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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES. 



I. THE DISTRICT OF NANTUCKET. 



79. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE DISTRICT. 



PRESENT EXTENT OF THE FISHERIES. The county and district of Nantucket comprises the 

 islands of Nantucket, Tuckernuck, Muskeget, and tbe two Gravelly Islands. The four last men- 

 tioned are very small, and lie at the west of Nantucket. The island of Nantucket is about 16 

 miles long, and has an average width of about 4 miles. It lies low; the highest point, the summit 

 of Macy's hill, is only 91 feet above the sea. Until the year 1873 Nantucket had been, from its 

 settlement in the seventeenth century, the seat of an important whaling business. The whaling 

 fleet here iu 1843 numbered eighty-eight sail; in 1850, sixty-two sail; in 1860, twenty-one sail; in 

 1870, eight sail. In 1873 only one vessel was owned here, but since that time there has been none. 



The fishing business in this district now employs four small vessels and two hundred boats, 

 and the entire number of men engaged in fishing or handling the products is two hundred and 

 eighty-five. The capital invested is $27,120, and the value of the products is $29,546. 



STATISTICAL SUMMATION FOR 1879. The following statements give in detail the extent of 

 .the'fishiug interests of Nantucket district: 



Summary statement of persons employed and capital invested. 



a Cash capital, $5,000 ; wharves, shorehouses, and fixtures, $2,500. 

 d statement of capital invested in rcsseh, boats, nets, and traps. 



