He himself was half Chippewa and his sources were often
full blooded tribesmen who collectively wished to depict their people in
the most favorable light. Thus these revelations can scarcely be
doubted. The only problem remains, dating them in time and placing

them geographically.

Locational Placement For the Scenes of Cannibalism: As we have

seen, Warren testified that his mother had indicated the place where some
of these horrors had taken place. But in descriptively relating the
location of the place to certain stands of trees rather than markings on a
reliable map, Warren did not describe reference points that we can use
today, so we cannot prove with any precision the geographical placement

of the scenes by using his text.

Hamilton Nelson Ross, the best twentieth century chronicler of the
Apostle Islands, wrote an entire well documented book focused on

Madeline Island called La Pointe, Village Outpost (1960). Ross was

extremely interested in the geographical placement of sites associated with
the salient events of that island's history. With this purpose in mind, he
provided nearly thirty maps, mostly drawn by himself, to illustrate the

placement of sites from his historical researches.

While Ross was not particularly concerned about the subject of
cannibalism, which he conceded to have occurred on Madeline Island, he
provided reliable guidance for some future archaeological inquiry related
to that matter. He sifted several hypotheses regarding the location of
the earliest Chippewa settlements on Madeline Island [pages 11-16, 62, 176
& 177). First, he rejected out of hand the theory of Philip Ainsworth
Means that the narrowed middle section of the island, comprising several
square miles, was the locus for the early Indian village. Ross said that
Means had limited knowledge of the island and had "accepted hearsay
evidence from persons not qualified to give it" [11]. Means had tried to
conduct a survey in 1916, but failed both because of digging problems
and the resentment of the local French-Ojibway.

xx


Probable that French voyageurs and coureurs de bois maintained a
presence in the area. The reason for the official abandonment of the fort
was the glut of the French fur market and the consequent plummet of

market prices. 22

The advent of St. Pierre's incumbency at La Pointe inaugurated the
golden age of the Lake Superior fur trade. Even though fur was the
raison d'etre for the post, the location always depended on the plenitude
of fish as a portion of the food supply.

B. Into the Nineteenth Century

English interest in the region after the French and Indian War also
hinged upon the fur trade, as it did with their successors, the
Americans. This new era found Alexander Henry as one of the most
Prominent names in the trade. The efforts of individuals, such as
Henry, eventually evolved into the establishment of the great fur
companies. But the one name more than any other that established
considerable renown in the Apostle Islands region, was that of Cadotte.
The first famous member with that name was Jean Baptiste Cadotte, who
married an Ojibway maiden at the Sault in 1761 and established himself at
La Pointe as a fur trader in 1765. He was a partner of Alexander Henry.

The elder Cadotte had an equally famous son, named Michel, who
also based his fur trading business at La Pointe, and lived to a great age
until 1837. Michel married the daughter of Chief White Crane, who was
baptized a Christian and took the name "Madeleine." {t was from her that
present-day Madeline island of the Apostles took its name. This island,
of course, was the location of La Pointe, the headquarters for the fur

trade in the area.

Early in the nineteenth century two Bostonians of prominent family
came to the Chequamegon Bay region to engage in trade. As fate would
have it, these two brothers, Truman Abraham Warren and Lyman Marcus

Warren, took an interest in and married two of Michel Cadotte's

21


for bankrupcy. The company name lived on into the 1860's; and had a
real existence of sorts, as the receiver made a noble effort to pay off 100

cents on the dollar for company debts.°°

One indication of the changing fortunes of the American Fur
Company is a tabulation of the merchandise charged against the La Pointe
post during this boom and bust period:

1835: $30,000 1840: $45,000
1836: $59,000 1841: $20,000
1837: $29,000 1842: $13,000
1838: $46,000 1843: $12,000
1839: $46,000 1844: $10,000 4°

Since most of the business at La Pointe during this interval was fishing,
the figures give an approximate idea both of the success of the La Pointe
station and the company in general. In 1837 the American Fur Company
had sales totalling $300,000, and their profit was $45,000. Thus, the
expenses at La Pointe consisted of about 11 percent of their total
business. The company made a larger profit in 1840 and La Pointe
activity constituted about 20 percent of the business. This latter year
was the peak fish production year for Lake Superior and the La Pointe

station produced about half of the catch.“

Despite the failure of the American Fur Company to establish a
permanent commercial fishery, an historian of the La Pointe outpost
assures us that fishing did not end altogether in the Apostle Islands.
Hamilton Ross, the historian in question, wrote about this trying time
along the south shore and stated: "This, of course, resulted in loss of
employment to nearly all of the personnel. There is little or no
information regarding the fate of the formerly prosperous village. It is
possible that there was no general exodus because wherever they might
go, conditions were the same. They could at least subsist at La Pointe
with fish, game, berries, wild rice, and maple sugar for food, and the

endless forests for fuel and housing. "44

25


patently clear that the hatchery fish were maturing in greater numbers in
the waters of Lake Superior, and that the hatchery was indeed fulfilling

its objective of reviving the fishery.

An article in the Bayfield County Press at the turn of the century
recited the various concerns of the men in the fisheries. The author
looked to the data turned up by the U.S. Fish Commission and speculated
that the new theories about bacterial causality in fish mortality might
bring an explanation for the decline in fish population. The article
decried the lack of scientific literature on bacteria and fish, and almost
comically mused that "the fish is an elusive patient." He cited one
instance proving that parasites were a cause of havoc to fish: scientists
in Yellowstone Park had found a worm that burrowed into the flesh of
trout. Turning to other aspects of the declining fish population, the
author stated that 183 million whitefish fry had been planted in Lake
Superior, and that even though this was the greatest planting ever,
previous seeding of fry had given no indication of revival in whitefish
numbers. Something was killing the fry. Perhaps it was merely
cannibalism, or maybe it was bacterial disease. The author did not know.
Several paragraphs of the piece were dedicated, as well, to the subject of
sewage and sawdust as water pollutants harmful to aquatic life. The
writer appealed for action of an indefinite variety, and amazingly, all of
his suspicions were headed in the right direction. Years later,
icthyologists answered many of these questions with their experiments in
the Great Lakes 42

54


PCB's are not, for the most part, biodegradable. Hence there has been
some danger attached to the methods for safe disposal of PCB's.
Recently researchers discovered a secure and economical means for

incinerating pcBis. [23

The FDA proposal regarding PCB's was to lower the standard from
five parts per million (ppm) to two ppm. Several state agencies from
Wisconsin reacted violently to the proposal, pointing out that such a low
requirement would effectually destroy commercial fishing in Wisconsin by
affecting 75% (by weight) of the state catch. Specifically, on Lake
Superior, it would have removed large trout and siscowet from the list of
edible fish, and severely impaired the marketability of all other lake
trout, whitefish, chubs, smelt and suckers. Anthony Earl, Wisconsin's
Department of Natural Resources Secretary sent a strong protest to the
FDA, citing the incompleteness of medical evidence regarding PCB's, and
speculated that other states adjacent to the Great Lakes would voice
similar protests against this radical lowering of standards. Even though
the change was not adopted, the publicity surrounding alleged adverse
effects from high fish consumption was sufficient to put a damper on fish
marketability. The mere instruction to avoid the fatty tissue of fish, or
to limit one's diet to a single fish meal per week, was enough to damage
the industry. Secretary Earl both pointed out the deleterious economic
effects on the State of Wisconsin, as well as mentioned the corrective
measures the state was taking. Most particularly, Wisconsin had

legislated controls on the proper disposal of PCB's and PCB products. 124

PCB's were not the only pollutants in Lake Superior causing
problems. One study undertaken by the Great Lakes Environmental
Contaminants Survey (GLECS) discovered high levels of mercury, DDT,
and PCB's in lake trout. GLECS was a joint venture between the
Michigan DNR, the FDA, the Michigan Department of Public Health and
Agriculture, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One suspicious
finding of this particular GLECS paper was that these same contaminants
did not lodge at high level dosages in the tissue of chubs, lake herring,
and whitefish. The study had limited applicability, however, since it
included only lake trout taken in the Isle Royale environs. The study

116


one can detect the closeness of the three brotherly comrades when one
hears the two survivors speak of his departure. His illness came
unexpectedly and was apparently misdiagnosed. In two days time, before
anything effectual was done for him, Leo was gone. Both Roy and Eskel

referred to him in the fondest terms as a most beloved brother. 11°

After the death of Leo, Roy and Eskel Hokenson continued to fish
commercially for a few more years before they terminated their fishing
endeavors. As yields of whitefish and lake trout continued to drop, the
brothers selected their retirement moment in mid-1962 when the Great
Lakes Fishery Commission closed down commercial fishing altogether. The
bureaucracy was trying to allow the fish population to rebound from the
scourge of the lamprey; but the brothers were sufficiently advanced in
years to call it a career. Eskel was then seventy years of age and Roy
sixty-three. The brothers had saved well for their old age and each
owned a home close to Lake Superior, unencumbered by debt. Roy's
homestead is within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore right at Little
Sand Bay, and he and his wife Irene have lifetime tenure adjacent to the
Hokenson Fishing Dock property. Eskel and his wife Florence live two

miles away on the original Peter Hokanson homestead, enjoying a well
earned retirement. '"!

J. Recent Conditions Relating to the Apostle Islands Fishery

The Apostle Islands fishery, as has been stated, continued its slow
controlled revival in the years that followed the sea lamprey infestation
and the smelt competition with herring. From 1969 to 1977, whitefish
production has averaged 106 tons per year in Wisconsin waters, which is
better than the average annual yield for this century. Lake trout yield
has not been as good, averaging 65 tons per annum from 1970 to 1977;
but quotas are still imposed on that variety. Lake herring production
continues to go down, and the real remedy for its revival has not as yet
been discovered or applied. The average annuaij yield for herring in
Wisconsin waters of Lake Superior has been 84 tons per annum, and the

latest available year-statistic, 1977, indicates that only 37 tons were taken

109


Regarding the coincidence of Chippewa moving to the Bayfield
Peninsula’ mainland in the 1850's simultaneous to the whiteman’s
establishment of the town of Bayfield, the intent of the text was not
meant to imply a cause-effect relationship between the two events. The
"equal attraction" of whites and Indians to the mainland could have been
from the same cause(s) or different causes. Whatever it was that

attracted them, it attracted each group equally, hence the expression.

The State of Commercial Fishing Among Native Americans in the

Apostle Islands Region: As stated regarding the Bayfield fishing

companies, supra, the subject of the Native Americans as commercial
fishermen was also not considered to be the main focus of this study. As
it stands, mention of the Chippewa occurred in the chronological narrative
wherever it was deemed relevant. The present writer felt that the
glimpse of the Chippewa provided in the 1885 government document was
representative for the entire time span. Frank Boutin told the
government investigators in 1885 that he thought that "25 percent of
those engaged in the fisheries are Indians and half-breeds, . . ." This
percentage, give or take a few points, sounds roughly correct for every
era of the commercial fishery. A more precise delineation of the
Chippewa role wil! have to await further study by others. The Chippewa
probably fished for their own consumption over the years in the same
ratio that the whites did. The text also notes, in several places, the
special fishing rights of these Native Americans under the various
treaties, particularly that of 1854. In the section covering recent events,
the text notes how the Chippewa shared in the general fishery depression
resulting from the lamprey infestation, and that it was their assertion of
treaty right which may have saved the total fishery from shutdown after
the lamprey was beaten.

The Problem of Cannibalism: The inclusion of several anecdotes

regarding cannibalism among the Chippewa was not done for the purpose
of disparaging the Chippewa nor to claim that they had a propensity for
cannibalism peculiar to their tribe, or more pronounced than any white
ethnic group. The instances cited were intended to make the very

important and germane point that sources of nutrition in this northern

XV


es - ""r""n

herring, both because it was unproductive to do so, and because the
overhead cost for equipment and boat operation was _ prohibitive.
Furthermore, if overfishing was occuring, the average age of the caught
fish would decline; and this was not the case. DNR research showed that
there was a normal proportion of older fish present, but that the numbers

. 113
of all year~groups were decreasing equally.

Because of the declining state of the Lake Superior fishery in recent
times, the debate over solutions has sifted out to a rivalry among interest
groups, the principal ones being Native Americans, sport fishermen, and
commercial fishermen. Coincidentally, a correlative discussion arose
concerning contaminants or poljutants in the lake, because this subject
affected all three groups, or anyone who wished to benefit from the fish
in the lake.

During the prosperous years of the fishery, as we have seen, the
Native Americans, in this case Chippewa, were lost from view since they
were never numerous and were not considered a threat for depleting the
abundant supply of food fishes. But when the fish became scarce,
anyone who fished Lake Superior was considered a competitor for a sparse
and valuable commodity. As we have also seen, the Chippewa did assert,
from time to time, their special fishing rights under the Treaty of 1854.
Though they were often challenged in the assertion of these rights, they
usually won when the issue went into the courts. Despite this, no really
precise or careful delineation of Indian prerogatives was ever drawn.
Then, in the early 1970's during the time of fish scarcity, several court
challenges took place. The most relevant instance to this discussion was
Richard Gurnoe's claim to a right for Native Americans to fish within the
one-mile limit of Lake Superior waters adjacent to the Red Cliff
Reservation. Gurnoe won his case, on appeal, with the State Supreme
Court; but even here, the court averred that the interest of conservation

or fish depletion placed a limiting factor even on the Indians.

Gurnoe and his fellow Chippewa fishermen, of course, contended that
their operation was so small as to be no menace to the fish supply. At a
1975 symposium held at Northland College in Ashland, Gurnoe briefly
described the nature and extent of Red Cliff Indian fishing:

111


35.
36.
37.

38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.

Ibid., pp. 494-7.

Ibid., pp. 496-7.

Crooks to Stephen A. Halsey,
Superior Fishing, p. 498.

Ibid., p. 499.
Ross, pp. 105,
Ibid., pp. 98,
Ibid., p.

Ross, p. 105.
Ibid., p. 113.

109.
105.

November 20,

Henry, pp. 224-5; David Dale Owen, Geological
lowa and’ Minnesota (Philadelphia, 1882}, bp. a37;

Owen,

Geology.

29

1838, from Nute, Lake

105; Nute, Lake Superior Fishing, 483-504, passim.

Survey of Wisconsin,
hereafter cited as


Early in the research phase for this project, in late 1978, an effort
was made lo run down a collection of documents that was alleged to have
been assembled in the 1930's in connection with the Works Progress
Administration and the Federal Writers' Project relating to the records of
the Booth Packing Company and other Bayfield companies. It was felt at
that lime that if a large collection of documents of this nature became
available to the researcher, it would be possible to provide a summary of
the companies in an expeditious manner. But the staff of the Wisconsin
Historical Society wrote that they had not come into possession of these
papers and had no idea of their location. The researcher therefore
concluded that the parameters and budgeting of the three studies did not
justify further research travel to the repositories of the National Archives
Record Service either in Washington or Chicago, as it was a subject
peripheral to the main purpose, the Hokensons.

From the data discovered, it is known that the Booths established a
company headquarters in Bayfield during the 1880's. They were not the
first company to function at Bayfield, however. The Boutins had a family
business that got underway at Bayfield already in 1870. Regardless of
whose company it was, the role of each was similar. Basically, all of
companies would do some of the actual fishing themselves; but mostly
small independent fishermen would do the fishing for them. The
dislinctive feature of the companies was that they had one or several
steamers that had Jarger hull capacities than the average fishing boat.
These steamers did no fishing, generally speaking, but cruised around
the Apostle Islands on a fixed and reliable schedule, so that independent
fishermen could rendezvous with them at a predetermined hour and place
to turn in their catch. That is how some independent fishermen, with
small boals, could set up a squatter's camp on one or the other of the
islands, and meet the steamer every other day or so. The methods of
exchange belween company and fisher varied from barter to shares to
cash payments. There was no fixed rule. One fisherman might have
been staked to a set of equipment, including nets, floats, sinkers and
boat, which he would pay for with his catch. Others got a fixed cash
price, sO many pennies per pound. The fish were handed over to the

steamer in an iced condition. A log was kept of the amounts of fish

oa me ee ee oe Oe




date for pound-nets in Lake Superior.

boundary of Ashland [Bayfield] Peninsula. The fishermen
seldom make blind hauls, as in other places, but have a man on
the lookout on some elevated point of land to watch for fish,
and when a school is seen it is surrounded by the seine and
hauled ashore. The average catch is estimated at about 100
half-barrels of salt fish, though formerly it is said to have
been three times that quantity. {tn 1885 there were 13 seines
owned at Bayfield, but only eight of 10 of them were fished to
any extent during the season, and the catch, owing to the
absence of the fish from the shore waters, was unusually light.

Hand-line fishing through the ice. - There is considerable

hand-line fishing or “bobbing," as it is locally called by Indians
and others, through the ice in winter. The former take fish
for their own use, but a few of the whites make it a business,
freezing their catch and selling to Duluth dealers. The catch
is usually small, but sometimes a man will get 300 to 400 pounds
in a day.

Spearing. - In the morning each "bob" fisherman, by means of
a little home-made wire spear used through a hole in the ice,
provides himself with herring enough to serve as bait for the
day's fishing. The spearing of trout through the ice by the
Indians is also quite common in certain localities. They usually
have a brightly-painted decoy resembling a fish, which they
dart into the water through an opening in the ice, and the
trout are attracted toward it and speared.

Other fisheries. - No trammel-nets have been fished in the
locality, and fykes have been employed in only one instance,
this being in the spring of 1884 when a small number were
fished at the mouth of one of the larger streams without

26
success."

