Ontonagon County Historical Society Museum. A rich array of unusually interesting local artifacts, from the pre-Civil War mining and shipping boom to datolite to images after the great 1896 fire to Scandinavians' handmade musical instruments. ... more

Sturgeon hatchery and rearing


Sturgeon, the most ancient and dramatic of North America's freshwater gamefish, will be making a comeback in the lower, 25-mile Ontonagon River system, if a DNR/Michigan Technological University effort succeeds. Summer visitors can see the larvae and fingerlings in the hatchery behind Red Metal Minerals/U.P. Candle in downtown Ontonagon from June through September. It's the only such opportunity in Michigan.

Once, huge, boney-plated sturgeon, sometimes upwards of six feet long, were widespread in the Great Lakes and Mississippi and Hudson rivers. These lake sturgeon, or Acipenser Fulvescens, are one of some 27 sturgeon species around the world, all vulnerable today.

They spawned upstream and migrated to river estuariess or lived at the bottoms of deep lakes. Their snout-like mouths stirred up the weedy, nutrient-rich bottoms and sucked up insects, smaller fish, and shellfish and crustaceans.

The earliest sturgeon fossils found are some 100 million years old, hence their popular name of "living fossils." Sturgeons' protective external bony plate and great size defended them against predators. And their intermittent spawning meant that they were less affected by environmental changes than fish which had to spawn yearly. It was a "great life history strategy that allowed them to survive for millions of years," says Michigan Tech fish biologist Nancy Auer. Individual sturgeon can live to be 100 or 150 years old.

But in North America and elsewhere, sturgeon numbers declined dramatically in the late 19th and 20th centuries due to pollution, over-fishing, dams that kept them from spawning upstream, and logging and other kinds of habitat destruction and fragmentation.

In Europe, especially Russia, sturgeon have long been prized for their caviar and meat. Native Americans also hold sturgeon in high esteem. But mostly in North America, they had been considered a nuisance until the 1850s, according to Nancy, because they ripped fishermen's nets. Many 19th century Great Lakes accounts describe sturgeon stacked up like cordwood on beaches, to be dried and burned.

Now Great Lakes states are working to restore this important part of the food chain in selected rivers and lakes, including the Cedar River north of Menominee, the Whitefish River east of Marquette, and the many-branched Ontonagon River.

Lake sturgeon imprint to the streams where they were born, and return to spawn, only in those streams, after 15 to 20 years of maturation. State DNRs also want to improve sport fishing and honor the sturgeon-fishing (or spearing) tradition among native tribes. The mystique of sturgeon is also strong among Eastern European immigrants, say, from Chicago. They line the banks of the Menominee River each fall, hoping to catch a big one. If Great Lakes sturgeon populations increase enough, it's possible that their eggs could be harvested for caviar.

Under the direction of Ed Baker of the Michigan DNR and Nancy Auer and the care of MTU graduate student Tim Wilson, 10,000 eggs are hatched here in Ontonagon in May and fed a diet of brine shrimp and blood worms. Being raised in Ontonagon River water means that the fish will imprint to specific chemical cues.

They grow to 6" and 8" and up by late September. Then about 800 surviving baby fish are released at an upstream rapids. The sturgeons' journey down the river system imprints them again so they will make the return trip back to spawn when mature. They will move out into Lake Superior, up to over 100 miles east or west of the rivermouth.

See the project on video at www.bio.mtu.edu/news/sturgeon. The DNR grant means the program will probably extend through 2009 at least. Thanks for Nancy Auer's review. (—April, 2008)

Visit the hatchery at the same hours, locations as Red Metal Minerals/U.P. Candles. June thru Sept. Shop staff will call the sturgeon staff person. No charge. Handicap access: two steps.

Ontonagon Lighthouse. The 1866 brick lighthouse, being restored, is a reminder that Ontonagon was once a busy port, shipping lumber and copper to distant cities. Tourgoers can climb its tower. ... more

Stubb's Bar & Museum. Stubb's Bar & Museum, proudly ungentrified, encrusted with decades worth of local memorabilia and newer Green Bay Packers chainsaw art. ... more

U.P. Candle Co./Red Metal Minerals. Candles with the scents of the North Woods and a fine selection of copper and other Lake Superior minerals make Richard and Genevieve Whiteman's studio-hop stand out. ... more

Ontonagon Township Park. A pleasant park on Lake Superior has a mile-long public beach, a picnic area, and a campground. A wonderful place for a sunset walk ... more