GULF OF MEXICO: WESTERN FLORIDA. 563 



The fishermen receive $5 or $5.50 a barrel for all good food-fishes delivered oil the steamboat, 

 packed carefully. They clear about $3 on a barrel. Last winter, iu this trade 450 barrels, worth 

 $1,350, were packed and shipped. 



THE OYSTER INDUSTRY. This neighborhood has been highly favored with a large number of 

 beds furnishing oysters of large size and fine flavor, which are easily procured and distributed by 

 means of river steamers from Appalachicola, through a wide area inland. Besides a number of 

 large reefs in Saint George and Saint Vincent Sounds and Appalachicola Bay, there are scattered 

 all through the deeper waters a great many small beds. The depth of water here averages 7 feet, 

 and it is brackish and full of sediment. The oysters from these beds are of superior flavor; there 

 are few better in any part of the Gulf. 



The reefs, or beds, are only an hour's sail from town ; therefore the outfits or preparations for 

 a trip need not be very great. When the tide is high the boat anchors over a bed, on which there 

 arc from 5 to 10 feet of water, and both men use tongs to bring up the oysters with. As each tong- 

 full comes up, the worthless ones are culled out and the good ones are thrown into the hold. The 

 tongs in use here are made of iron, some galvanized and some not, in the same shape as those used 

 on the Chesapeake. With these tongs, oa spot where the oysters are abundant, and need but, 

 little culling, two men can put 50 barrels of good oysters into the hold in one day. 



If the tide is very low, as is the case during " northers," the boat is run aground on an oystcr- 

 rcef, a gangway plank is placed over the side, and the oysters are picked up by hand and carried 

 aboard in tubs. Oystering in this manner is said to be harder and slower work than tongiug them. 

 When the boat is loaded she goes to town, and, if there be a steamboat there, the oysters arc turned 

 over to the dealer on board of her ; if not, they are not delivered until one does come. The oysters 

 sell for 50, GO, and 75 cents per barrel, all ready for shipment, that is, in barrels and covered with 

 gunny sack at the top ; but the oysterinen seldom get barrels or sacks, which have to be furnished 

 by the dealer, at the rate of 10 cents for sacks and 20 cents for barrels, leaving the oysterman but 

 20, 30, or 45 cents per barrel for the oysters. It sometimes happens that barrels cannot be bought 

 for any price at Appalachicola, and immense quantities of oysters must either be thrown away or 

 lie over until barrels can be brought from neighboring towns. There arc four steamboats running 

 on this river in the winter, two of which carry the mail ; but it frequently happens that the mail 

 is not received here for two or three weeks, and large amounts of oysters and fish have to be 

 thrown away in consequence. A few vessel loads of oysters are taken to Saint Mark's during t he- 

 winter, but it is a trade of not much consequence. The shipping season lasts from November to 

 April. 



The boats in use are all small sloops of 20 or 25 feet length, carrying each two men. Last 

 year (1878) there were twenty of these boats engaged in the oyster fishing. With their outfit of 

 tongs, &c., they are thought to be worth about $2,500. Between forty and fifty men are engaged 

 in this business, out of which they make but little more than what they spend for food while earn- 

 ing it. If two men who are running a boat have a good contract with the dealer, good wages, can 

 easily be made ; but if they have no contract they are obliged to cut the prices down in order to 

 sell at all, and also are kept lying at the wharf about half their time. From $5 to $8 per week, 

 therefore, is an oysterman's wages when working. 



The principal dealer at Appalachicola states, that he and other dealers there shipped up the 

 river, during the winter of 1878-'79, 15,000 barrels. These, at the rate of 30 cents a barrel, yielded 

 to the oysterinen $4,500. In addition, owners of vessels disposed of about 2,000 barrels at Saint 

 Mark's at 50 cents a barrel, equal to $1,000. The total value of the trade that winter, therefore, was 