The same report gives conflicting evidence concerning the inaugural
The authors, Hugh M. Smith and

46


*”"""”_r"""e TM

INTRODUCTION

The selection of the Hokenson Fishing Dock for interpretive development
was based on the fact that the story of commercial fishing is one of the
major interpretive themes of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The
Development/Study Package Proposal stated the requirement that an
historical study be made into the commercial fishing operation of the area
and specifically the Hokenson Brothers Fishery of Little Sand Bay. The
latter portion of this requirement is principally covered in the Historic
Data Section of the Historic Structure Report and in the Furnishing Study
for the Hokenson Fishing Dock. These two studies, while relating to the
extant structures at Little Sand Bay, also provide the factual data
concerning Peter Hokanson's coming to the area, the sequence of land
acquisition in the Hokenson family, the development of a fishing operation
by the three Hokenson brothers, the construction of the various fishery
buildings, the flourishing era of the brothers' operation, the death of Leo
Hokenson, and the retirement of the two surviving brothers.

Having told the Hokenson story in the Structure Report and Furnishing
Study, it now remains to place their adventure into the larger context of
Lake Superior commercial fishing and Apostle Islands commercial fishing.
It may seem strange, therefore, that the Hokenson brothers are not
frequently mentioned in this portion of the investigation; but this
approach accurately reflects the fact that the Hokenson brothers were one

family organization competing with many others with similar equipment.

The Hokensons differed from other family enterprises only in the practice
of marketing their fish by themselves or through a cooperative organiza-
lion, while many fishermen depended on established wholesalers in
Bayfield or Duluth to market their fish. Other families might just as
easily have been singled out as subject for study, but in this case, the
Hokenson fishery structures and equipment survived the ravages of time;
and the location of their endeavors on Little Sand Bay remains very much

in the same isolated condition as when their fishery flourished.


themselves from the winter's cold. Others have horses and
sleighs for visiting their nets, driving to and from the
fishing-grounds, while others still are obliged to go afoot and
work without shelter, and, of course, can fish only during
moderate weather. Some years, from 20 to 25 crews are
engaged in net-fishing through the ice, but the fishermen are
not disposed to do much at this season, unless necessity
compels, and during the winter of 1884-5 only about 10 crews
were thus employed, and some of these fished only for a short

time.

Pound-net fishery. - The first pound located at Bayfield was
set by Mr. Boutin, who came here from Ashland in the spring
of 1871. The industry was not important until about 1880.
Several new nets were purchased in that year, and in 1883 the
number had reached 25 or 30, exclusive of those owned by
Ashland fishermen. In 1884 not less than 80 new ones were
employed, and the following season 10 or 12 more were added.
They are set in water varying from 12 to 60 feet in depth, the
deepest ones in 1885 being only about 40 feet; but one of the
dealers intended making and setting a 75-foot net that fall.
The nets are of the ordinary pattern, with 40 to 80 rod leaders
of 6-inch mesh, a heart of 5-inch mesh, and usually a 28-foot
pot of 3-inch mesh. They are provided with tunnels 10 feet
square at the mouth, 16 feet long, and having an inner opening
of 2 by 6 feet. The nets are usually set between the 15th of
May and the 1st of June. Some of the men fish gill-nets before
the season opens, and a few continue to fish them in connection
with the pounds. Most of the fishing is over by the first of
August, and half of the nets are taken out. The remainder are
fished until the last of September, when the fishermen fit out
for the gill-net fishery. Of late there has been a tendency to
prolong the pound-net season, and on September 5, 1885, fully
half of the nets were still in the water. In 1884, for the first
time, a pound-net was fished in winter, and, though not

successful, there was a growing inclination to set pound-nets

44


38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.
53.

54.

BCP October 19, 1923, April 2, August 6, 1925.
BCP, February 18, 1927.

BCP, May 10, 1928.

BCP, June 7, 1928.

BCP, August 2, 1928.

February 14, 1929.

oO
fe)
a

BCP, February 7, March 14, 1929; interview with Emory Jones by
David Fritz, Cornucopia, Wisconsin, July 17, 1978.

BCP, April 20, 1923.

Interview with Halvor Reiten by David Fritz, Bayfield, Wisconsin,
July 13, 1978.

A background article on the Friant is in the BCP for April 27, 1923.
The fishing expedition plans are outlined in the BCP for
January 4, 1924. The story of the disaster was related in the BCP
January 11, 1924 and retold by Eleanor Knight in the BCP issues of
January 7, 14, and 21, 1954. A complete narrative by Halvor Reiten
is in the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center's Oral History
Project, University of Minnesota at Duluth Main Library, Catalog
# S 2212, recorded sometime during 1976 in Bayfield by Jeff Pope.
Also this writer got a few incidental details of the adventure in
interviews with Halvor Reiten at Bayfield on July 13, 1978 and
January 17, 1979.

Related in notes by Jeff Pope appended to Halvor Reiten interview
# S 2212, Northeast Minnesota Historical Center's Oral History
Project, University of Minnesota at Duluth Main Library.

BCP, January 27, 1927, January 19, 1928.

BCP, April 16, 1925. Further articles on the road's progress
appeared in the BCP between 1919 and 1925.

BCP, September 27, 1928 and October 31, 1929 on Elmore; issue of
May 12, 1932 on Boutins.

BCP, May 10, and September 27, 1928.

Interview with Roy Hokenson by David Fritz at Little Sand Bay on
July 10, 1978.

Interview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin
on July 17, 1978. The BCP issue of June 3, 1926 cites an example
of C. B. Ladd of Russell motoring a load of lake trout and whitefish
to Park Falls, Wisconsin. The issue of October 29, 1931. relates
that "Cornucopia fishermen are shipping their fish to Chicago by

120


A July 1877 article in the Bayfield paper told of wholesaler
competition by relating the progress of the firm of O'Malley and Shaw.
The same issue stated that Jake Brown had purchased a boat that could
carry 100 halves, and that he was going to enter the competition with the
Boutins and others .20 A week later the paper told about the remarkable

success of pound nets on the south side of Chequamegon Point.2"

The Bayfield County Press of December 5, 1877 summarized the type
of year endured by the firm of N & F Boutin: They employed more than
80 men; had 21 boats, 12 pound nets, and more than 1,000 gill nets.
Their boats and steamers ranged from the Apostle Islands to Isle Royale
and took in 11,000 half-barrels of trout and white fish in the previous 6
months. The average price garnered for the fish was $3.25 per halve.
Most of the fish were shipped out by water, with Buffalo and Chicago as
destinations.@2 Most of the fish were cleaned, dressed and salted; but
plans were underfoot to take advantage of the new rail connection at
Ashland. The latter place would soon have refrigerator cars for shipment
to Chicago, and these fish would be sent fresh.23 Until that time,
Bayfielders used every available market. In early January 1878, Bayfield

wholesalers shipped 5 tons of fresh fish to Duluth aboard the Amethyst.4

The Boutin company marketed about an equal volume of fish to their
1877 performance in 1879. That year they had 94 men in their employ, 22
pound nets and 1,300 gill nets in use, collected fish with two schooners,
and had a large number of sailboats that did the actual fishing. Their
fish sold for an average of $3.75 per half barrel, and most of their fish

were salted, as they used 2,000 barrels of salt.©>

One portion of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries Report for
1887 gives an interesting bird's eye view of the Bayfield fishery of that
era. Though somewhat lengthy, the narrative concerning the Apostle
Islands region because of its pithiness and factuality, is worthy of

verbatim quotation:

37


mention of smallpox, though potentially true in whole or in part, may
have been a red herring planted by Neveaux to protect the graves of his
Chippewa ancestors. Even though more of the Indian artifacts may have
been washed into the lake in the eighty odd years since this 1900
incident, the chance is good that there are other Ojibway burial grounds
in the primary search area that Warren mentioned, that is, a stretch of
ground three miles long extending along the south sore of Madeline, and
reaching up two miles northward toward the present village of La Pointe.
Bearing in mind the considerable recorded erosion at Grant's Point, the
line of probability hardly extends to the modern village. The cutoff point
might be the section line between Sections 30 and 31 (T50N, R3W). Thus
the Marina site (47AS24) would be outside of the primary probability
area, and be futile ground for finding Warren's ancient Chippewa village
and burial grounds. At best, the Marina site would correlate with Father
Baraga's Mission and its associative Indian burial grounds of the

nineteenth century.

Ross would also have urged archaeologists to hunt elsewhere further
from the village of La Pointe for older artifacts. His maps 17, 23 and 24
emphasize that the Indian burrying ground in Section 31 T50N, R3W was
used mainly in the nineteenth century after 1836. If this is the site of
the Marina dig 47AS24, it has little or no potential for finding earlier

remains.

Correlatively, Ross placed Michel Cadotte's first house of 1793 on
Madeline {sland in Section 6 (T49N, R3W), not far from Grant's Point.
This coincides well with Warren's statement about dwelling as a boy (c.
1835) on the very spot where cannibalism took place. Since Warren's
maternal grandfather was Michel Cadotte, this is direct linkage to the

house in question.

From what Ross has told us, the most fruitful area for archaeological
search may already be lost forever because of wave action at the
southwestern tip of Madeline Island. Yet some of the territory for the
early Chippewa village remains accessible to man, but digging it up may
still run counter to Ojibway sensibilities, as it did in 1900 when the Beloit
College students trespassed on sacred Indian ground.

xxii


But because of the guilt-complex of their old men, Warren thought it
more likely that the Chippewa abandoned Madeline Island before the
coming of the whites, because of the cannibalistic practices that had
transpired there. As Warren put it: "Whether or not these evil prac-
tices were at this particular period caused by dire necessity, either
through a failure of their crops, or by being entirely hemmed in by their
enemies, as to be prevented from hunting on the main shore, the writer
is not able to state, though he should be but too happy to give this as a
Palliating excuse for the horrid custom he is obliged to relate, as once

having been in such vogue in the tribe of whom he is writing. 6

Elsewhere in Chippewa legend it was frequently noted happenstance
that their food supply failed them, most usually in winter. Although the
fish of Lake Superior probably never provided more than half of the
Chippewa diet during early historic times, it is nevertheless true that
both the game animals on land and the fish supply in the lake migrated
from place to place at various seasons. Only in the twentieth century
have various scientific studies documented the fact that the feeding
grounds of fish are modified by storms, changing biological environment,
temperature, spawning habits, and other factors. Also, in the past
century (1870-1970), overfishing frequently depleted the fish supply in
one place, so that fishermen hunted elsewhere for the finny creatures.
tt is unlikely, however, that the Chippewa ever had the technological
capability of depleting the fish in one locale by overfishing.

Alexander Henry, a hunter-trader of the eighteenth century in the
Lake Superior environs, told of a winter in which the fish supply failed
because of an accident. Before the onset of the winter season, Henry
and his Indian companions at Sault Ste. Marie laid in a large stock of fish
to bide them over the lean months. Henry had either dried the fish or
had them frozen, some 500 fish in number, and set them aside.

Fish were so abundant that Henry's companions exported several
canoe-loads of fish to Michilimackinac. Despite these successes with
fishing, a nocturnal fire burned down most of the dwellings at his camp,

and the reserve fish supply was destroyed. As a result, the people at

11


ee ""”,:r""e TM

Nute, Grace Lee. The Voyageur. New York; D. Appleton & Co.,
1931; reprint ed., St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1955.

Owen, David Dale. Geological Survey of Wisconsin lowa and
Minnesota. Philadelphia: 1852.

Quaife, Milo Milton., ed. Alexander Henry's Travels and Adventures
in the Years 1760-1776. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1921.

Quaife, Milo Milton., ed. The Western Country in the 17th Century;
the Memoirs of Antoine Lamothe Caddillac and Pierre Liette.

New York: The Citadel Press, 1962.

Quimby, George Irving. Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes;
11,000 B. C. to A. D. 1800. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1960.

Radisson, Pierre Esprit. Voyages of Pierre Esprit Radisson. New
York: Peter Smith edition, 1943.

Ross, Hamilton Nelson. La Pointe - Village Outpost. Ann Arbor:
Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1960.

Sagard-Theodat, Gabriel. Histoire du Canada. Paris reprint:
1866. (reprint of 1632 edition).

Sagard-Theodat, Gabriel. Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons.
Paris: 1865.

Smith, Alice Elizabeth. The History of Wisconsin. Madison: State
Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1973. Vol. 1: From Exploration
to Statehood.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold. Wisconsin, The Americanization of a French
Settlement. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1908.

Tuttle, Charles R. An Illustrated History of the State of Wisconsin.
Boston: B. B. Russell & Co., 1875.

Warren, William W. History of the Ojibway Nation. Philadelphia:
Collins Printer, 1885; Volume V of the Collections of the
Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul; reprint ed.,

Minneapolis, MN.: Ross & Haines, Inc., 1974.

Articles

Armstrong, Benjamin’ G. "Reminiscences of Life Among the
Chippewa." Wisconsin Magazine of History Part |: 55 (Spring
1972): 175-196; Part If: 55 (Summer 1972): 287-309; Part III:
56 (Autumn 1972): 37-58; Part [V: 56 (Winter 1972-3):
140-161.

Fifield, Sam. “Among the Historic Apostle Islands." National

Magazine (July 1898): 364-372.

131


The year of destiny for DuLuth, at least so far as fishing was
concerned, was 1870. It was then that the Lake Superior and Mississippi
Railroad was completed to DuLuth. Even the construction phase gave
impetus to more fishing, since the road gangs had to be fed.
Construction began at both ends of the line, and for this reason, DuLuth
blossomed to 1,100 people in 1869. With completion of the railroad in
1870, DuLuth's population tripled to 3,130. Entrepreneurs anticipated
that the new railroad would find a considerable market for Lake Superior
fish in southern Minnesota and lowa. At the same time there were more
fish eaters nearby in the newly burgeoning lumber camps of northern

Minnesota. 3

Fish production statistics for DuLuth in 1870 are fragmentary. It is
known that at least 869 barrels of fish were landed at two docks in the
city, and about half of these were shipped south by rail. Only about 6.5
percent of the salted fish were shipped over the lake via the Sault, so
one must conclude that a high proportion of the catch was being eaten
locally.

The opening of the DuLuth rail line, together with the completion of
a wagon road from Bayfield, attracted some fish traffic from the latter
place in winter. This was used only when the over water route was
frozen shut among the Apostle Islands. The Bayfielders, most notably
the Boutin brothers, sent their fish to a St. Paul market.

The 1870 Census revealed that there were at least 32 full-time
fishermen along Minnesota's North Shore at that time. One historian of
that fishery suspected that there was a considerably larger number of
part-time fishermen living in that region. These men brought their catch
to DuLuth. The city had at least two fish marketing companies, one of
which was Bradshaw, Bly and Company. Most of the Minnesota fishermen
used gill nets and small skiffs for their work. The steep rocky bottoms
of the Minnesota waters precluded the use of pound nets there. 4

31


The Annual Fishery Cycle: Using the calendar-year method of

reciting fishery activities, the Jarger scale fishermen began the year by
harvesting ice. This process is described in the furnishings study
portion of these reports on the Hokenson Dock. At the same time, both
private and commercial fishers did some fishing through the ice in the
winter months. The method of stringing gangs of gill-nets under the ice
has also been described in the furnishings study portion of these
reports. Smaller scale fisherman with single tines would go wel! out onto
the lake ice among the islands during the coldest weather, most of them
having a small portable hut with stove to shelter them and warm them
from the wind. Only blizzards would stop them entirely, for they would
fish on days having extremely cold temperatures.

The moment for commencement of spring operations was signalled by
the breakup of the fake ice. At the earliest opportunity, pound-netters
would get their pile drivers out and commence setting the poles. Their
start at fishing would then hinge upon the completion of their pounds. A
man with few such nets was ready to tend them soonest. Gill-netters
would also begin fishing quite soon after the ice breakup, but June
through September were their best months in the olden days. More
recently, the restriction on catches and the requirements to tag lake
trout would shorten their season. Now too, fishing is forbidden during
whitefish and lake trout spawning season in October. Formerly October
was also a fishing month for these money fish, both with pounds and
gill-nets. The herring season nearly always commenced in late October
and lasted until either early December or until a major storm or the
complete onset of winter conditions accompanied by the freeze-up of the
intra-island waters. Sometimes a big storm would interrupt the herring
season in the middle, and the fishermen could recommence their harvest
after its passage. Once the herring disappeared, usually in early
December, but sometimes in late November, the annual Apostle islands
fishery cycle was complete. Yet one must say that adventuresome spirits
would still fish during any interval, if it were humanly possible to get

their equipment into the water.

xxv


10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

CHAPTER Ill FOOTNOTES

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Table 95, p. 146.

Ibid., Table 98, p. 150; Table 100, p. 153.

lbid., Tables 98,99, 100; pages 150-4.

BCP, June 7, 1902.

BCP, September 30, 1904, article derived from the Ashland Press;
"Treaty With the Chippewa, 1854," from Charles J. Kappler, Indian
Affairs; Laws and Treaties, Vol. '!, Treaties, (Washington:

Government Printing Office, 1904; reprint ed., New York: Interland
Publishing Inc., 1972), p. 648-52.

Julius F. Wolff, Jr., “1905 - Lake Superior at Its Worst," Inland
Seas 18 (Fall 1962), p. 192-3; interview with Eskel Hokenson by
David Fritz, Route 1, Bayfield, Wisconsin, July 11, 1978; Walt
Harris, The Chequamegon Country, 1659 1976, (Fayetteville, Ark.:
Walter J. Harris, 1976), P. 227; hereafter cited as Harris.

Lawrence Rakestraw, "Forest and Cultural History in Apostle Islands
and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior," (Houghton,
Mich.: Michigan Technological University, 1975), typescript, page
43; hereafter cited as Rakestraw.

