MAINE: FRENCHMAN'S BAY DISTKICT. 35 



boat fishermen ami five or six small vessels were engaged in the Frenchman's Bay hake fishery, but 

 noue of its people have been employed in this way since 18C8. Two vessels were sent to the Grand 

 Banks for cod each season from 1SG8 to 1$7.>, after which they were sold and the fisheries were 

 abandoned. 



ELLSWOKIH. Ellsworth, a town of 5,257 inhabitants was first settled in 1763; it was incor- 

 porated in 1SOO. A city of the same name at the head of navigation of Union River is next to 

 Bangor the leading commercial settlement along this portion of the coast. Its people, in addition 

 to their mercantile trade, are extensively engaged in the manufacture and shipment of lumber. 



The town is too far removed from the sea to have any extensive fishing interests. One fishing 

 schooner of G8.ll tons is owned by a resident merchant, but the catch is landed at Penobscot ? 

 where the fish are cured for the Boston market. The boat-fishing for salt-water species is con- 

 fined to the capture of mackerel at the mouth of Union River during the summer months. Two 

 fresh-fish dealers are engaged in supplying the city and country trade. They depend chiefly upon 

 the fishermen of the outer islands for their supply, and, on account of the distance, find it necessary 

 to keep a steam launch plying between the city and the fishing grounds. 



SUBRY. The town of Surry forms the shore-line between Ellsworth and Blue Hill. Formerly 

 some of its inhabitants were engaged in the manufacture of menhaden oil from fish taken in the 

 locality, each fisherman being provided with nets and kettles for this work. At the present time, 

 no fishing fleet is owned in the town, and only four men are extensively-engaged in the fisheries. 

 These go out in small open boats for cod, hake, and mackerel in summer. During the height of 

 the mackerel season they are joined by some of the farmers of the region. The entire catch is sold 

 in the locality. 



E. THE CASTINE DISTRICT. 



17. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES OF THE DISTRICT. 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FISHERIES. The Castine district, including the eastern 

 shore of Penobscot Bay and the larger islands off the eastern headlands, was settled about 1700 

 by parties who came to the region to engage in the fisheries. The land is more arable than that 

 of the districts further east, and a large percentage of the population is engaged in farming. A 

 majority of the early settlers, however, devoted their entire attention to the fisheries, and for 

 many years fishing was the principal occupation of the people. It was at one time the most 

 important fishing district of Eastern Maine. A number of the towns had large fleets engaged in 

 the Grand Bank cod fisheries; others sent a good many vessels to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 

 for mackerel, while nearly all had fleets of small vessels and Chcbacco boats engaged in the 

 shore fisheries along the coast of Maine and in the Bay of Fundy. Early in the present century 

 the fishing vessels were very small, and the number was comparatively limited, a majority of the 

 fishermen using small open boats for the prosecution of the work. Gradually, larger and better 

 vessels were introduced, and, betM-een 1850 and 1S05, from 200 to 300 sail of the different sizes 

 were actively employed. In I860, Deer Island alone sent nearly 100 vessels to the different fishing- 

 grounds, this fleet being larger than that of any other town in the district. About this time the 

 vessel fisheries began to decline, and many of the larger schooners were sold to the westward, the 

 men engaging in the boat fisheries or seeking employment on the land. By 1805 the fishing 

 interests of most localities had been greatly reduced, and until recently they remained in this con- 



