DELAWARE: DESCRIPTION OF FISHERIES BY TOWNS. 415 



included in the same township as Milton. This latter place has a scattered population of one hun- 

 dred and fifty persons, principally engaged in farming and fishing. There is also quite a business 

 done at the "bridge" in shipping grain and wood on coasting vessels coming here to load. The 

 fisheries of Drawbridge and its statistics will be included with those of Milton. 



Milton has fifty-eight men employed more or less regularly in the fisheries; eighteen of these 

 making a specialty of fishing for fresh-water species, not being employed at all in catching sea 

 fish. There are eighteen boats, worth $160; sixty-five gill-nets, valued at $505; eleven haul- 

 seines, worth $265; and two bow-nets, worth $4, employed in the fisheries of Milton, which has 

 also twelve small rough board shanties for the accommodation of the fishermen, these being valued 

 at $310. 



The products of the fisheries are 162,050 pounds of anadromous and sea fish, 3,200 pounds of 

 fresh -water fish, and 240 terrapin. By far the most important fishery of this place is that for spot 

 (Liostomus xanthurus), of which it & estimated about 80,000 pounds were taken in 1880. Next to 

 this, in quantity, is the fishery for trout (Cynoscion regale), of which 47,250 pounds were caught 

 in 1880. The remainder of the fish taken are divided among the various species of fresh and salt- 

 water species which visit this region. 



153. LEWES AND ITS FISHERMEN. 



LEWES. The village of Lewes is situated at the terminus of the Junction and Breakwater 

 Railroad, about 3 miles above Cape Henlopen, and some 10 or 12 miles by the road from Milton. 

 According to the postmaster, D. W. Brereton, esq., the village of Lewes has a population of 1,800. 

 The inhabitants are engaged in a great variety of pursuits, among which may be mentioned as 

 the most important, piloting, following the sea, wrecking, railroading, and Government work. 



The fisheries of the place are also of considerable local importance. The principal fishing 

 ground of Lewes is along the beach in front.of the village, above Cape Henlopen, where, in their 

 season, large quantities of the various species of sea fish are taken. The fresh-water fisheries of 

 this place are comparatively unimportant, being confined principally to the capture of a limited 

 amount of such species as may be taken in ponds and small streams. 



Lewes has eighty fishermen, of whom twenty-five depend wholly on the fisheries, while the 

 remainder, though procuring thechief part of their subsistence by fishing, also engage in other 

 industries more or less regularly during a portion of the year. Besides the fishermen, who peddle 

 their catch to a greater or less extent, there are six peddlers who make a specialty of hawking 

 fish about this and adjacent towns, procuring their goods from the fishermen on the beach. 



Employed in the fisheries of this place are twenty boats, valued at $350; two hundred and 

 ninety-two gill-nets, worth $3,294; thirteen haul-seines, worth $395; and fifty eel-pots, valued at 

 $25 ; besides which there are two small boat-houses, worth $30 each. About half of the boats used 

 at Lewes differ somewhat from those employed by the fishermen of the towns further up the bay, 

 some of them being of the type known as the Delaware Bay shad-boat, and others the New Jersey 

 surf- boat, both of which are described in another section of this report. 



The products of the fisheries of Lewes are 609,550 pounds of sea and auadromous fish and 

 1,500 pounds of fresh-wa-ter fish; 4,000 pouuds of turtle; 1,500 terrapin, in number; 31,980 crabs; 

 100 lobsters, and a few hundred clams. 



The most important fishery is that for spot, of which 311,000 pounds are estimated by compe- 

 tent authority to have been caught in 1880. Second to this is the fishery for trout, of which 

 250,000 pounds were taken in the above-named year. Comparatively speaking, the other fisheries 

 are unimportant. This region seems to be the southern limit where lobsters are taken by the fish- 



''N^ 



03T ..K. 