BCP, October 23, 1904.

Harris, p. 319; Ross, p. 168; Rakestraw, p. 37; June Drenning
Holmquist, "Commercial Fishing on Lake Superior in the 1890's,"
Minnesota History 34 (Summer, 1955), p. 243-9.

Bayfield Progress, January 6, 1910.

BCP, undated 1900 article in clipping collection of Marjory Benton,
Bayfield, Wisconsin; B. G. H. Johnson, Bernard R. Smith and
J. James Tibbles, Control of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus)
in Lake Superior, 1953-70, (Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Fishery
Commission, University of Michigan, 1974), also known as Technical
Report No. 26, p. 2.

Bayfield Progress, January 19, 1911.

BCP, January 19 and July 13, 1911; interview with Emory Jones by
David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin, on July 17, 1978.

Bayfield Progress, June 19, 1913.
BCP, March 26, 1915.

BCP, December 12, 1913; Baldwin & Saalfeld, Table 95, p. 146-7.

118


Bayfield paper's contemporary observation. The available records show
that Wisconsin fishermen had better herring yields in 1903, 1896 and
1895; but basically 1913 was a good year. The following year was still

better, and this record was not equalled or surpassed until i940, 16

The years before World War | were years in which the Hokenson
brothers made a noble attempt at farming at a homestead about two miles
south of Little Sand Bay, the later site of their fishery. Their father,
Peter Hokanson, had passed away in 1910, after gallantly making an
attempt to become a farmer when in his early 70's. With his demise, at
age 74, the eldest son, Eskel, tried to take hold and run the farm. At
first, after 1911, his new stepfather, Christian Melde, tried to help the
young men with their agricultural enterprise. But Melde was a natural
storekeeper who gravitated as a matter of course to the grocery business
in the town of Bayfield. By then Eskel was old enough and mature

enough to take the reins from his stepfather and run the farm. '"

While the Hokensons tried to make a go of their farm, Lake Superior
continued to demonstrate its unforgiving severity to fishermen. The
Bayfield paper reported the drowning of three fishermen in April of 1915:
Charles Russell, Chauncey Wright and Nels Teigen. Again in December
of 1917 another fisherman perished in a freak accident. A fire aboard
the Herring King out of Bayfield drove its two occupants into the lake
and just as a rescue boat arrived, one of the men, John Gordon, went
under and perished from the effects of the frigid water, even though he
had to swim only a short distance. His partner, Clarence Russell, was
able to abandon the flaming Herring King and swim successfully to the

rescuing Goldish. 18

And yet the Apostle Island fishery was prosperous in the decade
1910-1920. In herring, for example, Wisconsin fishermen on Lake
Superior averaged 946.5 tons per annum. The whitefish fishermen were
struggling, however, and the yield averaged only about 17.5 tons per
annum. The lake trout yield was good at 270.6 tons per annum. In
1917, three Bayfield companies marketed 82% of the Lake Superior herring
taken by Wisconsin fishermen. S$. L. Boutin Company packed 800,000

64


"There is at present a village of Chippewa of fifty warriors
seated at this place; but the inhabitants reside here during the
summer only, going westward in the winter to hunt. The

village was anciently much more populous. "2?

Henry told also about other Indian fishing methods which do not,
strictly speaking, apply to Lake Superior. Many of Henry's observations
were made at Michilimackinac, between Lakes Michigan and Huron, but
similar methods were followed on Lake Superior. Henry described the
fishing through holes in the ice with set lines and baits at depths as

great as 50 fathoms “2

By this means they would catch trout weighing
from 10 to 60 pounds. The quality of the achievement was diluted
somewhat by the intrusion of modernity--the European traders were

already providing metal hooks and manufactured twine for the aborigines.

Similarly, with spearing through the ice, the primeval Indian spear
was now tipped with a spearhead of iron. Otherwise the Chippewa ice
fisherman followed his ancient technique with his old 10-foot spear:

"This instrument is lowered into the water; and the fisherman,
lying upon his belly, with his head under the cabin or cover,
and therefore over the hole, lets down the figure of a fish in
wood and filled with lead. Round the middle of the fish is tied
a small packthread; and when at the depth of ten fathoms
[sixty feet] where it is intended to be employed, it is made, by
drawing the string and by the simultaneous pressure of the
water, to move forward after the manner of a real fish. Trout
and other large fish, deceived by its resemblance, spring
toward it to seize it; but by a dexterous jerk of the string it is
instantly taken out of their reach. The decoy is now drawn
nearer to the surface, and the fish takes some time to renew
the attack, during which the spear is raised and held
conveniently for striking. On the return of the fish the spear
is plunged into its back; and, the spear being barbed, it is
easily drawn out of the water. So completely do the rays of
the light pervade the element that in three fathoms [eighteen

18



During the same era, the two other principal money fish, whitefish
and lake trout, also had good results. In whitefish, the Wisconsin
fishermen averaged about 160 tons per year. In lake trout, they took an
average of 712 tons per year.° This presaged the average production of
those three types of fish over the long span of years from 1908 to 1977.
Thus the herring production from 1893 to 1896 was nearly the equivalent
of the annual yield for the twentieth century years. But the comparative
statistics for whitefish and lake trout reveal the expected decline from
nineteenth to twentieth century yields. Among Wisconsin fishermen on
Lake Superior, the average annuai yield for whitefish for the twentieth
century was only about half the nineteenth century yield, when one uses
the available statistics from 1892 to 1897. Similarly with lake trout, the
Wisconsin fishermen in the twentieth century took less than one-third the

annual tonnage of fish compared to their nineteenth century brethren.°

The Bayfield County Press over the years provides a running
commentary on the state of the fishery in the Bayfield Peninsula
environs. The number for June 7th 1902, for example, tells of the birth
of the fishing village of Cornucopia about 13 miles west of Bayfield. An
Jowa firm purchased 25,000 acres of land around Siskiwit Bay, and it was
their intention of bringing a hundred families from fowa to form a farming
community. Already at the time of the article's composition, a lumber mill
employing twenty men had been erected, and there were plans to put up
a church, a school, a hotel, and three stores immediately. The author of
the article did not foresee that the farming endeavor would eventually

take second place to commercial fishing.”

A theme that recurred in the Bayfield newspaper was the story of
the Chippewa Indian role in the fishery. Available evidence from that
Paper indicates that the Chippewa fishing was not a large scale operation,
but that at widely scattered intervals there were misunderstandings about
the fishing privileges enjoyed by the Native Americans. A 1904 story,
for example, tells how four male Indians were arrested for fishing without
licenses beyond what was thought to be the limits of the reservation.
Two of the arrestees were freed immediately, and the other two were
acquitted in court. The case demonstrated the Chippewa Treaty right to
fish in the Lake Superior waters adjacent to their reservation holdings.>

59


other occupations; Duffey, for example, was keeping a saloon in Bayfield
in 1880. Most of the brothers had sons who also followed the fishing
vocation; and after 100 years, there is still one or the other Boutin

descendant in Bayfield who is at least a part-time fisherman. 7

It would be a mistake to say that the Boutins were the entirety of
the Bayfield fishing story, but they certainly were a very significant part
of it. If they were employing 100 men, as one source states, they were
controlling more than half of the Bayfield fishing output. One table from
the Fish and Fisheries Report for 1887 showed that Bayfield had 182 full
or part-time fishermen in 1885. This number exceeded those at Duluth,
157, the next largest fishing station. The Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan,
was third with 128 total fishermen. These three stations had 23 percent,
20 percent, and 16 percent, respectively, of the fishery work force on

the American side of Lake Superior. '8

The Bayfield Press or Bayfield County Press, established in 1870,

and founded by Sam S. Fifield, gives us a continuing picture of the state
of the fishery over a 100-year span. A December 1870 number tells us
that 250 men were constantly employed in the fish trade, and that the
year's production was 15,000 half-barrels of white fish and trout, selling
at 5 dollars each. That was a hefty price of 5 cents a pound, a price

that was not matched in all places on Lake Superior in 1930.19

The issue of April 8, 1871 told of the Boutins' fishing success
already in the early spring with 2,000 "halves" of the two favorite brands
of fish. The same article stated that 50 fishermen and families would
soon arrive from the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. The Ashland Daily
Press of June 27, 1874 told of the dominant position of the company of N
& F Boutin, and that Bayfield was the center of the Lake Superior
fisheries. The Bayfield Press of June 20, 1877 revealed that a few
Bayfield wholesalers were sending their pickup steamers as far as
Washington Harbor on Isle Royale. One steamer, the Marco Polo,
gathered 36 halves from the various fishermen near that island, and
delivered them to N & F Boutin. The same article stated that many fish

were very large, requiring only 15 fish to fill a half-barrel.

36



The first noteworthy appearance of one of the Hokenson brothers
upon the Lake Superior scene was that by Eskel in September 1905 when
he happened upon some of the survivors of the Sevona. The Sevona was
an iron ore carrier out of Superior, Wisconsin that got caught in a
September storm. Battered by mid-lake waves, she ran for shelter among
the Apostle Islands. The ship ran aground near Sand (Island and broke
in two. One group of survivors came ashore in lifeboats near Little Sand
Bay, and it was here that thirteen year old Eskel Hokenson saw some of
the soaked and shivering crew members. Those survivors were taken
into the homes of neighbors; some of whom were fishermen, lumberjacks,
or homesteaders like the Hokensons. The shipwreck victims were given
shelter, dry clothes and hot meals, and were eventually given

transportation to their desired destinations.®

The connection of this disaster to the Hokensons and the fishery is
clear. This was one demonstration among many on Lake Superior, that
showed even the young Hokenson boys that storms on the lake could
attack seafarers at almost any time, even during the relatively safe month
of September. The lesson of the Sevona was reinforced many times over
the years, both by shipwrecks of large commercial ships, as well as more
personal adventures that betook acquaintances, friends, relatives and
themselves. The Hokensons could visit at any time the shack on Sand
isiand where editor Sam Fifield converted the wooden hatch covers of the
Sevona into the walls of his summer place. This cottage on Sand Island
still stands.”

In the same era with the Sevona disaster, one large commercial
fishery company was making a name for itself in the Apostle Islands
environs. {n 1904 during the herring run, the A. Booth Packing
Company of Bayfield added a new innovation to its operation. Booth had
commenced a canning operation that averaged 2,500 cans of pickled
herring daily in season. To do this, the Booth company had to add a
dozen men to its usual complement of 16 men. Their intention was to
utilize the canning process for other varieties of fish as well, since a
Bayfield County Press article stated that the canning operation would be
functional during eight months of the year. The article also admitted

that most of Booth's packaging still consisted of kegs.8

60



nets of their burdens before the fish would spcil. So Jones gave the
appropriate net mesh numbers to the commission members, and the

resultant legislation followed his ideas almost exactly .8

Both the Hokensons and other commercial fishermen of the Apostle
islands region spoke of the close cooperation between themselves and
state officiais during the 1930's and 1940's in the gathering of spawn
during October and November of each year. Trout and whitefish were
protected by a closed season from late September to mid-November. The
state utilized a system of special permits to catch specimens of spawning
fish during the closed season.

The volunteer fishermen who took spawn had to make several
preliminary net-lifts to discover the day when the whitefish and trout
were ready for spawning. All of the fish caught in the early lifts had to
be returned to the lake, if they were still alive. Gill nets usually killed
the fish, and these would be kept. So most of the spawning samples
were taken with shorter lengths of gill net so as not to deplete the stock
during the spawning season. Finally, when the fish were mature for
spawning, the fishermen "milked" the females for ova and the males for
milt. Ova and milt were mixed together in a container. Hatchery
personne! supervised mixing procedures, but after years of practice, most
commercial fishermen of the area knew the practices as well as a trained
hatchery man. The fishermen were allowed to keep the fish which had
provided offspring, since these mature creatures had surrendered the
product for which they had been taken. One year, 1938, a newspaper
article told how Evar Bodine caught 1200 pounds of fish under special
permit.26

G. The 1940's and Early 1950's:

The 1940's were indeed the halcyon days for the Apostle Islands
fishery. Whitefish averaged 206 tons per annum in the Wisconsin waters
of Lake Superior, more than double the annual average for the entire

twentieth century up to that time. Lake trout had a similar record: 291

95


"SCRAPBOOK OF A FISHERMAN'S WIFE

MRS. HOKENSON'S ALBUM RECORDS FISHING LIFE ON LAKE
SUPERIOR

A family scrapbook is, of course, a record of a family's work
and play. Mrs. Leo Hokenson's photo albums, in addition to
chronicling the high-chair to high-school progress of daughter
Elaine and son Robert, tell the story of an occupation which is

unusual to 99 percent of state electric co-op members.

For the Hokensons, who live on Rt. 1, Bayfield, are fishermen,
and have been for the past 27 years. It's a family operation,
with brothers Leo, Roy and Eskel. Leo's son Robert and
Eskel's son Gary, all pitching in. The Hokensons use pond
{sic] nets to catch the Lake Superior whitefish and trout off
Sand Bay.

“Pond nets are twine traps which corral the fish and hold them,
alive and undamaged, until the men raise the nets," explained
Mrs. Hokenson. '"We like them better than gill nets because the
fish tend to fight these and frequently end up in bad shape."

Fishing season starts for the Hokensons as soon as the ice
leaves Lake Superior. The nets, which have been tarred so
they won't rot, hang from poles set in about 40 feet of water.
Twelve nets are being used by the Hokensons this year. A
pile driver built on a raft sets the poles each spring. They
are removed in the fall by a winch and stored on the beach for

further use.
"The poles have to be made of peeled hardwood, and it is

getting mighty hard to find trees which are thin at the bottom
but still tall enough to be used," remarked Mrs. Hokenson.

98


The Ojibway dependence on fish for subsistence is an integra) part
of the Warren history. The northern habitat of the Chippewa, the
environs of Lake Superior and the northern woods of present Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Michigan, were blessed with numerous streams, lakes and
other bodies of water besides the Big-Sea-Water, al! filled with a copious
supply of fish. In| summarizing Chippewa foodstuffs, Warren wrote:
"They procure food principally by fishing, also by gathering wild rice,
hunting deer, and, in some bands, partially by agriculture."

One of the clans or totems of the tribe was even named after the
creatures of the deep, the Awause, or "Great Fish" clan. Of the 20 odd
families in these clans, at least half a dozen were named for fish: the
catfish, the merman, the pike, the sucker, the sturgeon, and the white

fish.4

Some of the Chippewa traditions passed on by Warren are so
intimately interwoven with mythology or allegory, it is difficult to sift out
fiction from fact. Warren copied down one legend narrated by Chief
Tugwaugaunay that purported to tell the story of creation and the role
played in it by his people, the Crane Family. The sinuous narrative
gives a notion of the Indian migration across the land-bridge from Asia to
the heart of North America. At some date, not too far beyond the
memories of living men, as Chief Tugwaugaunay related, the Crane Family
was the first to lay claim to "Boweting" (Sault Ste. Marie) and the area
around Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. At both places, according to
the story, the crane chose these resting places because of the abundance

of white fish and other species in the clear depths of the great Jake.>

Fish and fishing, therefore, were an essential element near the
center of Ojibway folklore. Story after story casts the dramatis personae
with a fishing backdrop. One sample will suffice to characterize a large
body of mythical lore:

"A party consisting of warriors belonging to the Marten family
was at one time collected at Fond du Lac [Duluth]. They
Proceeded on the war-path against the family of the Omush-kas,


li. Secondary Sources

Books

Andreas, A. T., compiler. History of Northern Wisconsin.
Chicago: The Western Historical Company, 1881.

The Book of Fishes. Washington, D. C.: National Geographic
Society, 1924.

Burnham, Guy M. The Lake Superior Country in History and in
Story. Ashland, Wisconsin: Ashland Daily Press, 1930;
reprint ed., Ann Arbor: Browzer Books, 1975.

Fries, Robert F. Empire in Pine; The Story of Lumbering in
Wisconsin. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1951.

Goode, G. Brown. American Fishes. Boston: L. C. Page & Co.,
1887.

Harris, Walter J. The Chequamegon Country 1659-1976.
Fayetteville, Ark.: Walter J. Harris, 1976.

Havighurst, Walter., ed. The Great Lakes Reader. New York:
Collier Books, a division of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.,
1966.

History of the Great Lakes. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1899;
reprint ed., Cleveland: Freshwater Press, Inc., 1972.

Hubbs, Carl L., and Lagler, Karl F. Fishes of the Great Lakes.
2nd ed. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan: Cranbrook Institute of
Science, 1958.

Kellogg, Louise Phelps., ed. Early Narratives of the Northwest,
1634-1699. New York: Charies Scribner's Sons, 1917.

Kellogg, Louise Phelps. The French Regime in Wisconsin and the

Northwest. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1925;
reprint ed., New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1968.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Song of Hiawatha. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1883; reprint ed., New York: Bounty
Books, division of Crown Publishers, 1968.

Nesbit, Robert C. Wisconsin, A History. Madison: State Historical
Society, University of Wisconsin Press, 1973.

Nute, Grace Lee. Lake Superior. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill,
1944.

130


whitefish in years gone by. Modern tagging studies have shown that lake
trout do not migrate very widely, whitefish migrate somewhat more, and
lake herring appear to be the most nomadic of all. Herring can be
caught at any season at any place in Lake Superior, but they only
congregate in commercially valuable numbers from late October until early
December at spawning time. And even then the fishermen have to find
the herring gathering places either by visual means or by = sonar

sounders.

