196 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



yielded 118,611 barrels of menhaden and other fish for 

 fertilizer, worth $27,817 ; about $25,000 worth of food fish ; 

 and $11,692 worth of clams and other shell fish. Accord- 

 ing to the State census for 1865, the product of the fisheries 

 of Rhode Island that year was as follows : fish seined for 

 manure and oil, 154,468 barrels, worth $126,035 ; fish caught 

 for food, 2,462,360 pounds, worth $121,094 ; 31,697 bushels 

 of clams, 72.895 bushels of oysters, and 42,900 pounds of 

 lobsters, having a total value of $118,655. The aggregate 

 value of the fish products of Rhode Island for 1865 was 

 $365,784. 



The Connecticut River seems always to have been famous 

 for its shad fishery, which was pursued with profit as far up 

 its course as Hadley, Massachusetts. It is reported that in 

 1801 there were as many as fourteen wharves at South 

 Hadley, where shad were taken by means of scoop nets 

 and seines, sometimes as many as 1,200 at a single haul. 

 In 1848, it was not an uncommon thing for a man to 

 take from 2,000 to 3,000 in a day. The method of pound 

 fishing was introduced in 1849, after which the fishery in- 

 creased all along the coast. 



Menhaden were caught and the oil extracted as early as 

 1850 or 1852 at an establishment at Fort Hale, New Haven 

 Harbor. The discovery of the process of extracting the oil 

 by steam was claimed by a Connecticut man as early as 

 1852 or 1853. 1 In 1840, Connecticut was second only to 

 Massachusetts in the amount of capital invested in the fish- 

 eries. It is probable, however, that a large part of the 

 capital was employed in the whale fishery, which was car- 

 ried on principally from New London. 



The catch of menhaden for Connecticut can not be ascer- 

 tained for any town or for any period of years. In 1851, 

 five million of the fish were caught at Westbrook, but the 

 industry subsequently declined. In the earlier half of the 



i Goode, Sec. V, Vol. I, p. 389. 



