The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-03-20


| enclosure OF netting In the form of
heart, around whose sides the fish
may move freely, but with little
likelihood of his passing out by the
small entrance by which he came
IN As it comes towards the apex
81 the heart, there is open before
I a tunnel, kept in form by hoops,
ana guarded by netting, with
diameter rapidly decreasing. So
he h>h passes by small hole into
The pot" which is a fine mesh net,
twelve or twenty feet square, hav-
ing bottom, and kept in place 10y
corner posts, and managed BY ropes
that pass through a block ut the
foot of each post, SO that the net
can be fastened down or let up east
ly. The sides Of this spot" rise
above the water, but a boat is
easily allowed to pass over, the net
is gradually lifted and tie impris-
oned fish are scooped out into the
boat, with the scoop net.
Where the bottom of the lake is
rocky, so that pound nets cannot be
secured, Gill nets are used. These
are four or five feet wide, made of
cotton or linen, with meshes three
inches apart. a stone on the lower
side keeps it on the bottom, and a
float on the upper side holds it Ill
position. The white fish generally
keeps within three or four feet from
the bottom, while the trout fire.
quen's all depths. The gill net. by
its elastic material, yields a little,
before The fish, but by the same
elastic quality, holds it and it is
soon worried out and strangled
This method of fishing is valuable,
as experimenting the other; espe-
cially along the rocky shores of our
lake.
Our fisheries cannot be said to
have been developed to any great
extent, since it is but a few years
that any effort has been made to
test their commercial value. Two
firms deserve special mention as
having had the largest share in
establishing and supplying distant
markets. Messrs. Bou.in Bros, OF
Bayfield,, began their fisheries in
1870, and Me>srs. O'Mallry & Shaw,
OF La Pointe, i'll 1871. The former
firm now employees about forty men,
and uses in it's business thirteen
pound nets and twenty boats with
many gill nets. The latter firm
uses fifteen pounl nets valued al
800 each, and many gill nets.
These two firms shipped during
the year 1874 about 5000 half bar
rels of fl sh,-a halt-barrel represent
ing loo pounds Of inspect, d fish.
The yield In 1878 was about $4,000
halves. These average here price
of 1915 for trout, and 1925 for
whit efSh; and in Chicago or St.
Paul, $40 for trout, and $500 for
white-f>h.
These figures represent but the
beginning OF this industry. Wher-
ever Lake Superior fish have been
brought into u~e, they hold their
place, and VII have an increasing
demand.
AS to the yield of fish, it is IN
definitely great, and cannot by any
known means of catching, be ex-
hausied. The history OF the fish
cries of Lake Nj, higan warrants
this assertion. Its western coast,
being sandy, is peculiarly adapted
for pound nets, and we find them
the whole distance from Two R.v-
ers to Chicago, half mile apart.
and this has been the case for
thirty years; and yet the yield last
Year Was better than ever before.
The fisheries at certain points NAV
become poor, bnt if left for two or
three years, they will be good as
ever.
So ample is the extent of Lake
Superior, so vast the range allowed
the fish in the search Of food, and
so great their reproductive capacity,
that the present or possible agency
Ol iiaH III tieT ueSli ucl'OI goes Tor
little or nothing. They would in
crease beyond measure but for the
instinct which governs them in the
choice of food, and which makes
each family the prey of another.
The trout lives on he minnows and
the small white-tish; while the
W hifn-ti h In tnrn tnilnwa IN tho |