NEW YORK: SOUTH SHORE OF LONG ISLAND. 369 



summer. He reports that kiugfish, or barb (Menticirrus nebulosus), are not as plenty as formerly; 

 blneflsh seldom get further in the bay than the main channel, near Fire Island, on account of 

 pound-nets in the channel ; striped bass have disappeared ; and " Porgy Flat" is about deserted. In 

 regard to the Spanish mackerel he says: "Seven years ago I saw a school of Spanish mackerel 20 

 miles wide, and as far up the beach as I cared to go." He pays $1 a thousand for menhaden for 

 manure for his laud. 



C. W. Smith fishes with a fly-net 100 fathoms long, 18 feet deep, with 3J-inch mesh, made of 

 cotton twine, No. 9, tarred. He and his father fish together with two nets, requiring four men to 

 handle them. He says there are many young kingfish now in the bay, and he never knew of them 

 here before so small and in such numbers. Men go from here to Oakdale to fish for eels in winter. 

 They take them in Great River with spears through the ice. Formerly they averaged 25 pounds 

 a day per man before pots were used. Eels are now smaller. The season is from November to 

 March, and the average for forty men is 8 pounds per diy to the man. 



As has already been said "Blue Point" oysters now come from Sayville, at "Browns Point." 

 Floyd R. Skinner and Day & La Salle are oyster packers and ship to Europe. 



"South Bay Oil Works," owned by Capt. W. J. Terry, of Sayville, are situated on the beach 

 ea.st of Fire Island Inlet, and are the most western of the three works situated there ; $20,000 are 

 invested in the factory, and in two sloops and a small steam yacht. When working, he employs 

 twenty to twenty-five men which are paid, on an average, $22 per month, -without board. The 

 expenses are $700 per month for wages and fuel. 



"Fire Island Oil Works," owned by Comstock Brothers, are next east, the middle one of the 

 three. Twelve to fifteen men are employed in busy seasons. This year (1880) has not been a very 

 successful one. They made 2,000 gallons of oil, now worth 45 to 46 cents. Last year it was only 

 worth 28 to 30 cents. The scrap is worth $2.40 per unit of ammonia, per ton. Last spring it sold 

 tor *24 a ton. The factory closed July 22. 



Smith & Yarriugton, owners of the third oil and guano establishment, say that the steamers 

 are killing the business, and that Church & Brother, who own a factory on the east end of the 

 island, and Louis C. D'Hpmergue, owner of a factory at Barren Island, both offer to burn their 

 steamers if others will do the same. Smith & Yarrow have three boats.of 20 tons each, and buy- 

 menhaden of others. They keep thirty-four men during a season of five and a half months. They 

 have seen small menhaden iu the eastern end of the bay in September, but there is no more fall 

 fishing for them. The capital invested amounts to $15,000. 



There are five hundred men in this town, or election district, who live partly by fishing, but 

 none who do so wholly. They are what are known as "bay men," turning their attention in 

 different seasons to whatever branch of the various occupations connected with the water may 

 promise to be most profitable at the time. Captain Terry says that fish forms one-fourth of the 

 animal food used in the district of 2,700 inhabitants, and that more fish are consumed here than 

 are shipped to other places. The railroad agent says that for the year ending June 30, 1880, there 

 were 95,000 pounds gross weight of fish shipped from here. Six-tenths of this was ice and boxes, 

 leaving a net weight of 38,000 pounds. The freight rate to New York is 21 cents per hundred. 

 Clams all go by boat. For the year as above, 3,055 barrels of oysters were shipped to New York. 



OAKDALE. Few fish, except eels, are taken here. The fishermen and fish are included in 

 other places. Many eels are taken near liere but shipped at other points. The laud is largely 

 owned by wealthy gentlemen. 



CLUB HOUSE. Half way between Oakdale and Islip the well-known "South Side Sportsman's 

 Club" is located on the Connetquoit River. Their trout preserves are very fine, and artificial 



24GRF 