It is certain that overfishing depletes the supply of any fish in a
given location in the Jake for a time. Because of their migratory habits,
lake herring would ordinarily bounce back more quickly in an overfished
locale, because they tend to move into the vacuum from the rest of the
lake. Conversely, lake trout and whitefish would not bounce back as
quickly. The real measure of what is a traditional fishing ground in Lake
Superior is the range of the fisherman's boat and the availability of a
safe port. In this sense Bayfield and the Apostle Islands were and are
traditional fishing grounds. So it comes down to the amount of mileage a
fishing boat can cover in a day's time and whether it can get the fish to
market quickly enough to avoid spoilage. But the Halvor Reiten story of
the sinking of the Friant makes the point that when the islands are
frozen-in for winter, they too are eliminated as fishing grounds. That
was why Reiten and his companions headed for Isle Royale--to fish in
open waters--so that they could lay up a stock of fish to be iced on that
island for several months or to market them in Duluth. There are
records of Minnesota North Shore fishermen who would catch rough fish
in the winter, pile them up ashore, pour cold water over them to freeze
them solid, and sell them to mink farmers for feed or to dirt farmers as
fertilizer in the spring. But such practices were risky and rare, and
since the catch was only rough fish, a small profit was involved.

Reiten's expedition was more ambitious; he was after money fish.

The Role of Island Fishing Camps and Stations: The island fishing

camps were part of the cooperative fishing effort inspired by the large
companies and their collection steamers. These individual fishermen would

either own a plot of ground with lake frontage on one of the Apostle


The rivalry between sport fishermen and commercial fishermen in
recent years has probably been more intense and bitter than any
competition between Indians and whites over fishing rights. Probably
because of the near-demise of the commercial fishery, sport fishermen
claimed a certain ascendancy in the field. They could claim, after all,
with a certain amount of persuasiveness, that overfishing was the cause
of the present problem; and, since commercial fishermen had brought
these things upon themselves, the fish that were left should be reserved
for the true sportsmen, who only pursued the finny creatures for the
adventure, rather than for the extinction of the fishery. Despite the
simplistic nature of this contention, articles appeared in northern
Wisconsin newspapers relating the story of the competition between sport
and commercial fishermen. The Ashland Daily Press used an Associated
Press release out of Washington in late 1977 to summarize the conclusions
of a General Accounting Office report on this subject. The report
painted a gloomy picture of fishery prospects, mentioning that the
commercial fishing industry on the Great Lakes had declined by 83
percent since 1930, in so far as the lakes once had 5,284 full-time and
1,617 part-time commercial fishermen; but now had only 137 full-time and
1,043 part-time fishermen. The report stated further: "All eight Great
Lakes states favor recreational fishing over commercial fishing and have
established regulations restricting or prohibiting the commercial catch of

certain high-value species desired by recreational fishermen."117

The GAO report explained that it was the planting of exotic species
such as coho and chinook salmon during the late 1930's that drew
recreational fishermen in such numbers to the Great Lakes, and made
them, in time, a lobbying force of considerable influence. The report
also developed the theme of contaminants in the lakes. Residual deposits
of certain pesticides were discovered in the fatty tissue of several food
fishes; and adverse media publicity tended to tarnish the image of the
once wholesome fishery products. Naturally, this summation of the
fishery's ills included mention of overfishing, the depradations of the sea
lamprey, and the difficulties of hatchery replacement of fish stocks. In
the latter problem, hatchery people were compelled to confess that

artificial reproduction of food fish was not as efficient as natural

113


55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.
62.

63.

64.

65.
66.

67.

68.

69.

truck. Four tons are hauled to a load and the trip is made in less
than two days with three men as drivers."

Interview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin,
July 17, 1978; also BCP, October 29, 1931.

Grace Lee Nute, Lake Superior, (Indianapolis: Bobbs - Merrill,
1944), p. 194.

Interview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin,
July 17, 1980.

BCP, July 4, 1940.

Baldwin & Saalfeld, Tables 95, 98, 100 and 101, pages 146-7, 150-1,
154-5.

Interview with Roy Hokenson by David Fritz at Little Sand Bay,
July 10, 1978.

BCP, February 2, 1928,
BCP, December 15, 1928.

G. Brown Goode, American Fishes, (Boston: L. C. Page & Co.,
1887), p. 466-7; hereafter cited as Goode.

Interview with Roy Hokenson by David Fritz at Little Sand Bay, July
10, 1978; also Goode, p. 466-8.

BCP, November 17, 1927 and October 31, 1929.

Interview with Jack Erickson by David Fritz at Little Sand Bay, July
13, 1978.

Interview with Herman Johnson by David Fritz at Bayfield, July 14,
1978; also BCP, May 3, 1928.

BCP, January 28, 1932; Ashland Press, January 15 and 18, 1932;
BCP, January 20, 27, February 3, 1955.

Interview with Emory Jones by David Fritz at Cornucopia, Wisconsin,
July 14, 1978. The articles by Julius F. Wolff, Jr. are all in Inland
Seas. They include: "Some Shipwrecks on the Pioneer North Shore
of Lake Superior," (Summer 1961), p. 114-122; "1905 - Lake
Superior at {ts Worst” (Part 1, Fall 1962), p. 190-8; (Part 2, Winter
1962), p. 273-9; "The Coast Guard Comes to Lake Superior, 1874 -
1875," (Spring 1965), p. 14-21; "A Coastal Packet on Lake
Superior," (Fall 1966), p. 179-84; "Before the Days of Radar: Ship
Collisions on Lake Superior," (Summer 1969), p. 137-48; "The
Shipwrecks of Lake Superior, 1900 - 1909," (Part 1, Summer 1971),
p. 130-142; (Part 2, Fall 1971), p. 174-187; (Part 3, Spring 1972),
p. 51-63; and "One Hundred Years of Rescues: The Coast Guard on
Lake Superior,” (Spring 1976), p. 32-51.

121


, ee, ee

Reiten, Halvor. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz,
NPS, July 13, 1978 and January 16, 1979.

Reiten, Halvor. Bayfield, Wisconsin. Interviewed by Jeff Pope,
1976. From the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center, Oral
History Project, University of Minnesota at Duluth Main
Library. Catalog # $2212, accession # 2203.

Pycha, Richard L. Marine Biologist. U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Ashland, Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz, NPS,
June 21, 1978.

Sheridan, Charles. Journalist and . photographer, Washburn,
Wisconsin. Interviewed by David Fritz, NPS, on July 18, 1978.

Published Primary Sources

Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. St. Paul: 1885.

Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison:
1888 - 1895.

Kappler, Charles J., compiler. Indian Affairs; Laws and Treaties.
Vol. 2: Treaties. Washington: Government Printing Office,

1904; reprint ed., New York: Interland Publishing, Inc.,
1972.
Milner, James W. “Report of the Fisheries of the Great Lakes; the

Result of Inquiries Prosecuted in 1871 and 1872." Report of
the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1872 and 1873.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1874. Milner's report
as Part | of Appendix A. Pages 1-75. The Commissioner's
report is otherwise known as Miscellaneous Senate Document 74,
42nd Congress, 3rd session.

U.S. Congress. Senate. Indian Affairs; Laws and Treaties. Vol.
2: Treaties. S. Doc. 319, 58th Cong., 2nd sess., 1904.

U.S. Congress. Senate. Report of the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries for 1872 and 1873. Misc. S. Doc. 74, 42nd Cong.,
3rd sess., 1874. Appendix A: "The Fisheries of the Great
Lakes, and the Species of Coregonus or White Fish;" Part |:
"Report on the Fisheries of the Great Lakes; the Result of
Inquiries Prosecuted in 1871 and 1872 by James W. Milner."

Part !: pages 1-75.

U.S. Congress. Senate. Report of the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, 1873 - 1875. Misc. $. Doc. 108, 43rd Cong., 2d
sess., 1876. Appendix A: "Sea Fisheries and the Fishes and
Invertebrates;" Part 1: “Historical Observations on the
Conditions of the Fisheries Among the Ancient Greeks and
Romans, and On Their Mode of Salting and Pickling Fish." by
J. K. Smidth. Pages 3-20.

127


Having considered the nearly perpetual bonanza of fish catches at
the Sault for a 100-year span, our attention reverts to the Apostle
{slands and the outpost at La Pointe which had been established in 1693.
Despite the fact that missionaries had deserted the Chequamegon Bay
environs as a permanent station by this time, French merchants and fur
traders found the island locale a useful point of contact between the red
and white races. It was 1693 when Count Frontenac, Governor of New
France, sent Pierre La Sueur into the Lake Superior country to construct
a stockaded fort on Madeline Island. This fort was one of several in the
region that were intended both to secure France's sovereignty against
England as well as to protect French fur traders and merchants from

hostile Indians.

From La Sueur's time onward to the end of the French regime in
Canada, there was an almost continuous military presence at the post of
La Pointe on Madeline Island. The known military commanders at this fort

were as follows:

Pierre Le Sueur 1693-1698
Paul Le Gardeur de St. Pierre 1718-1720
Rene Godefroy de Linctot 1720-1726
Louis Denis de la Ronde 1727-1741
Philippe Louis Denis de la Ronde 1741-1743
Louise Chartier de Lotbiniere ta Ronde 1743-1748
Joseph de la Margue, Sieur Marin 1749-1750
Joseph Gaultier, Chevalier de la Verendrye 1751-1755
Pierre Hertel de Beaubassin 1756-1758
Corne de la St. Luc 1758-1762°!

Le Sueur was the nominal commandant of the garrison at La Pointe
during the interval indicated. Most of the time he was absent from his
post, having adventures ranging far and wide over the North American
continent and the Atlantic Ocean. He was present, however, at the
moment in 1698 when the stockaded fort was temporarily closed down.
Although the next 20 years was the only significant interval in which the
French did not keep soldiers near Chequamegon Bay, it is nevertheless

20


house on roller slides or on mechanical belts. In the fish house,
assembly tine methods were used to behead, gut, salt and pack the
herring, usually in half-barrels. With technology advances, machinery
was invented that could behead, gut and pack the fish. Some companies
came to can the fish by machine; but packing in small wooden boxes and
half-barrels were always popular modes. The vast majority of the herring
were salted as a best method of preservation, mainly because spoilage was
the principal problem of a herring fisherman, and salt was the easiest and
quickest preservation technique. Using gill-nets added to the spoilage
problem: the fish were pulled from the lake either dead or in a dying
condition. The cold climate of Lake Superior during the herring season
helped to offset the threat of spoilage. The utilization of perhaps more
than a hundred Bayfielders in the herring harvest rounded out the year
for the town and gave the local economy a cash infusion at an opportune
moment. After that, the fish companies became quiescent as the winter
season closed in and the channels among the islands froze tightly shut.
The selection in the text of this report regarding the role of the
companies in Bayfield during the 1880's limns a picture that is as valid
for the twentieth as for the nineteenth century. The only variables were

the numbers of persons involved and the advances in technology.

Location of Traditional Fishing Grounds: There really was and is no

place that can be called or identified as an habitual haven for any kind of
Lake Superior fish. The fishermen had to discover year in and year out
where the fish were: Even the pound-netter, who believed that lake
trout and whitefish fed along shorelines during the summer, set his
pounds in the usual places and discovered a wide variation in catches at
the same pound from one year to the next. The fisherman learned
certain things about fish habits, for example, that the lake trout and
whitefish did not like to feed in shallows that were murky from storm
disturbance or pollution. Scientists in recent years have learned more
about fish diet, the types of plant and animal foods on which the species
feed; but they cannot predict with any reliability where the plankton or
copepods will be for a given season. For the most part, therefore, the
fisherman would be mystified when his usual quarry did not appear in a

location that he had come to believe was the natural habitat for trout or

viii


During this interval, innumerable travelogues or journals were

written

by people traversing the Lake Superior region. The most

frequent story consisted of observations made at the Sault regarding fish

catches.

Dollier and Galinee left such a description for the year 1670:

"Hitherto the country of the Ottawas had passed in my mind,
and in the minds of all those in Canada, as a place where there
was a great deal of suffering for want of food. But | am so
well persuaded of the contrary that | know of no region in all
Canada where they are less in want of it. The nation of the
Salteaux, or in Algonkin Waouitikoungka Entaouakk or Ojibways,
amongst whom the Fathers are established, live from the melting
of the snows until the beginning of winter on the bank of a
river nearly half a league wide and three leagues long, by
which Lake Superior falls into the Lake of the Hurons. This
river forms at this place a rapid so teeming with fish, called
white fish or in Algonkin attikamegue, that the Indians could
easily catch enough to feed 10,000 men. It is true the fishing
is so difficult that only Indians can carry it on. No Frenchman
has hitherto been able to succeed in it, nor any other Indian
than those of this tribe, who are used to this kind of fishing
from an early age. But, in short, this fish is so cheap that
they give 10 or 12 of them for four fingers of tobacco. Each
weights 6 or 7 pounds, but it is so big and so delicate that |
know of no fish that approaches it. Sturgeon is caught in this
small river, close by, in abundance. Meat is so cheap here
that for a pound of glass beads |! had four minots of fat
entrails of moose, which is the best morsel of the animal. This
shows how many these people kill. It is at these places that
one gets a beaver robe for a fathom of tobacco, sometimes for a
quarter of a pound of powder, sometimes for six knives,
sometimes for a fathom of small blue beads, etc. This is the
reason why the French go there, notwithstanding the frightful

difficulties that are encountered. "2

14


1930's to issue day-to-day or season-to-season regulations regarding
fishing. Nevertheless, as the years passed, fishermen continued to make

new proposals for further legislation. °4

Emory Jones of Cornucopia, in a recent interview, gave a glimpse
into the methods used in those days to regulate fishing on Lake Superior.
Without remembering the exact time-frame, he related how his fellow
fishermen entrusted him with positions of honor, representing them before
state legislators. It was either the late 1930's or early 1940's (the
Bayfield paper shows that Jones was an association officer during that
interval), when Emory Jones went to a meeting in Madison at the start of
a legislative session. He was to confer with members of the state Fishery
Commission and expected a host of other fishermen to be there conferring
with the bureaucrats. To his surprise, he alone, Emory Jones, was the
sole advisor to the group. Jones could remember one man in particular,
whom he could not identify by name, but was, in Jones' words, "a lawyer
who headed the biggest law firm in Madison." This man told Emory:
"You've been fishing for a long time, so you ought to know what should

be done. Just tell us what you want."

In summary, Jones told the Madison lawyer that the mesh of the
various nets was the major item to reguiate, as mesh-size determined
fish-size. Jones told the lawyer that net-width did not matter so much,
since, wide or narrow, a fisherman could reel in only so many linear feet
of netting per day. And the unwieldiness of a wider net worked against
itself, since then the fisherman could not lower as many lfinear feet in a
day's time. The same limitation of man-hours-per-day restricted any
fisherman in the number of linear feet of netting he could manage.
Similarly, the very size of a man's boat controlled the number of boxes of
nets he could hold. There might be enough space for the clean nets, but
if the catch was heavy, he might not be able to reel in all of the netting
with its heavy burdens. Frequently during the short herring season,
this problem became a reality: a fisherman might not be able to walk
around the interior of his boat, since the space was taken up by nets
filled with fish. And then he would have the additional logistical problem
when he reached port, of having his family or hired help pick the laden

94


Ross therefore accepted Warren's placement as the most reliable

testimony concerning the location of the earliest Chippewa settlements on
Madeline. Warren had said [96]: "Here, [Madeline island] they chose

the site of their ancient town, and it covered a space about three miles
long and two broad, comprising the western end of the island." This is
land adjacent to Grant's Point, and not even close to the recent MWAC
dig near La Pointe, the Marina site 47AS24.

Ross told as well what the erosions of time had done to the shoreline
at Grant's Point. The lake currents had apparently shortened the
extension of that point by half a mile during the interval 1852 to 1939.
Ross speculated that there had been an even lengthier point as far back
as 1693 [Map 16, p. 44]. Striking evidence of this eroding force was the
appearance, over time, of some of the ancient graves of the Chippewa.
Ross told the following story about these apparitions [176-177]:

At the extreme southwest end of the island (Grant's Point) is
an unmarked and unsung burying ground containing the graves
of many Indians. No authentic explanation has ever been
advanced either for its location or why this number of Indians
were buried there, unless it bears out Warren's statement that
the principal Ojibway settlement of 1490-1610 was at this end of
the island, and the sand beach offered a convenient burying
place. The shifting sands of the point, at times, unearth some
of these graves, exposing bones, relics, arrowheads and
tomahawks. One legend avers that certain unbaptized natives
had been interred at the spot. Another, linked with an
incident which occurred in 1900, might furnish the answer.

In that year, the Old Mission Inn was staffed by a number
of Beloit College students who, impressed with the historical
background of the locality, and hearing of the possible
archaeological trove, decided to investigate the area. Many
skulls and artifacts were unearthed, and the budding scientists
were jubilant over their finds. In the midst of their attempts
to classify and sort their loot, they were waited upon by a
delegation of La Pointe French-Ojibway. They were asked if
they would like to have outsiders appear and disinter their
ancestors. When Joseph Neveaux, the leader of the committee,
delivered his Parthian shot of "Besides, they all died of the
smallpox,"" the amateurs quickly re-interred their finds, and
hastened to be vaccinated.

