2654 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



thus come there, and bnilt and paid taxes, have helped out the valua- 

 tion of Gloucester. 



Q. When did these rich men come there ? A. Some of them have 

 been there for 10 or 15 or 20 years. 



Q. Would you like it to go on record, as your opinion, that Gloucester 

 owes her prosperity more to the mercantile business, and to other inci- 

 dental business, than to the fishing business ? A. I should not. I con- 

 sider the fishing business of Gloucester as the main business of the 

 place. 



Q. And the one to which she chiefly owes her prosperity ? A. Yes. 



Q. Looking up the files of the Cape Ann Advertiser, with reference 

 to the Centennial, I notice a statement relative to your fisheries, and to 

 the effect their prosecution has had on Gloucester, to which I would like 

 to call your attention, to see whether you agree with it or not. It is 

 contained in this paper of date November 12, 1875, and is as follows : 



In 1841 the fishery business of Gloucester had reached about its lowest ebb. Only 

 about 7,000 barrels of mackerel were packed that year, and the whole product of the 

 fisheries of the port was only about $300,000. In Id45 tlie business began to^revive, the 

 Georges and Bay Chalenr fishery began to be developed, and from tbat time to this 

 year, 1875, has been steadily increasing, until at the present time Gloucester's tonnage 

 is 10,000 tons more than Salem, Xewburyport, Beverly, and Marblehead united. Nearly 

 400 fishing-schooners are owned at and htted from the port of Gloucester, by 39 firms, 

 and the annual sales of fish are said to be between $3,000,000 and 4,000,000, ail 

 distributed from here by Gloucester houses. 



THE COMMERCIAL WHARVES. 



The wharves once covered with molasses and sugar hogsheads, are now covered with 

 fish flakes, and the odors of the " sweets of the tropics " have given place to " the an- 

 cient and fish-like smells" of oil and dried cod; the few sailors of the commercial 

 marine have been succeeded by five thousand fishermen drawn from all the maritime 

 quarters of the globe ; and the wharves that were the wonders of our boyhood days 

 are actually swallowed up in the splendid and capacious piers of the present day, so 

 much have they been lengthened and widened. 



THE SALT TRADE. 



For many years after the decline of the Surinam trade, hardly a large vessel was 

 ever seen at Gloucester, and many persons thought that nevermore would a majestic 

 ship be seen eutering this capacious and splendid seaport. But never in the palmiest 

 days of Gloucester's foreign trade, were such immense vessels seen as at the present 

 day. Ships of 1,500 tons (as big as six William and Henry's) sailed into Gloucester har- 

 bor from Liverpool and Cadiz, and came in to the wharve without breaking bulk, and 

 also laid afloat at low water. More than forty ships, barks, brigs, and schooners, 'of 

 from 400 to 1,400 tons, laden with salt alone, have discharged at this port the present 

 year, and also the same number last year. The old, venerable port never represented 

 such a forest of masts as can now frequently be seen ; sometimes six ships and barks 

 at a time, besides innumerable schooners. 



THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER OP 1875 AND THE TOWN OF 1825. 



What a contrast is presented as a ship enters th harbor now, with what was pre- 

 sented in 1825. The little rusty, weather-beaten village, with two " meeting-houses" 

 and a few dwellings and wharves gathered around them ; two or three thousand peo- 

 ple with $500,000*property, was all that Gloucester then was, as near as we can ascer- 

 tain. Now the central wards, without suburban districts, contain 14,000 people, with 

 $9,000,000 valuation. 



the valuation irrespective of the suburban districts that amount j 

 is this correct ? A. I could not say for certain. You have the valua- 

 tions to Gloucester for a series of vf ;irs. 



Q. Your valuation agrees with this ; but the statement says that this 

 valuation is irrespective of the suburban districts you know as town 

 clerk whether this is so or not? A. I was not town clerk then. 



