Jerry Heiman, President of the Benzie Area Historical Society, explained how a six-inch fish turned the village of Beulah into a tourist destination in the 1920's and 1930's.
Through a slide show replete with photos and newspaper clippings, Jerry illustrated the extent of the the smelt craze. The phenomenon began around 1920, when six million of the silvery saltwater fish were brought to Crystal Lake from the east coast--originally with the thought that the fish could be food for lake trout. When smelt began showing up each spring in Beulah's Cold Creek in spawning migration, people started taking out bucket loads from the creek and from the shoreline of Crystal Lake. Up to 1300 cars were counted nightly parked along US-31.
In 1925 supervision of the Beulah smelt fishing was turned over to the Michigan Department of Conservation, which established fishing hours and regulations. In the meantime merchants in Beulah did everything they could do to bring in smelt fishermen and their money.. By 1927 the governor and other politicians got involved, and from 1930-1940 there was "shameless promotion" of smelt fishing in Beulah.
Smelt fishing continued with big numbers through the 1940's and even fifties, but the numbers began declining, and in the late '50's the DNR declared the Creek to be a trout stream. There is still a season for smelt fishing, although the numbers are down, perhaps due to competition from mussels.