The quote both helps to confirm the center of early Chippewa settlement

as well as relate to a possible correlation to the cannibalism era. The

xxi


clime were and are limited, and this fact made cannibalism more likely. If
there is any leit motif to the three Hokenson studies, it is this: that the
Apostle Islands region exists in a geographical area with severe climatic
conditions, conditions which demand that any inhabitant lay in a stock of
subsistence materials against the day when weather would not permit
humans to forage for food. This is why the inhabitants of Bayfield
County have always been noted for the diversification of their
life-sustaining activities--because they perpetually live in a nearly arctic
survival situation. In fact, this cause, more than any other, explains
why the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore exists at all. For as much as
the white man's history in the place, just like the red man's, was such
that once the food supplies and resources of the area were depleted
through exploitation, there would be no other way the land could sustain
life except through tourism, a resort industry, sport fishing, other forms
of recreational activity, in short, the modern but milder variants of
cannibalism. Thus, for now, the people of the Apostle islands area need
the National Park Service to support and guarantee their livelihood, and
bolster their economy, so that they can buy foodstuffs that are largely
brought in from the outside.

Additionally, there is no particular obloquy that attaches to
Chippewa Indians generally because of a few instances of cannibalism
among them. World War II stories abound of raft and boat survivors
victimizing one another to live. There is also a more recent story of
aircraft survivors atop a South American mountain cannibalizing each
other. From the nineteenth century, Colorado has its legend of Alferd
Packer who ate half the Democrats in Hinsdale County, an event that is
celebrated annually by the students of the University of Colorado who
also named the Student Union Snack Bar after Packer. So the practice of
cannibalism is not a monopoly of Chippewas or red men over white men;

nor was it the intent of the text to create such an impression.

As a matter of fact, the incidents herein’ related regarding
cannibalsim do credit to the Chippewa as a people, rather than doing
them dishonor. The one story, from the journals of Alexander Henry,

and not from the mythology of Warren, regarding a winter near Sault Ste.

xvi


delivered. Many of the fishermen used the steamer as a company store,
getting their groceries and other supplies from the large boat. Here is
where the Hokensons differed from most of the Bayfield area independent
fishermen. Since the companies paid the equivalent of a cash price for
the fish given to them, they usually gave a relatively low price for the
fish, since the company had all of the risk for spoilage once the fish
came on board the steamer. The Hokensons at first tried to market fish
through the Elmore Company, but were not satisfied with the relatively
low monetary return. For that reason they joined a cooperative at
Cornucopia for marketing their catch independently. They were hurt
occasionally because of spoilage, but mostly they made a healthy profit by
getting the operative market prices in Chicago or Duluth.

All of the Bayfield-based companies had fluctuating fortunes. Even
the most successful, the Boutins, the Booths and the Bodins, during
their best intervals, would have an occasional bad year. Such declines
might force a company to temporarily move out of one of its havens. The
Boutins, for example, left Bayfield for the 1930 and 1931 seasons, made a
good profit elsewhere, and came back in 1932 to re-establish their
business in Bayfield. This process was not only repeated by all the
other major companies, but beyond that, the minor companies, the
non-survivors, demonstrated all the more that the fishing profession was
intermittently a feast or a famine. Thus in recent times the Boutins too
do not have a functioning corporate unit in Bayfield even though
individuals from the family do some fishing for profit. Currently the
Booths are not operating at Bayfield, but have establishments in Chicago
and Duluth. The Bodins happen to be active in Bayfield at this writing,
the only surviving company up to the present.

In actuality, the precariousness of the Bayfield fishing profession is
merely one item on the universal list of risky existences for people who
decide to live in a northern latitude with a severe climate. One could
gather thumbnail biographies of senior citizens around the entire
periphery of Lake Superior and find that nearly every individual engaged
in multiple occupations in order to survive. This was the point made in

the accompanying furnishing study and structure report when discussing


A 1969 study by Burbidge summarized findings by scientists up to
that time concerning smelt. His colleagues had concluded as early as 1929
that smelt were: ..."an enemy of all smaller fishes, including the young
of the commercial species, as well as a competitor for the food of the
adults of the larger species ."193 Another researcher found, in 1930 that
smelt consumed, in addition to zooplankton, many of their own young. A
variety of studies, ranging from 1936 to 1965, indicated that smelt seldom
ate fish, but fed primarily on zooplankton and bottom fauna. 104 Thus
the tendency of the evidence over the years leaned in the direction of
indicating that the relationship between fake herring and smelt was one of
competition for the same type of food, rather than direct predation of one

upon the other.

A 1971 study on lake herring in western Lake Superior tended to
confirm the above conclusions. In this study, Anderson and Smith
concluded that the cause of herring abundance-decline was not due to
overfishing nor predation on adult herring by other species, but rather
the competition for food in the larval stage of herring development and
the over-selectivity of herring larvae for one type of zooplankton, to wit,

copepods. 105

Other studies on the herring versus smelt controversy showed that
the problem was even more complex and sophisticated, depending upon
the relative strength of each species in a certain locale, and the
abundance of zooplankton for each species to feed upon; A 1974
comparative study between the Apostle Islands region and the Black Bay

region (Ontario, Canada) reached the following conclusions:

"The stock of lake herring (Coregonus Artedii) in the Apostle
Islands (Wisconsin) region of western Lake Superior has
diminished severely during the past 30 yr, and predation by
rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) on herring larvae has been
considered a possible cause of this decline. In contrast, the
herring stock in Black Bay, (60 km to the northeast), has
remained nearly stable despite the presence of large numbers of

smelt and high commercial production of herring. Predator-

106


American icthylolgist of the nineteenth century, G. Brown Goode, used

the description of a colleague to tel! about the Siscowet:

"This fish, like the former species, came frequently under my
eye during my late northern tour; and ! rejoice in the
possession of a barrel of him in his pickled state, which |
procured at the Sault Ste. Marie, on the strength of which |
can recommend him to all lovers of good eating as the very best
salt fish that exists in the world. He is so fat and rich that
when eaten fresh he is unsufferably rank and oily, but when
salted and broiled, after being steeped for forty-eight hours in
cold water, he is not surpassed or equaled by any fish with

which | am acquainted ."63

Roy Hokenson, in telling about the Siscowet, echoed the above
quotation from Goode in many particulars, but stated that people on the
Bayfield Peninsula had come to prefer the Siscowet in its smoked variety.
He said that any of the cooking methods that were used for the fatty
fish, usually resulted in the loss of much of the nourishment of the fish.
Frying would result in the substance of the fish melting away to a
fraction, leaving only a very small portion. There are stories abroad in
northern Wisconsin that at one time the Chippewa used Siscowet as
candles, merely adding a wick to them. The very name “Siscowet" is
supposed to be a Chippewa word for "cooks itself." Most fishermen say
that the Siscowet is caught in very deep water, beyond forty fathoms,
and that the cold at this depth necessitates the fish's development of
greater fatty composition to survive. Regrettably, they have always been
and remain, a very scarce fish. As Goode wrote: "If one barrel of
Siscowet to fifteen Namaycush are caught, they are said to be very
abundant." When this writer visited Bayfield on the Fourth of July 1978,
vendors were selling limited quantities of the smoked Siscowet on the

street. Several people stated they were a rare delicacy .°4

In every era the threat and actuality of storms on Lake Superior

were a continual reminder that making a living on the lake was a

dangerous business. Giant storms in 1927 and 1929, for example,

84


Three men ordinarily constitute a crew for gill-net fishing, but
at least one-third of the boats carry only two. They average
from 40 to 80 nets to the boat. A few of the boats have nets
made of fine twine for spring fishing and coarser ones for the
trout fishing in the fall. This is especially true of those
visiting Isle Royale, but most of those fishing along the
southern shore and among the islands have only one set. The
nets are 65 fathoms long, [390 feet] and vary from 4-1/2 to
5-1/2 inches in mesh. Some of them are rigged like the
old-fashioned Lake Michigan nets, with stones and floats, and
the others in the more modern style, with leads and corks.
Fifteen or 20 nets constitute a gang, each crew usually having
four gangs, and keeping three in the water at one time. The
boats are mostly mackinaws, and smaller than those about
Duluth. They are worth about $100 each. In former years it
is estimated that the average gill-net crew caught between 400
and 500 half-barrels for a year's fishing, but in 1884 the catch
did not exceed 300 half-barrels to the boat. In 1885 it was
much better and is estimated at 500 half-barrels.

Gill-net fishing through the ice. - The ice fishing with gill-nets

varies considerably from year to year. It ordinarily begins
early in January and lasts for six, eight, or even ten weeks.
Two or three men constitute a crew, running from 40 to 50
nets. These are set in lines of four nets each, at right angles
to the shore; the gangs are half a mile apart, and are left in
the water four or five days before hauling. Only fine nets are
used, as the sediment would collect too readily on coarse twine,
making the nets more noticeable and keeping the fish away.
One crew of men ordinarily secures an average of 300 pounds of
fish daily, working about four days in a week. The marketable
catch is about one-half trout and one-half whitefish, in addition
to quantities of suckers and "lawyers," which are commonly
thrown away. Some of the crews have small canvass tents or
huts mounted upon runners and provided with stoves, and they

move them from hole to hole on the ice, thus protecting

43



Smoked Fish: There is a discussion of smoked fish in Chapter
Three of this report. The text on this subject did not intend to imply
that the expectation of fire was the sole determinant for building small
smokehouses; but it certainly was the most important determinant. Any
large smokehouse operation would have entailed a considerable capital
outlay and overhead. The larger building, the need for more
combustibles, and the greater labor input, all would have required an
investment beyond the means of most businessmen in the Apostle Islands
region. Only a wealthy outside entrepreneur could have afforded such an
undertaking. And whoever would gamble on such an enterprise, would
have had to accept the possible loss of a huge smokehouse from accidental
fire. There were few or none in the area capable of taking such a risk.

It should be noted that most connoisseurs of smoked fish consider it
to be a delicacy and a rare treat. For this reason, as well as the higher
cost of production, the finished product was a more expensive item to
buy than fresh fish. Price was a natural damper on demand for it--less
people could afford to purchase smoked fish, either in proximity to the
fishing region or at more remote places. And the people of Bayfield were
mostly in humbler circumstances and therefore would not frequently be
buying luxuries ahead of necessities. Therefore the smoking of fish was
less often a commercial enterprise than a pleasant hobby which would
provide a delicacy for their families, neighbors, friends and fellow village
dwellers. Thus it might be sold commercially in Bayfield only on special
occasions, such as the town celebration of the Fourth of July. In any
case, the marketing of smoked fish in Bayfield was never done in any
great volume. Once, in a similar vein, during 1878, an entrepreneur by
the name of Hart Pincus tried to start a caviar producing business at
Bayfield but gave up after two months of discouragement. When he left
town, he took 750 pounds of prepared caviar with him. Thus luxury
items never fared well near the islands, at least as a commercial

proposition.
Preservation of smoked fish would not have been a problem for
inhibiting the industry. Once smoked, the fish could be kept almost

indefinitely without refrigeration, though spoilage could occur with fish

Xxvi


concluded that 75% of these trout exceeded FDA standards for mercury,
50% exceeded the standards for DDT, and 17% exceeded the standards for
PCB's. The researchers theorized that the source of the pollution was

from Canadian industrial plants adjacent to Thunder Bay. 5

When the results of the GLECS study were announced in Duluth,
Charles Burrows of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
thought it essential to reassure Minnesotans that the health threat to
themselves was minimal, since lake trout were not known for migratory
habits. Thus the problem was confined to the Isle Royale region; but it
would influence Duluth fishermen not to catch their trout near that
island. Despite the felicitous tones used by Burrows, he did pass on the
usual warnings that pregnant women, expecially, should avoid
contaminated fish, that fatty fish were more likely to contain toxic
substances, and that restricting one's diet to a weekly fish meal would

enhance the margin of safety against accidental poisoning. 126

As can be seen from an analysis of the current state of the Lake
Superior fishery, the industry is burdened by severe’ problems.
Doomsayers and optimists vie with one another in predicting opposite
views concerning the future of commercial fishing on Lake Superior and in
the Apostle Islands region. Yet the hopeful thought survives, that man,
who brought many of these problems upon himself through the advance of
technology, may, through new scientific breakthroughs, conquer these
obstacles, and revive a fishery that was once a major food supplier for

thousands of people around the country.

V7


oral traditions of their people. Warren spoke their language fluently and
amazed his full blooded brethren with his mastery of their tongue. In
1847, during the negotiation of the Treaty of Fond du Lac, Warren acted
as interpreter for the whites; but the Indians concluded that "he

understood their language better than themselves."

Modern anthropology and archaeology have reworked and added much
to the prehistory of practically all of the various Indian tribes of North
America which the contemporary American layman now identifies with the
hundreds of names that he most frequently hears in Hollywood movies or
fiction of similar "authenticity." Thus the anthropologist too has
identified Indian peoples of the prehistoric periods by more generic names
thal cover farger culture-segments, out of which innumerable later Indian
tribes probably evolved. Thus the Hopewell Indians, the mound builders,
were identified from their artifacts, camp-sites, dwelling places and
mounds. Their culture was carefully delineated from this available
evidence, and the differences between them and later historic era peoples
was described. Without a written narrative fallen from heaven, it was
impossible to state the process of how or whether the Hopewells evolved

into later groups such as Iroquois, Algonkians or whatever.

Thus the Chippewa were not the Chippewa, in the anthropologist's
view, until they acquired certain distinctive cultural badges such as
language, pottery, dwelling styles, weapons and so on. In a sense this
specific identification involves a semantic problem as well. {!n some cases
present identification names for Indian tribes are derivatives from the
spoken words of the aboriginals, transcribed sounds into written English
words. Thus even the name "Chippewa" was also transcribed as
“Ojibway" in a variant orthography. Yet both words ostensibly came from
these people's pronunciation of the name by which they denominated
themselves. Other Indian tribe names used nowadays have no relationship
to the historic label by which these peoples identified themselves. Thus
in the twentieth century some of them have been grudgingly compelled to

call themselves by names they had never used in the historic past.

xii


depleting the stock of lake trout. The meeting's agenda ranged over the
entire field from mesh of herring gill-nets, to poundage quotas on
siscowets, linear footage limits on gill-nets, the regulations for marking
net-buoys, and whether quota controls on lake trout and whitefish should
be exercised through logging-by-weight or tagging individual fish. The
Bayfield members of the council for 1976 were Jack Erickson of Bayfield,
Richard Gurnoe of Red Cliff, Wilfred Peterson of Bayfield, and Roy Maday
of Bad River. Ron Poff was present at the meeting, representing the

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. '@!

One issue the Bayfielders did not discuss was the problem of
contaminants in Lake Superior. Granted that the Apostle Islands region
was not immediately affected by pollutants, the effects of media publicity
tended to frighten fish consumers even on the Bayfield Peninsula.
Scientific studies as recently as 1973 continued to defend Lake Superior
as one of the cleanest bodies of water in the world. A Great Lakes
Fishery Commission Technical Report went so far as to maintain that
"Lake Superior is generally regarded as being in a pristine state not far

removed from the composition of rain water". 122

Yet it was a well know fact for years that industries along
Minnesota's North Shore were dumping taconite tailings into Lake
Superior. There were also Canadian industries disposing of wastes into
Thunder Bay. During 1977 various cities along the Lake Superior littoral
reacted to a Federal Drug Administration proposal to lower the minimum
standard levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in food fish from the
Great Lakes. A Superior, Wisconsin newspaper explained that

"PCB's are present in the natural environment, entering surface
waters from the atmosphere and other sources. But they also
have been used in a number of industrial processes including
the manufacture of carbonless duplicating paper, marine paints,
heat transfer fluids, transformer fluids and sealants. Municipal
wastes also contain PCB's from industrial and domestic

sources."

115


CHAPTER |: LAKE SUPERIOR AS A FISHING GROUNDS DURING ITS
PREHISTORY, ETHNOHISTORY, AND NINETEENTH CENTURY

A. Prehistory and Ethnohistory

In order to understand the twentieth century Lake Superior fishery
and the men who lowered their nets for a catch as a commercial enterprise
in recent times, one must, however briefly, take a glimpse at the history
of fishing in the Apostle Islands environs during earlier times.
Specifically, the observer wants to know what had gone before at the
moment the three Hokenson brothers decided to become fishermen during
the 1920's.

Not much is known about the earliest aboriginal fishers on Lake
Superior. One abiding piece of evidence concerning their existence was
found in the seventeenth century when Europeans (Frenchmen) explored
the region for minerals. On Isle Royale, of Lake Superior, just east of
the northeastern tip of present day Minnesota, an early metal hunter
found various traces of the ancient miners who had removed copper ore
from pits on that island. Not only had the explorer found the ashes of
their reducing fires, coals, stove hammers and chips of copper, but also
the scales of the fishes eaten by these unidentified primitive

metallurgists. !

