232 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES, 



75. TRURO AND WELLFLEET. 



THE FISHERIES OF TRURO AND SOUTH TRURO. Truro Township occupies a portion of Cape 

 Cod lying between Wellflest and Provincetown, extending about 10 miles north and sontb. The 

 width of the cape at this part varies from about 1 mile to 3 miles. Pamct harbor, situated in the 

 southeastern section of the town, is the only inlet from the waters of the bay, if we exclude the 

 one partially forming the boundary between this town and Provincetowu. In former years it fur- 

 nished a safe and commodious haven for vessels, but at present it is choked with sand and 

 rendered useless. 



The town contains three small villages, namely, North Truro, Truro, and South Truro. North 

 Truro is a compact village, removed a considerable distance from the other two, and its fisheries, 

 therefore, will be considered separately. 



Truro is a somewhat scattered village lying on the north side of Patnet harbor. It does not 

 seem to be largely dependent upon the fisheries. Ten men are engaged in spring and fall in 

 setting mackerel gill-nets. The spring season opens about the 1st of June and lasts a month; 

 the fall fishing begins about the middle of November and also lasts a month. Each man uses 

 about ten nets, which are made from old menhaden nets and are of but little value. 



In spring and in fall five men engage in trawling codfish on the ocean side of the cape. They 

 own two trawls, each about 250 fathoms long, and worth $6. When the men catch more fish than 

 they themselves can consume, they sell the surplus fresh in the village or send it salted to Boston. 



Every spring and fall cod fishing with hook and line is carried on in the bay. In the fall of 

 1878 twenty-five men were employed in this fishery ; in the spring of 1879, twenty men. In 1879 

 two men were engaged in setting lobster pots. They -owned 10 pots, which they set both on the 

 ocean side of the cape and in the bay. They caught about $100 worth of lobsters, the majority 

 of which they sold in the neighborhood. A few were sold to a Provincetowu smack which visited 

 Truro at irregular intervals. Very few bluefish nets are now in use in Truro. No other branches 

 of the fisheries are pursued. 



Time has wrought man y changes in the condition of Truio and of its fisheries. The line fleet 

 which anchored in Pamet harbor has been scattered, and the industry which raised the town to 

 importance and brought wealth to many families has dwindled into insignificance. 



THE FISHERIES OF NORTH TRURO. North Truro, or Pond Village, as it is commonly called, 

 is situated in the northwestern part of Truro Township, on Cape Cod Bay. The principal portion 

 of the village is built upon the northern bank of a small fresh-water pond, and on a cross-road at 

 its eastern extremity. The pond formerly formed a small harbor, communicating with the waters 

 of the bay, but was closed by a dike at the time of the construction of the railway. On the low 

 beach, outside this dike, stand the storehouses of the fishermen, about 15 in number. 



The principal fisheries engaged in by the fishermen of North Tiuro are for bluefish, cod, 

 mackerel, menhaden, and lobsters. A few clains are dug, and th ree or four men occupy them- 

 selves in manufacturing dogfish oil. The bluefish gill-net fishery is the leading pursuit. About 

 fifteen men are engaged in it, each employing ten or twelve nets. Fishing is prosecuted from the 

 1st of July until the middle of October. During the season of 1879 about 40,000 pounds of fish 

 were caught. They are invariably packed in ice and sent by rail to Boston or New York, con- 

 signed to agents, to whom a commission of 5 per cent, is paid. 



Codfishing with trawls is carried on in winter on the ocean side of the cape, and with hook 

 and line in spring and fall in the bay. In winter only three or four men are engaged in trawling, 

 for it is an arduous and dangerous employment, yielding scanty and uncertain profits. They ven- 



