404 



HISTORY OF COfTASSET. 



the price that year was a high one, the first grade of 

 mackerel bringing ^11.50 a barrel at wholesale.* The 

 next year came an increase of the catch, as may be seen 

 by the list at the end of this chapter; but the price that 

 year utterly collapsed. From ^11.50 down to $6.75 a 

 barrel the market dropped, and it never came up so high 

 again for twenty years. 



Fishermen's luck kept having its ups and downs, but 

 during the six years beginning with 1820 the total catch 

 of Cohasset steadily gained, until in 1825 the whole annual 

 amount was 17,520 barrels. These fish, at the moderate 

 price of five dollars a barrel for all grades, brought nearly 

 ninety thousand dollars. 



One can easily see that our population of about twelve 

 hundred must have been very much concerned in the fish 

 business, and must have felt very widely the profit of a 

 successful year. At least three hundred out of the twelve 

 hundred were actual fishermen, while a score of boys in 

 addition were employed to pack the fish, and many more 

 laborers in cooper shops and salt works and shipyards 

 were attached to the business indirectly. The homes of 

 Beechwood in particular furnished a very large force of 

 fishermen ; and so completely was that community bereft 

 of men and boys during the fishing season that not a 



*The following is a list containing the prices of mackerel for fifty years com- 

 mencing in 1795 and ending 1844. The price is the highest wholesale quoted 

 for the best quality. Copied by Ira B. Pratt from an old gazetteer. 



