18 



haddock, pollock and kegs of openeci oysters. The 

 latter were In quart, two quart and gallon sizes. The 

 Hudson River Railroad was not built and the only 

 source of supply of sea-food in winter was from Boston. 

 In summer the steamboats brought some shell oysters 

 to Albany, but the demand was light and the ship- 

 ments were not as prompt as now and I often heard it 

 said that we never got good oysters in Albany! To-day 

 they can be had in Omaha, owing to fast trains, prompt 

 express service and the use of ice, for it must be re- 

 membered that there were no express companies in 

 those days, and the great New York Central Railroad 

 did not exist as a continuous line. From Albany to 

 Rochester there were three railways; the Albany and 

 vSchenectady, the Schenectady and Syracuse, and the 

 Syracuse and Rochester via Auburn and Canandaigua. 

 These roads did not sell tickets, nor check baggage, 

 beyond their own lines, and if passengers were delayed 

 by stops to transfer and re-check baggage, freight was 

 sure of long delays. No wonder, then, that the inland 

 towns of the State of New York in those days never 

 saw an oyster in the shell, nor a shad. Ice was then a 

 luxury and we only got a few lobsters because they 

 spoiled so quickly that it did not pay to risk large 

 shipments. Under these circumstances it is plain that 

 shad, lobsters and sea fish did not get far beyond 

 Albany and Troy, the head of navigation on the 

 Hudson. 



In boyhood days, forty-five to fifty years ago, I did 

 not see either hard or soft crabs in Albany, but my 

 father was part owner in and agent for the Eckford line 

 of barges engaged in freighting between Albany and 

 New York, before canal boats were towed down the 

 river, and my main desire for a trip to the great city 

 was to buy boiled hard crabs along the dock for a cent 

 a piece and go down the pier and eat them, regardless 

 of smeared face and fingers. Now soft crabs are com- 



