The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1869-05-13
THE LAKE SHORE.
The Great Fisheries at Two Rivers
Business at ManitOWOc.

| w leave milwaukee at seven In the even
ing; touch at Sheboyganlabout midnight;
pass Manltowoc, and land at the pier at
Two Rivers half an hour after ''sun-up. -
1t IS just good nights ride from Mil
waukee.
| Two Rivers contains over two thousand
, people, sixty nine fatailies Of WHOM, speak
French, twenty three American, nine Iylsh
one Norwegian, and the balance sp.ecken
Deutsch. The town has an ancient, d.
lapldated appearance, yet the location is
every way striking and remarkable. Two
quite large rivers come in here from the
north and west, nealy fifty miles distant,
and unite within six rods of Lake Michi-
gan. Smaller craft find ample sailing
and harbor room inside the rivers The
country about is sandy and level and was
formerly thickly covered with Jack pine.
The French quarters occupy the little strip
OF peninsula beteen the lake and river,
on the north side, and on good fishing
days present most lively and romantic
picture.
THE GREAT FACTORIES.
On the south side between the river
and lake, is seen the great tub and pail
factory, also the great chair and furniture
mandatory owned and operated by
Joseph Mann & Co., Milwaukee. These
two institutions are the largest in the
State, and give employment to three
hundred persons The pail factory is
250x50feet and three stories; the chair
factory l50x36 feet, three stories, with
lesser additions The two factories are
entirely separate and complete, and cost
In the aggregate over $4,000 They
| take the timber from the raw saw log in
the stream, and carry it through to the
last finish of art The company are now
| turning out 20, 600. pals a month, with
tubs, keelers, buckets, churns, &C., in pro-
| portion; they are also turning out 1900
| chairs month, embracing over sixty vari
cites and patterns. They work ten hours
a day.
| THE GREAT TANNERIES.
The tanneries of the Wisconsin Leath-
er Company are located two miles west
on one of the streams in plain sight of
the village. The older tannery, put up
eighteen years ago, is 300x42 feet, and
the newer one 39Ox42 feet. They have
grown up village of3O0, and support a
school of 80 scholars. They employ a
hundred men and work up two million
pounds of hides, and ten thousand cords
of bark yearly There are numerous
other small tanneries in this region
enough to exhaust the hemlock bark in
twelve or fifteen years. The Wisconsin
Company have therefore decided to aban-
don their old tannery building IN course
of year or so. and take the machinery
and operate it at Milwaukee.
Two Rivers is the largest fishing port
on the west shore of Lake Michigan
They count up, in the Immediate neigh
| borhood, forty trap nets, FIVE hundred
nets and over thirty fishing boats, nearly
all of which are the pride and glory CT
the French quarters. Their yearly ship
ments amount to over 5000 half barrels
of 100 lbs each, in salt, and over 300 900
| lbs boxed up fresh in ice Joe La May
is the king fisherman of the coast. He
has SIS, 900 invested in fishing traps, in
Guiding $50 gill nets. 10 pound or trap
nets, and eight fishing boats His fish
ing trade last year exceeded $780,
| Frank and Nelson Boutin have eight
pound nets and 200 gill nets; thay have
also the little schooner Island which
runs all the way round from Milwaukee
to Green Bay and the upper islands,
trading in fish, fur, oil, maple sugar, &c.
Their business last year amounted to $50,
900. Robert Graham has a similar trad
ing craft but runs no fishing nets. John
Y. Allie, Fred Eggers, Henry Courch-
aine, Joseph Gonyon, Moses Bunker and
the La Fond Brothers, are well known
fishermen here. -
MAKING NETS.
Over one hundred women and children
are constantly engaged here making and
repairing nets. The labor and dexterity
required in this work are almost inconceiv-
able. Joe La May is now having a pound
net made. that will take twelve large coils
of rope and g thousand pounds Of twine.
The netting alone would cover the four
sides and top of the Newhall House twice
over! The meshes are from one to two
inches, and have to be all worked out, sim
gle threaded, and by hand.
GILL NETS.
The gill nets are made of stout linen thread
three feet wide by hundred long. They
are taken out six to eight miles, and sunk
edgeways in fifty -fathom water. The
lower edge is held to the bottom byweig hts
and the upper edge by floats above.
Twenty of these nets are set in row, and
constitute gang for one boat. The
meshes are about one inch and three
quarters.-The fish get their heads in the
meshes, and are caught, like sapient
bened;cts, fast by the gills. The gangs
are raised every few days, and bring up
from 500 to | 900 pounds. 1t is gala
time with the Frenchman here in good
fishing weather. Hope goes out with
their 20 fine fishing craft in the morning,
and JOY comes sailing in with their shin
ing burdens in the afternoon. All are
busy till sunset; the fish are dressed; the
nets hung out to dry; and three hundred
| happy Frenchmen talk and laugh out the
day.
POUND NETS.
The pound nets are hugh affairs. They
are set about half mile from shore In
forty to fifty feet of water. First comes
the lead an immense network Of
fence, reaching to the bottom and extend
| ing from so to 100 rods in straight line.
Then comes heart shaped opening,
leading through tunnel into "pot,
or trap" twenty-eight feet square,
reaching to the bottom also. All are
supported and fastened by means of long
| piles forty-fve IL number-driven into
the mud below The fish come to the
lead and, having their curiosity excit-
| ed, must needs follow it out, till they
pass through the heart enclosure
through the tunnel snout- thence into
the fatal and delusive pot Five
thousand pounds are often gathered at
| one haul
-s SHIPMENTS. ~ -sEA
| The shipme nts at Two Rivers connect
| mostly with the great tanneries and fac
! tories. The tanneries ship million and
a quarter pounds of leather and over
! 300, 900 pounds of hair during the year.
! Fourteen million of lumber, two million
| lath. 40, 600 posts, 3d. GOO hop poles, TO-