NORTH CAROLINA: THE MORE IMPORTANT DISTRICTS. 495 



bunches or 1,950,000 pouuds of fresh fish; 3,730 barrels of salt fish; 1,800 bushels of shrimp; 

 1,200 dozen terrapin; 2,000 barrels of clams, and 2,000 dozen mullet-roes; the total value of these 

 sea-products was about $82,000. According to Colonel McDonald the fresh-water products were as 

 follows: 5,250 sturgeon in number, eqiTal to 262,500 pounds of dressed fish, valued at $15,750; 

 45,500 shad, valued at $13,650; 12,000 pounds of rock, worth $720, and 25,000 pounds of mixed 

 fish, valued at $1,000. The above figures make the fisheries of the region worth $113,1-0. 



177. HISTORY OF THE MENHADEN FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CAN THE MENHADEN FISHERIES BE MADE PROFITABLE IN NORTH CAROLINA? North Caro- 

 lina is practically the southern limit of the menhaden fisheries of the Atlantic coast. An attempt 

 was made to establish an oil and guano factory at Charleston, S. C., a few years since, but the plan 

 was abandoned after the first day's fishing on account of the abundance of sharks in the water. 

 Several attempts have been made to locate factories on the North Carolina coast, and some parties 

 have prosecuted the business with varying success for several years. Thus far, however, no one 

 has succeeded in making it profitable. It is, therefore, an open question whether this fishery can 

 be successfully prosecuted in the State. The chief difficulties are the abundance of sharks along 

 the shore and the shoalness of the various inlets, which will not admit a menhaden steamer of 

 ordinary draught without risk of loss. Again, the currents at the inlets are so strong that sail 

 vessels are often unable to enter them when the tide is unfavorable, and they are thus frequently 

 delayed so long that the fish spoil before they reach the factory. Menhaden are quite abundant 

 in the inner sounds, but the water is usually so shoal as to interfere seriously with the use of purse- 

 seines, and the fish are so scattered that only a few barrels can be taken at a haul. 



THE FIRST MENHADEN OIL AND OUANO FACTORY IN NORTH CAROLINA BUILT IN 1865. It is 

 said that the first oil and guano factory in the State was built on Harper's Island, in Core Sound, 

 in 1865. It was supplied with kettles, and hand-presses were used for pressing the fish that were 

 taken in gill-nets. Later a steam boiler was secured, and both haul and purse-seines were used 

 in the fishery. The business was continued at this point till 1S73, when the apparatus, valued at 

 $3,000, was removed to Cape Lookout as a more desirable location, but the machinery was never 

 set up and the business was discontinued. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EXCELSIOR OlL AND GUANO COMPANY IN 1866, AND THE DIF- 

 FICULTIES ENCOUNTERED. A large factory was built about I860 by a stock company from Rhode 

 Island, known as the Excelsior Oil and Guano Company. We are indebted to Mr. S. H. Gray, the 

 business manager of the company, for the following facts. The idea originated with some of the 

 soldiers of the Northern army that were stationed in the region during the war. These gave glow- 

 ing accounts of the abundance of fish in the North Carolina sounds, and a party of capitalists, 

 having satisfied themselves from personal observation of the truth of the statements, formed a 

 company with a capital of $50,000, and built a factory at Portsmouth, near Ocracoke Inlet. The 

 factory was supplied with modern apparatus for cooking and pressing the fish, and had experienced 

 northern fishermen to handle the seines. The menhaden were soon found to be less plenty than 

 had been expected. The average school contained less than 25 barrels, and the largest haul of the 

 season was only 125 barrels. It was also found that under the influence of the hot summer weather 

 the fish would begin to decompose in a few hours, so that the fishing was limited to 25 miles on 

 either side of the factory. Another difficulty was that "outside fishing" could not be prosecuted 

 on account of the shoaluess of the water at the inlets, and the frequency of sudden storms, which 

 might come up during the hours of low water, when the vessels could not enter. Again, the fish 

 taken in the sounds were found to be very poor, and, according to Mr. Gray, the average yield of 

 oil was only 2 quarts to the barrel, and the largest did not exceed 8 quarts. At the close of the 



