THE GROWTH ALONG THE COAST 179 



as Blue Hill, became engaged with varying success in dif- 

 ferent kinds of fishing enterprises. As early as 1810, 

 settlers came to Gouldsboro to engage in the whole fishery, 

 carrying it on from the shore to a limited extent. A large 

 fleet of small vessels was employed in the codfishery for 

 several years in the Bay of Fundy. With the decline of 

 the business, the fishermen turned their attention to the 

 hake fishery in Frenchman's Bay, which assumed a place 

 of considerable importance after 1840. In some seasons 

 as many as one hundred vessels from other parts of New 

 England resorted to Frenchman's Bay for hake, which 

 found a market in Portland and Boston. This industry, 

 also, declined during the war. 



Before the hake industry had begun to decline another 

 branch of fishing was rising to take its place. For several 

 years in the early part of the period in which hake fish- 

 ing was carried on so exclusively, menhaden were caught 

 for bait. In 1850 a Blue Hill woman discovered that mar- 

 ketable oil could be obtained from menhaden, and the busi- 

 ness of catching the fish for their oil increased enormously 

 in the Frenchman's Bay region. The best years for this 

 industry appear to have been 1863, 1864, and 1865, al- 

 though the business was continued with decreasing returns 

 into the early part of the next decade. When the industry 

 was at its height it is estimated that not less than one 

 hundred try-houses, with two to four kettles each, were in 

 operation between Lamoine and Gouldsboro. The yearly 

 product of these houses has been estimated at fifty casks 

 of oil, each holding forty gallons, worth a dollar per gallon, 

 a total of $200,000 a year for the farmer-fishermen of 

 Frenchman's Bay when the business was most prosperous. 



The towns of Lamoine and Hancock were leaders in the 

 fisheries of Frenchman's Bay. The people of Hancock be- 

 came interested in the fisheries of the Bay of Fundy in 

 1845. In 1852 vessels were sent to the Western Bank for 



