MAINE: PASSAMAQUODDY DISTRICT. 17 



THE FISHERIES IN 1850. Mr. M. H. Perley, in bis Report of the Fisheries of New Bruns- 

 wick for 1850, gives seven firms, with a total capital of $33,500, engaged in the fi.sh trade at East- 

 port. These, according to the same authority, employed 238 men; used 18,900 bushels of salt; 

 cured 18,000 quintals of fish and 3,500 boxes of smoked herring; put up 12,000 barrels of pickled 

 herring, SCO barrels of mackerel, and 3,503 barrels of other fish (probably cod, haddock, and hake), 

 in addition to 450 barrels of oil and a quantity of canned goods, the whole having a value of 

 $85,800. 



ORIGIN OF THE CANNING INDUSTRY. Eastport claims the honor of putting up the first can 

 of hermetically sealed goods within the limits of the United States. The process originated with 

 the French, and was first employed on the American continent at Halifax, Nova Scotia, by Mr. 

 Charles Mitchell, of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1840. About this time Mr. U. S. Treat began experi- 

 menting in the same line at Eastport, and in 1843 Mr. Mitchell removed to Eastport and joined 

 him in the work. It was here that lobsters were first canned. From this beginning the business 

 has developed to its present enormous proportions. There are now three lobster canneries at 

 Eastport, and two others a few miles distant, on British soil. The products of the three canneries 

 in 1S80 amounted to nearly 136,000 one-pound and 5,000 two-pound cans. In addition to those 

 canned several hundred barrels of lobsters were shipped fresh to Portland and Boston. 



TUB EFFECT OF FREE TRADE WITH CANADA. Eastport was seriously afi'ected by the treaty 

 that admitted foreign fish free of duty, and from that time its fishing interests, owing to a tendency 

 of the New Brunswick fishermen to send their catch to the larger markets, gradually declined. 

 Many of the dealers soon gave up the business, while others removed elsewhere. The larger fishing- 

 vessels owned in the town were one after another sold from the district, and most of the fishermen 

 turned their attention to the boat-fisheries, taking a considerable quantity of pollock, haddock, 

 hake, herring, and other species along the shore. Pollock and herring have long been more 

 abundant in this region than on any other portion of the entire coast. 



THE FROZEN HERRING TRADE. In the winter of 1854-'55 a Gloucester vessel secured a quan- 

 tity of frozen herring in Newfoundland, and carried them to Gloucester, to be used as bait in the 

 George's Bank cod fisheries. This was the beginning of a trade in frozen herring which has since 

 assumed important proportions. In the winter of 1SGG-'G7 a vessel engaged in the business made 

 a trip to Eastport and obtained a full cargo of herring. The following year a number of vessels 

 visited the region for a similar purpose. From that time the business has rapidly increased, until 

 Eastport has come to control the frozen-herring trade of the United States. The fishing begins as 

 soon as the fish can be frozen, usually about the middle of November, and lasts until the weather 

 becomes "soft" in spring. From the first the fishing has been quite important, and has gradually 

 increased, until in the winter of 1S79-'80 there were ninety five cargoes, averaging 250,000 fish each, 

 iu addition to 9,500 barrels of 450 fish each, shipped from the region, making a total of 28,000,000 

 herring, valued at $90,000. These were mostly taken by the fishermen of New Brunswics and 

 sold to American fishing-vessels, that carried them to Boston, New York, Gloucester, Portland, 

 and other places. 



HADDOCK SMOKING. About 1SG8 Eastport parties began smokjug haddock, and a number 

 have continued the work to the present time. The height of this business was iu 1875, since 

 which time it has been less extensive. Iu the winter of 1879-'80 there were 210,000 pounds of 

 "Finnan baddies," valued at $12,000, smoked in the town. All of them were sent to Portland 

 for distribution. 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. In the fall of 1874 New York parties 



2GK F 