Moving on to the traditions and ethnohistory of the native Americans
who were first known to reside around Lake Superior, one finds more
abundant tales of the Indian dependency on Lake Superior fish. To a
considerable extent, this portion of the story associates itself most
intimately with that portion of the Aigonquian family known as_ the
Chippewa or Ojibways. This is not to say that other Indian tribes did
not inhabit the area around Lake Superior from time to time; but rather
that the Chippewa, at the moment Europeans commenced their explorations
of North America, were well established around the lake, and dominated
the political control of the region. Thus the Ojibway history and the
Lake Superior history became intertwined for at least two centuries. The
Poet Longfellow consecrated this relationship in 1855 with his epic The

Song of Hiawatha when he wrote:


of the time fishermen got what they wanted in legislation. As time
passed, the fishermen, as well, came to accept the notion that overfishing

was not in their best interests. 44

B. Perils on the Lake During the 1920's

Just as during other periods, the decade of the 1920's had its
violent storms and close calls for men who made their living on the
surface of Lake Superior. In 1923 two Apostle Island fishermen had a
very narrow escape. T. S. Coville of Ashland and Alec Riken of Bayfield
were fishing out on the ice near Madeline Island in late April of that
year. Suddenly they became aware that the spring thaw was causing
their ice floe to drift off toward the middle of Lake Superior. Even
though they had to abandon their automobile, fortune was on their side
as the ice floe drifted past Outer Island and they were able to get
ashore. They took shelter in the Outer Island Lighthouse and waited for
rescue. But after two days the wind direction changed and they saw the
ice floe returning with their automobile still standing on the surface. As
the prevailing wind was stiff and steady toward the mainland, they
climbed back onto the ice and were able to drive their vehicle home to

Ashiand.*°

Halvor Reiten, cousin to the Hokenson brothers, related a parallel
story to the one above, telling the tale of several Bayfield fishermen at
some unspecified date. They too became aware that the spring thaw was
breaking up the ice pack among the Apostle Islands. They had an
ancient vehicle that carried their fishing equipment and catch. The
direction of the ice drift obliged them to drive the auto in a different,
more distant direction than the way they had come onto the ice. As they
proceeded, they burned out one of the forward gears in the transmission
of the car. Then one by one, they burned out each of the other forward
gears. In desperation they tried to drive the old vehicle in reverse.
For some reason this gear still functioned. All told, they drove about

. . 4
ten miles in reverse gear and eventually reached land safely. 6

72


reproduction, since the hatchery varieties were protected from predation
in a sheltered environment and often were unable to fend for themselves
among the hazzards of the Great Lakes environment. It took several
generations of acclimitization for the hatchery-bred fish to develop their

natural defenses against predators. ''8

The Bayfield newspaper, of course, expressed more concern for the
welfare of the commercial fishery than did other regional papers. One or
the other article in its pages argued in favor of the professionals over
the sportsmen since the former were providing a necessity of life, while
the others merely fished for their own amusement and recreation. |'9 The
Bayfield County Press therefore lobbied against any state legislation that
seemed inimical to the interests of commercial fishermen. {n early 1976,
for example, the editor railed against Senate Bill 694, which he
characterized as a veiled attempt to outlaw the use of gill-nets, which
presently produced about 69% of commercial fish value. The general
outline of the bill would empower the Department of Natural Resources to
allow fish harvesting only by contracts to be administered by a new
body, the Great Lakes Fishery Council. One feature of the bill would
ban gill-nets above sixty fathoms. The editor noted that most fish were
caught in less than fifty fathoms of water and that the proposed license
fees would be exorbitant. The article noted that the Northwest Wisconsin
Sportsmen's Federation sponsored the bill. The editor was willing to
concede that some form of “limited entry" to fishing grounds was
necessary for conservation purposes, and that presently only twenty
commercial fishermen were licensed in the Bayfield area, thus already

preventing further overfishing 120

Generally Bayfield fishermen objected only to legislation that was
unreasonable or overly restrictive. In February of 1976 the Lake
Superior section of the Great Lakes Fishery Advisory Council met in
Bayfield to discuss the various issues of concern to commercial fishermen.
Basically the group favored the continuance of the fish refuge around
Gull [sland and quarreled only with the size of the refuge. The
fishermen were exercised though, that sport fishermen from Michigan

waters were invading the Gull island refuge in trolling boats, thus

114


pounds of herring, while Booth Fisheries and another company packed
about 600,000 pounds. Boutins employed 175 men for 25 days and paid
them between $4 and $8 per day. Boutins used two steam tugs and six
gasoline propelled craft for their at-sea operations. Booth's and the
other company used 150 men for a week longer than Boutin's and paid
between $4 and $6 per day. More than $40,000 in total wages were paid
out by the Bayfield companies during the herring run, and the catch was

valued at double that amount. 1?

When the United States entered World War | in 1917, two of the
Hokenson brothers, Eskel and Roy, joined the army and went off to war.
Their brother, Leo, stayed home to run the farm. Late in 1918 when the
Bayfield paper was printing lists of returning soldiers, its pages were
also reciting the facts on the annual herring run. The difference this
time was that, because of the war, a few girls were employed as
“panners" on the dock. The girls would use pans to transfer the herring
from the nets to other receptacles. A typical panner performed about
3,200 scoops a day; and for this tedious chore the girls were paid the
munificent sum of three dollars. They were at the bottom end of the pay
scale wherein other dock laborers received $5 per day and up; while
fishermen received $7.50 to $9 per day. In the sheds, dressers received
$5 to $10 per day; but they were paid fifty to sixty cents per half

barrel.2°

In December 1918, when the herring run was over, the Bayfield
County Press printed an alphabetical listing of the 1100 men from the
county who had served in the armed forces, the list included "Roy
Hockanson" and "Eskil Hockanson." This misspelling of the family name
prompted Eskel's wife (in 1978), when queried on the subject to explain
how the boys' mother had made an effort to standardize the spelling of
the name for official records. A visit to the Register of Deeds’ Office
both in Bayfield and Ashland, Wisconsin will confirm, after browsing in
the alphabetical register, that there were at least twenty different
spellings of the Hokenson name. Their father, Peter Hokanson (sic), was
correctly identified with his last name spelled with an “a" after the
Swedish custom, since he was "Peter, the son of Hokan." The next

65


George Irving Quimby, a noted anthropologist/archaeologist, wrote as
late as 1960, in Indian Life in the Upper Great Lakes, (1960/1974), that

the Chippewa were established on the south shore of Lake Superior as
early as 1640. According to representatives of MWAC, recent discoveries
in their field tend to negate Quimby's view on dating this event. In any
case, archaeology does not seem to insist on dating things with absolute
precision when one is arguing about a difference of ten or fifteen years.
A noted and still well reputed prestigious historian of the nineteenth
century, Reuben Gold Thwaites of the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS),
considered Warren's narrative reliable in dating incidents. Quimby's
outline of the Chippewan clan structure seems to follow Warren quite
closely as well. Thwaites even confirmed independetly (WHS Collections,
XII1, p. 404) that Chippewa were present together with Ottawas, Hurons
and others on the shores of Chequamegon Bay as early as 1661. And
Quimby admits the nomadic nature of the Chippewa, ‘so it is not
inconceivable to say that the Chippewa were in that region a generation

earlier.

The present writer did not wish to quibble about the precise dating
of Chippewa movements, but merely to provide a rough sketch of their
spatial ebb and flow over the course of several centuries. Thus he does
not insist that the Chippewa may have roved as far east as the Atlantic
Ocean. He merely wanted to present the fact that a blooded Chippewa
historian said that his people believed that they had engaged in such
nomadic wanderings, whether true or not. Thus too, whether or not the
people Warren was chronicling should have been called "Chippewa" before
the eighteenth century is not crucial here. Warren referred to the people
from which he descended as far back as legend and living memory could
reach, labelling his people in the same way then as at the moment he was
writing. He could not have anticipated that the modern archaeologists
would have found artifacts to demonstrate that these people were
culturally distinct from the old men with whom he sat around the camp
fire. He only told what he heard from these elders and did not get nor
give the total cultural description. Regardless of the cultural differences
of these earlier peoples, so far as Warren was concerned, they were his

forbears. If he was a Chippewa, so were they, to his mind.

xiii


indication of Van Oosten's influence was the preliminary questionaire sent
to attending fishermen seeking their advice on facets of projected
legislation. The questionaire sought to learn the types of equipment
used, the nature of legislation desired, opinions regarding the hatchery,
mesh sizes, and minimum sizes of the catch. At last knowledgeable people
in Wisconsin were putting their heads together. it was only a first step,
however, since there were still no inter-state or international meetings."
The urgency of the 1928 meeting at Two Rivers was emphasized by a
Bayfield Press article two months later that proclaimed in a front page
headline "Commercial Fishing Is Passing on Lakes." The Press actually
derived the substance of the article from the July issue of Outdoor
America. The author attacked the general overfishing in all of the Great

Lakes and also suggested the necessity for international regulation. “2

An illustration of the lack of uniformity of fishing laws even within a
single state was illustrated by a fishermen's meeting held at Cornucopia in
February of 1929. 44 fishermen met there to protest the lengthier season
allowed for Green Bay fishermen regarding herring. In reaction to
Section 29.33, subsection 7a and b, of the Wisconsin Fish and Game Laws,
they drafted, besides their compiaints, a set of six proposals to remedy
their grievances. Five of the proposals related to mesh sizes, while the
sixth suggested limiting the minimum size of trout to one and one-half

pounds and herring to not less than ten inches. 43

Some legislative progress was made for Wisconsin commercial
fishermen in 1929. In February H. W. Mackenzie, Chief Warden of the
Wisconsin Conservation Commission, solicited fishermen's views in Bayfield
regarding mesh sizes for nets and minimum sizes for whitefish and lake
trout. In March, it was discovered that the commission had come up with
a bill that displeased members of the Wisconsin Federation of Commercial
Fishermen. The fishermen drafted their own bill, and in sum, stated that
the commission's version amounted to property confiscation, unjust
taxation, and too radical a change generally. Emory Jones, a Cornucopia
fisherman during this era, stated that generally state officials involved in
fishery legislation were very receptive to suggestions from professionals

like himself, and would embody such ideas into law. Jones said that most

71


Shore and Two Harbors of the North Shore. Reiten told how the nine
men rowed for eight and one-half hours straight. The lifeboat was an old
iron one. As Reiten told the story, he nodded toward another boat like

it in his boatyard and said, "they row hard."

He added: "Nine men. Nine men - four oars. Two men to an
oar. And |! was the best dressed guy so ! was steering. But
| traded off some times with the nearest oarsman because | had
to move to keep warm. Winter time, sixth day of January,
1924. No Coast Guard then, no radio, or radar or any kind of
that stuff. In fact you didn't even have a lighthouse lit on
Lake Superior at that time. And gradually the lights on the
north shore kept winking out until it was black as the cat in
the coal bin. Except for one light and center of civilization
worth going to. That was the only thing we had to guide us.
So we headed for that. And we made shore, the wind kept
dying down, dying down, dying down, right along and we made
shore by where this slip is right now. It was dark, oh boy, it

was dark.”

Reiten fleshed out the ordeal in the lifeboat by telling how the spray
of the waves froze on their backs and gave them a protective coating of
ice against the northwester. On landing, they fired some flares, but
learned later that the people who saw the flares thought someone was
celebrating. Halvor Reiten had to climb a twenty foot cliff on his own
and then found the source of the brilliant light they had seen from the
lake. {t was a group of fishermen playing cards opposite a large window
that fortunately had no curtains. Their light in the window had been a

beacon of salvation to the nine Wisconsin fishermen.

Reiten drew out the story to include details about every helpful
person along the way who got them safely back to Bayfield. He can still

tell the tale with great verve.

Even though there was no loss of life involved in the sinking of the

Friant, this event was a financial disaster for Einar Miller and Halvor

76

, Ta


7. to study races or species of trout;

8. examine fishermen's bait nets to ascertain percent of
commercially important immature chubs, wastage of chubs

valuable as food for trout;
9. examine destruction of immature trout by hooks;

10. examine lifts of commercial chub nets as to species and
maturity;

11. tagging trout and whitefish to study migration ."79

All of the above experiments were intended to provide data for the
several states in their commercial fishery legislative programs. The state
of Wisconsin sought input, as well, from all of the commercial fishermen of
the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior. !n January 1931 the Wisconsin
conservation director, Paul D. Kelleter presided over a meeting with
fishermen at Bayfield. The state officials were mainly interested in
learning whether there was a need to restrict the present open season for
lake trout and whitefish, or whether there was any need to change the

80 The Bayfield area was an ideal

mesh sizes for pound and gill-nets.
location to make such an inquiry, since more than eighty percent of all
the nets in Wisconsin/Lake Superior waters were owned and set by

Bayfield fishermen. 81

The fishermen at Bayfield were surprisingly conservation-conscious
in their proposals to the state: They urged that the minimum size of lake
trout be increased to 17 inches and whitefish to 16 inches. Additionally
they wanted the mesh of gill nets for lake trout and whitefish increased
to 4-1/4 inches. Other resolutions concerning mesh size of gill-nets for
herring tended in the same direction. If such gill-nets for small fish
were lowered in water that provided more than 10% of smal! fake trout, or
whitefish, the fishermen was to cease fishing those waters. Similarly the
fishermen wanted submarine pound-nets banned, a closed season on lake

trout and whitefish during their spawning seasons, and that the dumping

92


, rin,

interests of all kinds have declined, and to-day they are
represented only be the small operations of a single trader, and
the population has decreased to 15 or 20 families.

Fish-dealers were formerly located there, buying and shipping
considerable quantities of sait fish, but no dealers had been
there for some years prior to 1885; the entire catch going to
Bayfield. The other islands are practically uninhabited, though
formerly several of the larger ones had one or two houses; in
1885 there were three families on Basswood Island, where there
is an excellent red sandstone quarry. A_ small amount of
logging is done here in winter, as well as on one or two of the
other islands. During the summer months a majority of the
islands are visited by fishermen from Bayfield, Duluth, and
Ashland, for engaging in the pound and gill-net fisheries.
They build rude shanties to live in during the fishing season,
but all take their departure before winter sets in, and leave
their places deserted. The waters in the vicinity are at
Present more extensively fished than those of any other portion
of Lake Superior, and 42 pound-nets were located among the
islands in 1885, besides 31 more which were set along the shore
of the mainland in the immediate vicinity.

The village of Bayfield. - Bayfield, a village of some note,
about 60 miles in a straight line east of Duluth, occupies a
desirable location on the east side of the peninsula of Bayfield,
10 miles from its outer extremity and a little to the southward
of the Apostle Islands. In 1870 it had a population of about
300, none of them professional fishermen, but the number has
increased slowly year by year. The extension of the Chicago,
St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railroad reached the town in
1883 and gave it a new impetus. Two years later it had a
population of 1,250, a majority of whom were dependent upon
the fisheries, although a Jarge saw-mill furnished employment to

quite a number of men.

39


during the spawning season of the whitefish. it seems
probably that within a comparatively short time a majority of
the nets will be fished in fall and early winter, as well as at
other seasons. The nets are usually purchased from the
dealers, some of the fishermen paying cash, but a greater
number getting them on credit and paying for them in fish. A
few, however, are owned by dealers and other capitalists.
These are fished on shares, the net taking from two-fifths to
one-half of the catch. Three fishermen usually constitute a
crew, fishing from two to five nets, and where more are worked
additional men are required. They set their nets about the
islands and in the sandy reaches and bays along the main
shore, building shanties nearby where they camp during the
season, and are visited regularly by the collection boats, which
take their fish and furnish them with supplies and provisions.
The dealers estimate the average catch for each pound fished in
1884 at 125 barrels, or about $200. The marketable catch
averages 90 percent whitefish, 7 percent trout, and 3 percent
sturgeon, in addition to considerable quantities of small
whitefish, and a good many sturgeon thrown away. Mr. Boutin
thought that the catch of 1885 would not be more than a
quarter that of the previous year. This small yield he believed
in no way indicated a scarcity of fish, but was accounted for
by the fish remaining in the deeper water, where the giil-nets
have caught larger quantities than usual. The heavy thunder
storms during the pound-net season may have had a decided
influence in keeping the fish out of the shoaler water.

Seine fishery. - The seining of fish at Bayfield began about ten
or twelve years ago, with small seines 330 to 495 feet in length
and 12 to 18 feet deep. They are hauled during the four or
five weeks between the 5th of June and the middle of July.
The catch is principally whitefish, though considerable
quantities of herring are also taken, but owing to the small
demand, few are saved. The fishing is at present chiefly in
the vicinity of Bark Point and Sand River, along the western

45


end, and which she had learned from an old woman who was
then still living, and was considered to be at least one hundred
and twenty years of age, from the fact of her relating events
which had occurred a century past, when she was a young
woman. [111-112]

Warren gave the distinct impression that he was one of the "favored" few
who received large doses of these obnoxious narrations both because he
had an inquiring mind and also because he had set out specifically to
interrogate the elders and put together a history of his people grounded
on their oral traditions. He stated as well that his equals of a similar
age were not favored with such bluntness and elaborations, and that thus
most of his companions received only innuendoes of the horrors without
amplifications, so that their mental images of it took on the coloring of
superstition and legend. To their uniformed minds, Madeline Island was a
place to be avoided because something awful had happened there; and
whether their imaginations conjured up "spirits" or real horrors, their
fear of Madeline (sland was as real as if they themselves had had a bad
experience there.

Warren explained this "superstition" by writing:

When my maternal grandfather, Michel Cadotte, first built his
trading post and resided on the island of La Pointe [Madeline],
seventy years ago [c. 1780], not an Indian dare stop over
night on it alone, for fear of the Che-bi-ug ["“souls of the
victims"| which were even then supposed to haunt it. [111]

And here Warren was telling of events still alive in human memory, but
removed by several generations from the actual cannibalism. These
uninformed Chippewa were also receivers of an oral history tradition,
even as Warren was a recipient of a more precise tradition. Their
ingestion of this oral history therefore had all of the weaknesses as well
as strengths of that form of historical evidence. But from the
preponderance of all the stories Warren gathered, it is certain that
cannibalistic practices by Chippewa Indians took place on Madeline Island

at some unspecified temporal period.

xviit

2


Anderson, Emory D., and Smith, Lloyd L. "Factors Affecting
Abundance of Lake Herring (Coregonus Artedii Lesueur) in
Western Lake Superior." Transactions of the American

Fisheries Society 100 (No. 4, 1971): 691-707. _

Bailey, Merryll M. "Age, Growth, Maturity, and Sex Composition of
the American Smelt, Osmerus Mordax (Mitchill), of Western Lake
Superior." Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 93
(1964): 382-395.

