MAINE: WALDOBOEO' DISTRICT. 59 



species. On account of the scarcity of lobsters in market at this season, the price advances, and 

 the catch is readily sold at a good figure to the smacktnen who run regularly between Friendship 

 and Portland. 



Clams are i'airly abundant in the numerous mud-flats, and many are dug for bait by the local 

 fishermen, while a few are shelled and salted to be sold to the Bremen vessels engaged in the 

 bank fisheries. 



BOAT AND VESSEL BUILDING. As early as 1830 Friendship parties became interested in ship- 

 building, and from that date to the present time fourteen fishing-vessels have been built. Some 

 of these were sent to other localities, but the majority have been purchased by the Friendship fish- 

 ermen. A number of the fishermen spend their leisure hours, in winter, in building boats and 

 dories; and, during the last 15 years, twenty-five to thirty lobster-boats and upwards of one 

 hundred and fifty dories have been built by them. 



WALDOBORO'. Waldoboro' township is located about sixteen miles southwest of Eocklaud. 

 It has a population of 4,140. This region, which was first settled iu 1748 by German emigrants, has 

 important agricultural interests but small fisheries. The principal settlement is a village of several 

 hundred inhabitants at the head of navigation of the Medomak River. The chief business of the 

 place is ship building and milling, though several traders depend upon the fine agricultural neigh- 

 borhood for a large business. Ship-building was formerly extensive, and on one occasion fifteen 

 ships and barks were on the stocks at once. Of late, however, the industry has declined, and in 

 1879 only two vessels were built. 



Thirty years ago twenty-five or thirty small boats from Bremen and Bristol came regularly 

 to the village for a market, exchanging their fish for vegetables and produce brought in by the 

 farmers; but of late there are few transactions of this kind. There have never been any vessels 

 from the village engaged in the fisheries, though we find two or three small schooners hailing 

 from Waldoboro' that are owned and run by parties living a few miles down the river. Six ineii 

 from the village engage in the boat-fisheries in summer, selling their catch mostly to the curers 

 at Round Pond and New Harbor. On visiting their homes, which they do once in eight or 

 ten days, they usually take a quantity of fish for the markets, of which there are three in the 

 village. 



The principal fishing interest of Waldoboro' is the smelt-fishery, which is carried on through 

 the ice in winter. This began in the winter of 187C-'77, when it was accidentally found that smelt 

 could be taken in that locality. The fishery developed with surprising rapidity, for within three 

 weeks after the first smelts were taken over a hundred people were making a business of catching 

 them. In the winter of 187S-'79, 103 shanties with about 225 people (men and boys) were on the 

 ice daily during the height of the season. Some ship their fish direct to New York, others pack 

 together and ship in larger quantities, and still others (perhaps one-half of all) sell to local dealers. 

 Mr. G. H. Matthews estimates that during the winter of 1878-'79 not far from 1C tons were shipped. 

 They go wholly to New York and Boston, netting the fishermen about 5 cents per pound. The best 

 fishing is said to be on the last half of the flood-tide, though it sometimes lasts well into the ebb. 

 The largest catch for one person during any one tide was 45 pounds, equal to about 200 fish, while 

 the average was 15 to 20 pounds per man. 



After the ice went out iu the spring, some went to the shoal water near the falls and secured 

 great quantities of the spawning smelt with dip-nets, but on account of the warm weather they 

 could not be shipped and most of them were thrown away. One party reported his catch at 

 30 bushels iu a single day. The law now forbids this kind of fishing. 



Fishways have been built over the different dams in the vicinity, and iu 1874 laws were enacted 



