Beginning with Native Americans and continuing to the present day, people found food, fortune, and failure fishing the Bays de Noc. Commercial fishing at Escanaba began in 1866 by catching fish for visiting trade vessels and local logging camps, and in the next few years the industry expanded enormously. By 1881, the Booth Co. alone shipped over 1,500,000 pounds of whitefish, trout, dory, pickerel, and sturgeon to Chicago. Commercial fishing continued to thrive in Escanaba until the 1920's and 1930's, when intense competition between fishermen drove the price down to 4 cents a pound. For many it became impossible to stay in business, and by the 1950's many Escanaba fish houses had closed. Today many commercial fishing boats have given way to recreational fishermen, and the shouts of success and moans of failure still echo across the bay. Life for a fishing crew was difficult, with a season lasting from April 1st, or when the ice broke up, until January, and days beginning at 2am and lasting until the return to port at 4-5pm.