Baldwin, Norman S., and Saalfeld, Robert W. Commercial Fish
Production In the Great Lakes, 1867-1960. Ann Arbor: Great
Lakes Fishery Commission; University of Michigan Press, 1962.
Also known as Technical Report No. 3. With Two Supplements:
#1 of 1970, covering 1961 to 1968; #2 of 1979, covering 1969 to
1977; both utilizing same Table Numbers as the basic document.

Beil, Joseph., and Dryer, William R. "Life History of Lake Herring
in Lake Superior." Fishery Bulletin 63 (No.3, 1964): 493-530.

Burbridge, Richard G. "Age, Growth, Length-Weight Relationship,
Sex Ratio, and Food Habits of American Smelt, Osmerus mordax
(Mitchill) from Gull Lake, Michigan." Transactions of the
American Fisheries Society 98 (No. 4 1969): 631-640.

Creaser, C. W. "The Establishment of the Atlantic Smelt in the
Upper Waters of the Great Lakes." Papers of the Michigan
Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 5 (1925): 405-424.

Creaser, C. W. "The Lamprey Petromyzon marinus in Michigan."
Copeia 157 (1932).

Dougias, Frederick J. and Rakestraw, Lawrence. "A Forest Type
Map of Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands Nationa! Lakeshores
from the Original General Land Office Survey Records."
Houghton, Michigan: Michigan Technological University, 1976.
(Mimeographed).

Dryer, William R. "Age and Growth of the Whitefish in Lake
Superior. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fishery Bulletin 63
(No. 1, 1963): 77-95.

Dryer, William R. "Bathymetric Distribution of Fish in the Apostle
islands Region, Lake Superior." Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 95 )1966): 248259.

Dryer, William R.; Erkkila, Leo F.; Tetzloff, Clifford L. "Food of
Lake Trout in Lake Superior." Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society 94 (1965): 169-176.

Eschmeyer, Paul H. "The Reproduction of Lake Trout in Southern
Lake Superior." Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
84 (1954): 47-74.

134


uaa" -:-:"..ri"-rrr"n"se

But Halvor Reiten's greatest adventure was a personal escapade in
January 1924 when he survived the sinking of the Friant. The story has
been frequently told in the Bayfield area. It made the Bayfield paper at
the time; and a local historian repeated the epic in the same paper thirty
years after the event. Again, in 1976, Reiten consented to make a tape
recording of the adventure for the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center
at Duluth. The text of the narrative is quite a classic because of
Reiten's ability as a story teller. A sprightly little old man of more than
eighty winters, Reiten spins a yarn with a twinkle in his eye and a gift
for the well-turned phrase on his tongue. The story pours out as if the
events depicted occurred yesterday. At least two of the crew members of
that 1924 saga still survive, and this writer had the privilege of talking
to both of them in 1978. These two were Halvor Reiten of Bayfield and
Emory "Squeaky" Jones of Cornucopia.

In outline, the story proceeds as follows: Halvor Reiten became
partners with Captain Einar Miller in the purchase of the steamer Friant
in early 1923. The boat was to have multiple purposes; but the original
idea was to provide both freight and passenger services between Bayfield
and Duluth, with stops, as needed at the intervening ports of
Cornucopia, Port Wing, Orienta and Superior.

Apparently the volume of business was not sufficient, or otherwise
the owners were ambitious; for during the winter of 1923-1924 the
Partners decided to engage in gill-net fishing for lake trout along the
south shore of Lake Superior. Aware that the south shore usually
freezes over in January, they intended to use Two Harbors in Minnesota
as their home base. They settled on this hazardous enterprise despite
the fact that most lights and other navigational aids had closed down in
mid-December. Halvor Reiten said later that it was the prospect of trout
prices going up to forty cents a pound that enticed them. There was a
nine man crew that included Miller as master, Reiten as fireman, and
Sherman Bolles of Ashland as Chief Engineer. The rest of the crew were
from Cornucopia, and four of these were Joneses. Among these was
Emory "Squeaky" Jones, who, like Reiten, is still around spinning sea

yarns.

73


Ross also vouched for Warren's credibility in unequivocal terms
{114}: "{He] is generally regarded as an authority on matters pertaining
to that tribe. {fn his book he recorded his method of determining when
the Ojibway came to Madeline Island, when they left and when they saw a
white man for the first time." As for the latter fact, Ross educed
confirmatory evidence regarding early white contact. In this version,
again Indian oral history, there had once been a hieroglyphic record from
the Chippewa on a copper plate which told of two white men on Madeline
Island about 1610. Using another’ historical source, Gabriel
Sagard-Theodat, [15-16] Ross pointed out the generally accepted fact the
Etienne Brule was the first Frenchman identified by name who travelled
on the surface of Lake Superior. And Grenolle, one of Brule's
companions, wrote in his diary of how earlier whites had dubbed Sault
Ste. Marie with a different name, a name which the Chippewa at that
place parrotted to them, calling it "Sault de Gaston", after the brother of
Louis XIII. Thus the evidence used in the text concerning early
Chippewa history is soundly based on reliable sources that have not been
contradicted in any important aspect by modern archaeological findings.
And what is more, the data is integral to the thumbnail history of fishing
in the Apostle Islands region, both as to fishing as a means of bringing
the white and red races together at Madeline Island, as well as the
occurrence of cannibalism, because fishing alone was not a totally reliable

means for obtaining sustenance for inhabitants of the region.

The Role of Country Roads for Marketing Fish: In the early

nineteenth century history of the commercial fishery in the Apostle
Islands region, road travel was not an important means for getting the
fish to market. Granted that there are isolated stories in which fone
enterpreneurs moved a dogsled over the snow in the dead of winter
hauling a mixed load of whitefish and lake trout to St. Paul to gain a
hefty profit; but such practice was unusual! and could not market fish in
any great volume. Until the arrival of the railroad in Bayfield and
Ashland during 1883, commercial fishermen could only market their
catches at important ports such as Duluth, Bayfield, Ashiand, and the
Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. Thus they would cover their catches of

fish with chipped ice while out on the lake to keep them fresh until

xxiii


After 1837, Brewster's marketing problems got worse. Despite this,
Crooks stressed, in an 1838 letter, that the American Fur Company's
success in the trade of Lake Superior depended mainly on the prosperity
of the fisheries.>” By 1839, the usual markets in Michigan and Ohio
along the lakes were unable to absorb the large quantities of fish caught.
The same year, Brewster made a concerted effort to expand sales into
central Indiana and inland Ohio. His early attempts with small quantities
of fish were successful. Often he resorted to barter to dispose of the
fish. More than 1,000 barrels were shipped from Cleveland via the Ohio
Canal to Portsmouth, Ohio. The ship captain who boated this quantity
down the Ohio River, wrote the bad news about sales to his fur company
contact: "The Farmers and Mechanics have such an abundance of fresh
meat that they do not wish to purchase fish. But we hope in 2 or 3

Months hence, they will meet with a market."32

But in the spring of 1840 the situation had further deteriorated.
Brewster wrote from Detroit in May that he had not sold 100 barrels of
fish during this, the best marketing season. Still he continued to ship
quantities of fish down the Ohio River and further onto the Mississippi.
{n early 1841, 1,200 barrels of fish were sent into the south, to Memphis,
Natchez, Little Rock, and New Orleans. There was even a trial shipment
of 25 barrels to Natchitoches in 1841. This attempt succeeded, as did a
few other spot attempts in the south. Yet, by January 1842, buyer
resistance was practically universal. Before that, in July 1841, Charles
W. Borup at La Pointe had already seen the writing on the wall. He
ordered fishing stopped, except for a few boats at Isle Royale.

The financial difficulties of the American Fur Company were closely
intertwined with the fate of the Lake Superior fisheries. In addition, the
central commodity, (fur), of the organization was nearly depleted in all of
the territory of the Old Northwest. Besides, silk hats had become part
of American fashion, replacing beaver, and Americans had little ready

cash to pay for furs.

The company's liabilities mounted as their sales declined. In 1842
they had a debt of $300,000. On September 10, 1842, the officers filed

24


More attention, however, was always given to the big-money fish,
lake trout and_ whitefish. Before 1920, fishermen around Bayfield
discovered a strange new trout in their nets, one that resembled a
salmon. These fishermen corresponded with Federal officials and learned
that a limited seeding of salmon trout had been made near Duluth a few
years previously. The size of the specimen caught was sufficient
evidence that this variety could thrive in Lake Superior. The Bayfield
fishermen therefore petitioned Federal officials to supply salmon trout
eggs to the Bayfield hatchery. As a result, a half-million such eggs
were shipped from Seattle to the hatchery in the spring of 1920, but most
of the fingerlings were placed in fresh water lakes and streams. Still,

some of them got into Lake Superior from the streams. °>

Late the same year Wisconsin fishermen got more help from the
Federal government in the form of ten million whitefish eggs and five
million silver trout eggs for the hatchery at Salmo (Bayfield). The fry
from this shipment were to be planted into streams flowing toward Lake
Superior during the spring of 1921. Superintendent Ripple of the Salmo
hatchery thought that fishing results would be noticeable within four or
five years. In actuality, whitefish production in Wisconsin waters of Lake
Superior did not rebound until after 1936, and lake trout production
remained so steady as to hardly give any evidence of beneficent results
from the hatchery's work.

In the 1922-3 hatchery season the Salmo plant nurtured ten million
white fish fry and fourteen million lake trout fry. Superintendent Robert
Ripple was still experimenting with the survivability of fry versus
fingerlings by isolating small batches of the Jatter in natural ponds, and
counting them after a year's time. The resultant survival rate of 65%
confirmed his hypothesis that fingerlings did better than frys in a natural
habitat.

During 1923 some Bayfield fishermen expressed the view that
whitefish were bouncing back as a result of the Salmo hatchery's work.
Theodore Boutin, for example, made a single haul of 6,300 pounds of
whitefish in October and sold them for $900. By 1925 hatchery officials

69


Several segments of these fleeing Algonquian people, the Chippewas
included, congregated in the area around the Falls of Sault Ste. Marie.
The Sault was an attractive stopping point because of the “numerous
white fish that glanced and swam in the clear waters and sparkling foam
of the rapids. "7 From this point, the various branches of the Algonquian
family dispersed to all points of the compass. Some of the Chippewas
stayed at the Sault; but the largest contingent migrated westward along
the southern shore of Lake Superior. In this migration they were
resisted by the occupants of the territory, mostly Dakota Sjoux and
Foxes.

By the Sate fifteenth century or early sixteenth century, one group
of Ojibway had established itself around Chequamegon Bay and the place
later called La Pointe, a camp on the mainland opposite the island later
called Madeline.® The pressure of the Dakotas and Foxes was so
considerable, that for a time the Chippewa had to withdraw to the safety

of the island. The Ojibway referred to the island = as

"Mon-ing-wun-a-kaun-ing," "the place of the golden-breasted

woodpecker." Once again, the appeal of this location was "the numerous
9

fish as they swam about in the clear depths of the Great Lake."

Warren related that the principal means of subsistence for the
Chippewa who were hemmed in on the island was fishing. And he told as
well about the rest of their environment, when they could get ashore,
and a little about their methods at fishing: “Every stream which emptied
into the lake abounded in beaver, otter, and muskrat, and the fish which
swam in its clear water could not be surpassed in quality or quantity in
any other spot on earth. They manufactured their nets of the inner bark

of the bass and cedar trees, and from the fibres of the nettle."

Despite harassment, the Chippewa did not abandon the Chequamegon
Bay area; and it was here that the first dated contact between Europeans
and Chippewa took place. 17 In the fall of 1659 two French fur traders,
Radisson and des Groseilliers, discovered a village, or series of villages,
on the southwest corner of Chequamegon Bay. The area actually had a

mixed population of Ottawa, Hurons and Chippewa living together in


prey interactions were studied in both areas during 1974.
Herring larvae and smelt were about 120 and 3 times as dense,
respectively, in Black Bay as in the Apostle Islands region.
Substantial predation by smelt on young herring was evident in
Black Bay, where 17% of 1196 smelt stomachs examined contained
herring larvae. From calculations of the relative densities of
the two species, and of the daily ration of the predators, we
estimated that smelt consumed 3.3-11% of the herring larvae.
Nevertheless, the herring stocks have sustained average
historical levels of commercial production. In contrast, no
herring larvae were found in the stomachs of 1711 smelt
collected in the Apostle Islands region. We conclude that
Predation by smelt on herring larvae is not the major factor

controlling or suppressing herring stocks in either region "106

Therefore, even though smelt in Black Bay preyed on herring larvae
to a considerable extent, this phenomenon was more a function of relative

herring abundance than any smelt propensity to dominate herring. Thus,

even in Black Bay, smelt were not reducing herring abundance. It is
also true, however, that herring outnumbered smelt by a ratio of about
forty to one in Black Bay. 107 Having said all this, it still holds true

that the best general explanation for the supplantation of herring by
smelt is caused by means of the rivalry of the two species for the same
food supply, zooplankton. Doubtlessly, selective overfishing of herring
enabled smelt to get the edge in certain areas; and, by the same token,
future uncontrolled fishing for smelt could help to tip the balance in the
other direction in favor of lake herring. in either case, the history of
the rivalry between smelt and herring demonstrates the wisdom of Van
Oosten's 1937 observation that it was dangerous to tamper with the
ecosystems of any of the Great Lakes by introducing exotic forms.

{. The Retirement of the Hokenson Brothers

Needless to say, the decline of the fishery during the 1950's had a
profound effect on the lives of the Hokenson brothers. With the other

107


Even with this grim recitation there are palliating aspects that do
honor to the Chippewa as a people. First of all, the era of cannabilism
was depicted as occurring under extreme duress from the tyrannical
leadership of the medicine men. Digressing for a moment, there
apparently was a little observed scientific Phenomenon associated with
cannibalism that depicted the incipient practitioners as acquiring an
"insatiable longing for human flesh" that nearly compelled the continuance
of the practice. At any rate, a people led by such satanic medicine men,
were placed under such extreme pressure that their fear of becoming
numbered among the future victims compelled their acquiessence and
participation in the grisly banquets. It was a situation akin to a form of
blackmail wherein the tender bodies of family children were held hostage
in face of their parents, to insure that the latter would participate
without protest or grumble, Jest their children also die.

In further praise of the Chippewa, it must be said that this
disgusting and unfortunate period in their history filled them with such
revulsion for the cannibalistic practices, that the tribe developed
something akin to a collective bad conscience that made recollection of
such things into a veritable taboo. Warren repeatedly told of the
reluctance of elders to confess it, and how some of them manufactured an
alternative explanation for the flight from Madeline Island: that the
coming of the white man with firearms gave them the capacity to drive
back the Dakotas and the Fox, thus "explaining" their emigration from
the Apostle Islands to the mainland.

Another laudatory aspect of the cannibalism story from Madeline
Island is the fact that the tribe eventually became enraged at the
practices of their medicine men and put them to death [Ross, 13]. In
this rendition by Ross, the author also averred that a severe winter with
a food shortage was the occasion for the commencement of cannibalism.
Reports from still other sources invariably stated that each instance of
cannibalism among the Chippewa occurred in connection with a time of

starvation.

Another aspect of the cannibalism discussion needs to be emphasized.
It is an axiom of historical evidence that when a witness confesses

xix


Whiskey Island and St. Helena Isle in the northern part of the Lake; but
their major stopover point was in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, just south
of Green Bay. Nelson Boutin made a small move northward for a time to
Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, also close to Green Bay; and while there,
he was elected to the Wisconsin legislature. The family had one other

. . . ; . 1
stopover at Two Rivers, Wisconsin before returning to Manitowoc. 5

The migratory moves of the Boutins closely resembled the flight of
their prey in the lake, the white fish and the lake trout. Already at this
early date, 1870, inspectors from the federal government were taking note
of the decrease in abundance of the food fishes of the Great Lakes. The
United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries sent investigators to
Lake Michigan in 1871 and 1872 to verify the decrease, assess its causes,
and make proposals for correcting the situation. The conclusions drawn
were applied only to Lake Michigan. The researchers discovered that the
number of fishermen and equipment had multiplied; that the lake generally
was overfished; that fishermen were taking many immature fish; that
many wasteful practices were being followed, such as the discarding of
sturgeon without making any use of them whatsoever; and that too little
was being done to regulate fishing or propagate replacement fish. The
investigators did not apply these conclusions to Lake Superior, as that
lake had not been inspected; but the implication was that no such
exploitive practices had as yet been exercised on the largest of the Great

Lakes. /®

So it came to pass in 1870 that the Boutin family came en masse to
Ashland/Bayfield to fish. There were eight brothers who participated, at
least for a time, in a very large fishing enterprise. Their names were:
Benoni, Edward, Felix F., Nelson, Frank, Duffey, Joseph C., and
Solomon D. The leadership for fishing was taken up by Nelson and
Frank, and the company came to be called N & F Boutin. By 1880 it was
a $200,000 a year business, handling about 1,500 half~barrels of fish in
the summer and 100 tons of fresh fish in the winter. They employed
about 100 men. During the 1880's Nelson and Frank split up to separate
companies, the former teamed up with a man named Mahan, while Frank

ran his own operation. As time passed, some of the brothers drifted into

35


Elsewhere commercial fishermen had mostly contempt for the smelt
which they considered a “rough" fish, fit only for fertilizer or animal
food. But during the 1950's the rest of the Great Lakes fishermen
entered the fray when the abundance of smelt became so obvious as they

intruded into other types of netting.

