THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 369 



come into general use for certain purposes, such as paiutiug, tanning, man of act ore of rope, and 

 adulterating other oils. The scrap was also very much improved by grinding and drying, pulver- 

 izing, &c., so that during the war the business was quite remunerative. At that time quite a 

 number of factories were established and for a time the business was somewhat overdone, which 

 caused some to abandon it altogether, and others to consolidate; and at the present time there are 

 ten factories in operation, doing a fair business, giving employment to a large number of people 

 and bringing up a hardy race of boatmen and sailors." 



Professor Baird, visiting this region in 1857, wrote : "Quite recently several establishments 

 have been erected on Long Island for the manufacture of oil from the moss-bunker. The fish, as 

 brought in, are chopped up and boiled, and the oil slummed oft'; a heavy pressure on the residuum 

 expresses the remaining oil, and what is left is still useful as a manure. The oil finds a ready 

 market. It has been estimated that a single fish will furnish enough oil to saturate a surface of 

 paper 18 inches square." t 



Notwithstanding the fact that the coast of Maine was adapted for much -more profitable 

 prosecution of the oil manufacture, nothing of importance was done there until 18G5. The trade 

 grew rapidly for about four years, bat lias not augmented considerably since 1870. Twenty 

 factories were built in a short period, fourteen of which are still in operation, though several have 

 failed from the too sudden expansion of their business. As has been seen, the only points at 

 which the trade has had any statistical importance are _\vithin a limited area on the coast of 

 Maine, on Narragansett Bay, on Long Island, on the New Jersey coast, and in Chesapeake Bay. 

 Some of the factories are but half worked, and many of them have been abandoned. Efforts 

 have been made to establish factories on Cape Cod and on the coast of South Carolina. 



Great improvement has been made in the processes of refining and clarifying the oil, and the 

 dear, yellow, nearly odorless substance now produced is vastly difl'ereut from the article manu- 

 factured in early clays. 



The process of extracting oil by steam was patented in 1852 or 1853 by William I). Hall, of 

 Wallingford, Conn., the originator of the Quiuuipiac Fertilizer Company. Mr. Hall was engaged 

 in bone-boiling and tallow-rendering at Wallingford; he had a load of whitefish carted to his 

 factory from Bran ford, 1G miles distant. At night, after his men had left the factory, he cleaned 

 out his (allow tanks, steamed his fish, and extracted the oil; his experiment was satisfactory and 

 the process was immediately patented. The priority of his discovery is challenged by Mr. D. D. 

 Wells, of Greenport, who claims to have used the process for some years previous to this time 

 After seeming his patents, Mr. Hall visited numerous "pot works," which had by this time been 

 established, lor the purpose of introducing his new methods. At this time he also secured a 

 patent for the process of drying fish scraps upon platforms by solar heat. 



THK iMH'sritY IN CHESAPEAKE BAY. The menhaden fishery in Chesapeake Bay is said to 

 have been inaugurated in 1SC.5, by Mr. David G. Floyd, of Greenport, L. I. He bought a sail 

 vessel and put oil works on board it, and went down to Chesapeake Bay. The business was new, 

 and having no experience he did not do much. 



The first persons to successfully engage in the Chesapeake menhaden fishery were Mr. E. W. 

 l!ced, of Maine, and Mr. G. Terry, of Long Island, together with Mr. G. T. Owens, of Fairport, Va. 

 These men, in the spring of 1809, put up a six kettle factory, using one seine to take the fish. The 

 first season they took 2,750,000 menhaden, averaging 3 gallons of oil to the 1 ,000 fish. The next year 

 Mr. Owens withdrew, and with a man from Long Island put up a second factory. The industry 



t Fishes of tbo Now Jersey Const, 1855, p. 33. 

 SEC V 24 