Lake Superior fishers first actively pursued smelt in 1952. The crop
expanded year after year until 1964 when more than a thousand tons were
taken from the lake. About half of this amount was caught in Minnesota
waters. Since then, it is difficult to guess accurately how great smeit
production is on Lake Superior, since sport fishermen may be taking
greater numbers of smelt than the professionals. The reason for this
boomtown type craze is that smelt have a short but hectic spawning
season in the spring, between April 15th and May 15th, when they swarm
along the beaches, practically swamping boats and breaking dip nets and
minnow seines. So rabid have the Minnesota amateur "smelters" become,
that the city of Duluth has major crowd control problems during the
season. One Minnesota DNR official estimated that the 1977 smelt run
attracted between 25,000 to 30,000 fishermen, who took in 250 tons of fish

during a two week interval. 29

Commercial smelt fishermen expanded into the business when they
discovered that consumers were acquiring a taste for the fish; and in one
place a devotee stated that the taste compared favorably with that of
brook trout, 10° There were also a number of mink farmers along the
Minnesota North Shore who provided a ready market for large volumes of
this available fish. In time, the price of smelt became competitive with

and even exceeded herring prices.

A few professionals went after smelt with pound nets. One
Minnesota fisherman, Milford Johnson, told how he stumbled into smelt
fishing when his gill nets became fouled with the little intruders during
his quest for herring in the late 1950's. Smelt were so abundant that
there were more of them in his nets than the sought after herring. He
soon recognized that the process of picking the nets free of smelt was so

time consuming as to render the amount of profit nugatory.

104

, en


Despite the advancing degree of sophistication in scientific methods
for replenishing fish populations, there were still some puzzling blank
spots in the scientists' knowledge. The most intriguing mystery was the
ebb and flow of lake herring production. From 1908 onwards, when
regular tabulation of Lake Superior statistics began, there was a steady,
but broken, increase in the annual yield of lake herring. The most
noticeable decline in herring production for Lake Superior was in the
decade of the 1920's. But when herring reappeared in greater numbers
thereafter, no-one could offer any explanation, such as_ hatchery
replenishment, since there was none, for the revival; The only sources of
evidence were the observations of the commercial fishermen. Emory Jones
of Cornucopia thought there was an unknown cyclical flow relating to the
reproductive system of the herring. Other fishermen speculated that
November storms would protect the herring from overfishing in any given
year, thus allowing the adult fish to recuperate and spawn for an extra
season. It was thought, as well, that storms forced the herring to
change their spawning grounds, and thus be more abundant in locations
where they had never spawned before. This migration seemed to apply
more to herring than to trout or whitefish, since the two money fish did

not range over as wide a geographic area as the herring. ??

New puzzles were added to the herring question in the mid-1950's
when the little fish started to disappear as precipitously as the whitefish
and jake trout. But unlike these valuable fish, the herring were too
small to be victimized by the lamprey eel. So there was no visible cause
for their demise. Once again speculation was rampant: most commercial
fishermen blamed the herring disaster of the 1950's on smelt, who had
first become visible in Lake Superior in the 1930's. According to this
hypothesis, the ever increasing smelt were feeding on the ova of the
herring. Emory Jones thought that the dumping of taconite tailings along
the Minnesota North Shore was an adequate explanation for herring
decline. Later in this study we will treat briefly the more scientifically

based hypothesis concerning this problem. ’@

During the 1930's the various Wisconsin fish hatcheries engaged in a
vigorous struggle to replenish the favorite food fish of the lake country.

88


neighbors, Minnesota and Michigan, did not allow the netting of such
small money fish. Two effects of talking in assembly with fishermen from
other states was to impress on the Wisconsinites the necessity for
uniformity of legislation and the necessity for recognition that the taking
of such "small" fish would mean the eventual destruction of their
livelihood. The Wisconsin fishermen went into the meeting seeking a
pound and a half minimum limit on trout and whitefish; but speaking with
fishermen from lakes that had already suffered a serious diminution of
trout and whitefish supply, convinced them that weight-measure was not a
practicable means of control, and that they would have to increase the
minimum length by several inches. Within three years the Wisconsin
legislature would accept a minimum of 17 inches for lake trout and 16

inches for whitefish J

The meeting that was eventually held in June of 1928 at Two Rivers,
Wisconsin was very much a fact-finding seminar at which scientists,
legislators, administrators and members of the Wisconsin Conservation
Commission plied the fishermen with inquiries about the details of their

profession and their preferences on legislative modifications. ”°

The resultant Wisconsin legislative effort was nevertheless haphazard
and uncoordinated with neighboring states; but during the 1930's the
first extensive effort was made to base fish conservation laws on scientific
methods. Dr. John Van Oosten of the United States Department of
Fisheries was in the vanguard of this movement and he had attended the
meeting at Two Rivers. Van Oosten conducted experiments that lasted
several years, using the waters of several of the Great Lakes to ascertain
the truth behind popular theories and fishermen's hypotheses. Van
Oosten wrote up the results of his researches for a number of

professional journals, such as the Transactions of the American Fisheries

Society as well as for government documents. In time, his method of
experimentation became the rule rather than the exception. Studies were
done on every major species of food fish to ascertain their spawning

habits, feeding practices, and general life cycle. /?

90


oral histories by Minnesota North Shore fishermen. No one was just a

fisherman, nor were the Hokensons for that matter.

The diversification of occupations was part of the story for the
Bayfield fish companies as well. The Boutins, for example, during the
1880's used their tugboats for delivery service and passenger carrying,
as well as towing rafts of logs across the surface of Lake Superior. The
adventure story of Halvor Reiten in the 1920's, found in this study,
makes the same point, that Reiten's intent was not solely to engage in
fishing, but to do anything that would turn a dollar. He had been
frustrated by the slim profits of freighting and passenger-hauling and
therefore engaged in the risky, but potentially lucrative winter fishing
expedition that led to the disaster-sinking of the Thomas Friant.

During most of the history of the Bayfield fish companies, until
about 1960, the town usually could support more than one company. The
core personnel of each company would be relatively few in number.
These people were the owners and caretakers of the company's basic
equipment, its shore-based refrigeration plant, other buildings, boats and
fishing gear. Looking at a typical calendar year, the company's activities
would be as follows: In January, February and March, depending on the
severity and variability of winter weather, the company would hire
townspeople, practically men only, for the harvesting of ice from the
lake's surface. The company had most of the necessary equipment,
including trucks, and in the nineteenth century, wagons. But the hired
extra help might provide added equipment, depending on the scale of the
operation. The companies always used block ice from the lake even
though refrigeration plants came to Bayfield before the turn of the
century. The ice was used both for storage ashore and to supply
individual fishermen with flake ice out on the lake. Likewise,
refrigerator cars for rail travel were also available in the nineteenth
century; but the technique for chilling freighted produce enroute during
that era depended first on chipped ice rather than on an actual freezing

process.

vi

, ee


because of a premature thaw. A sudden "cold snap" in late February
produced a ten-inch layer of ice among the islands. The Press editorial
only begged indulgence that consumers accept these thinner cakes of
ice.24 The ice cutters had to work quickly, however, since navigation

reopened at the end of March, after only two short months of closure. “>

During 1919, the Bayfield newspaper continued to refer to focal
participation in the Great War. There were articles about heroes, and
routine notices about returning soldiers. In the July 4th issue, a brief
note stated: "£skel Hokenson, who has been in the service for some
time, serving for several months overseas, arrived home this week with

26 Eskel returned to the

his honorable discharge from the service."
Russell homestead of his deceased father to take hold of farming
operations once again. His activities and those of his brothers went on
in anonymity, but occasionally a note in the Bayfield paper brought them
some attention. One item in the November 12, 1924 number wrote:
"Several nimrods from this [Russell] vicinity are out hunting at Sand
Bay, including Len, Bob and Sebastian Feldmeier, Roy, Eskel and Leo

Hokenson, Harvey Soetebeer and Russell Aiken."2?

There was a followup
piece on the success of the hunting party; and one note even told of
Eskel being confined to the house for several days with a severe cold.
The paper regularly told, as well, of social events among the Russell few,
particularly the activities of the Wednesday Club and the Sunnyside Club,
and the progress of a real estate development organization at Little Sand
Bay, Called the South Shore Club. This was how the Hokenson brothers
acquired the lots on Lake Superior that later became their fishing dock
and buildings. One of the three Hokenson brothers, unspecified by first
name in the Press article in 1925, ran unsuccessfully for constable in the

Russell area.°8

In the decade of the 1920's, even though herring catches were lower
than average, the general prosperity of the fishery did attract the
interest of the Hokenson brothers. Early in the decade they acquired
some land directly on Little Sand Bay, and at first did some fishing
merely to supplement family diet. Then, the death of several farm

animals and the generally limited success of tilling the soil, persuaded

67


the Sault were obliged to flee to Michilimackinac in order to avoid
starvation. A part of Henry's company was able to make that place
before the ice froze, but some of their number were caught by the

weather.

These survivors were able to catch a few fish by cutting holes in
the ice and spearing a few large trout; but they were never able to
procure a large supply under these circumstances. They were,
therefore, compelled finally to flee to Michilimackinac for food. Henry
was a member of this party and was able to reach Michilimackinac only
after an exceedingly arduous journey, in which the threat of starvation

was always a factor. 7

Alexander Henry's journal brings out, as well, the occasional
correlation between Chippewa starvation times and cannibalism. Henry
cited at least three instances in his own experience when the Indians
resorted to eating human flesh. One case took place near Oak Bay on
the north side of Lake Superior. Henry had fled to that place because of
the failure of the fishery at the Sault. The fish supply was somewhat
better at Oak Bay, and Henry found that some Chippewa followed him
there with the same mission of obtaining food. One day a single Indian
wandered into their camp talking about how he had left his family
starving nearby. As Henry told the story: "The appearance of this
youth was frightful; and from his squalid figure there issued a stench
which none of us could support. . . . His arrival struck our camp with
horror and uneasiness; and it was not long before the Indians came to
me, saying that they suspected he had been eating human flesh, and
even that he had killed and devoured the family which he pretended to
have left behind."

As it transpired, other Ojibways found direct evidence of the young
man's cannibalism by bringing back a human hand and skull that were
roasting on a slow fire nearby. They confronted the youth with his
crime and received a confession of guilt. Quizzically, the Chippewa
decided to kill the young man, not because they considered the deed
especially heinous, but rather because of a belief that someone who

acquired a taste for human flesh, tended to cultivate that taste. /®

12


Flanagan, John T. "From La Pointe to the Falls of St. Anthony in
1846." Minnesota History 41 (Fall 1968): 137-144.

Gates, Paul W. "Frontier Land Business in Wisconsin." Wisconsin
Magazine of History 52 (Summer 1969): 306-327.

Helgeson, Arlan. "Nineteenth Century Land Colonization in Northern
Wisconsin." Wisconsin Magazine of History 36 (Winter 1952-3):
115-121.

Holmquist, June Drenning. "Commercial Fishing on Lake Superior in
the 1890's." Minnesota History 34 (Summer 1955): 243-9.

Kane, Lucile. "Settling the Wisconsin Cutovers." Wisconsin

Magazine of History 40 (Winter 1956-7): 91-8.

Kaups, Matti. "Evolution of Smelt - O - Mania on Lake Superior's
North Shore." Journal of Popular Culture 11 (No. 4 1978):
959-975.

Kaups, Matti “North Shore Commercial Fishing, 1849 - 1870."
Minnesota History 46 (Summer 1978): 42-58.

Kaups, Matti “Norwegian Immigrants and the Develpment of
Commercial Fisheries Along the North Shore of Lake Superior:
1870 - 1895." Norwegian Influence on the Upper Midwest;

Proceedings of an Inter-national Conference, University of

Minnesota, Duluth, May 22-24, 1975. Duluth: Continuing
Education and Extension, 1976; pages 21-34.

Landon, Fred. "By Canoe to Lake Superior in 1838." Inland Seas
29 (Spring 1973): 33-46.

Lawrence, Lee E. "The Wisconsin Ice Trade." Wisconsin Magazine
of History 48 (Summer 1965): 257-267.

Marvill, Lewis. "First Trip by Steam to Lake Superior." Inland
Seas 22 (Winter 1966): 301-4.

Metcalf, 1. S. H. "These Lampreys" Inland Seas 6 (Winter
1949-50): 26-8.

Nute, Grace Lee. “The American Fur Company's Fishing Enterprises
on Lake Superior." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 12
(December 1925): 483-503.

Nute, Grace Lee. Caesars of the Wilderness; Medard Chouart, Sieur
Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1619 - 1710. New
York: D. Appleton - Century Co., 1943; reprint ed., New
York: Arno Press, 1977.

Nute, Grace Lee. “The Papers of the American Fur Company: A
Brief Estimate of Their Significance." American Historical
Review 32 (April 1927): 519-538.

132


Fishing is done with two boats, the large, diesel-powered
"Twilite," and a smaller boat which the men tow behind the
"Twilite"...The small craft is used when the fishermen go out

over the pond nets to lift them.

As soon as the fish are brought to shore, they get packed in
ice for a quick trip to nearby Cornucopia. From there they are
shipped by truck to Ashland, and then on to a dozen-and-one

markets in the Midwest.

In the past, the Hokensons have fished for herring, but,
because the season runs through November and December, the
job is considerably more dangerous than summer fishing. The
boats ice over, and severe storms have a way of blowing up

suddenly.

"Sometimes when the men were fishing herring, they didn't
know whether or not they would get back to shore," Mrs.

Hokenson said.

Countless factors make up the difference between a good and
bad fishing year. Back in 1944 the fish came in so fast that
thousands of dollars worth were taken out of Sand Bay in two
weeks time. For the last few years, however, fishing has been

poor. Mrs. Hokenson gives several reasons for this.

Violent thunderstorms of the past two seasons have tended to
keep the fish away from the shore and the nets. Last year, a
steady wind brought the sewage from Duluth's St. Louis river
straight into the Sand Bay area. Floods in the Bayfield
vicinity this season clouded the shore water with red silt.

Mr. and Mrs. Hokenson have seen bad years come and go.
Next season may bring ideal conditions and a heavy run of
fish. In the meanwhile, they are counting their blessings,
which include a new home with electricity near Sand Bay. The

99


Einar Miller had to run the 110 foot Friant out of Bayfield harbor on
the 3rd of January 1924, because the ice was forming rapidly among the
Apostle Islands. He hustled the Friant around the Bayfield Peninsula to
Cornucopia harbor where they picked up the fishermen. There too they
had to hurry, as the port was freezing up rapidly. Even though the
Friant had a thin coating of iron plating to protect it against sheet ice,
its progress through the water drove a wedge of ice through the port
side hull in the after section. This event occurred as the steamer was
rounding Bark Point west of Cornucopia. This difficulty forced them to
turn back to Bark Bay which they made at 1300 hours on the 4th. Here
the vessel froze into the ice. The temperature had gone down to 23
degrees .below zero and the wind was screaming. As Reiten described the
wind: "it began cracking around us like artillery fire."

On the 5th of January, despite being frozen in, the crew was able
to get the Friant to list to starboard while they patched the leak.
Sometime that evening, Saturday, the wind shifted and came from the
southeast, putting a considerable strain on the anchor chain. "That
anchor chain was just tike a fiddle string," said Reiten. The captain
started up the engine to take the strain off the chain. Soon the ice
started to break up. For a time the rudder was frozen in place, but the
crew used steam hoses to free it. Then the Friant got underway and
re-rounded Bark Point and passed Port Wing. Now it was Sunday, the

6th of January.

Reiten said that the southeasterly wind was at hurricane force for a
time, and attributed its intensity to the rapid temperature rise from 20
below to 20 above. Some time during Sunday afternoon the crew of the
Friant discovered a new, larger leak in the hull on the starboard side
amidships. Probably a chunk of ice had jammed through the bulkhead on
the earlier occasion, but had frozen into place. Now with the thaw and
vessel motion, the ice had melted out of the hole. By 1530 hours the
water was rising rapidly inside the vessel, despite the use of pumps and
pails. Briefly the captain thought of making a "blanketing bolt," using a
tarp on the outside to seal the hole with water pressure holding the tarp
in place. Other solutions ran through their minds as the water rose in

the bilge. One idea was a forlorn hope that the ice breaker Wallin would

74

Qi me i es ee


Father Louis Hennepin wrote about conditions at the Sault in 1679:
"The Indians of Sainte Marie du Long Sault are called by us the Saulteurs
fa branch of the Chippewa] on account of the place of their abode, which
is near the Sault, and where they subsist by hunting stags, moose, or
elk, and some beaver, and by the fishing of white fish, which is very
good, and is found there in great abundance, but this fishery is very

difficult to all but these Indians who are trained to it from childhood. "23

Antoine Lamothe Cadillac wrote similar sentiments about his visit to

the Sault at the end of the seventeenth century:

"The great abundance of fish and the ease of catching them
have caused the Indians to make a settlement in this region. It
is a daily manna which never fails; there is no family which
does not catch sufficient fish to live on throughout the year.
Moreover, it is bathed and nourished in the purest water, the

clearest and most pellucid you could see anywhere.

"| think it would be useless to explain the way in which they
fish, since each tribe has its own method. But | think | ought
to mention the pleasure of seeing them bring up, in one net, as
many as a hundred white fish. This is the most delicate fish in
the lake. They are as large as shad in France. They also
catch a large number of trout, weighing up to 50 pounds; they
are certainly very good eating. Finally, the sturgeon, pike,
carp, herring, dory, and a 100 different kinds of fish abound

at this part of the lake."24

Cadillac also took note of the fact that both the French and Indians
at the Sault sought variety in their diet, despite the abundance of fish.
But he stated, as well, his belief in the healthfulness of both the food

and the location:
"They saw a big tree and cut a log about three feet long which

they hollow out for about two feet, almost like a mortar. Then
they make a pestle of hard wood, about five feet long; after

15