THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 599 



the winter's ice " leaves not a rack behind." Even in connection with the larger weirs there is no 

 elaborate financial organization. Usually about four men contribute to buy the weir, and are them- 

 selves fishermen for themselves. 



The results of Mr. Earll's investigations show that there were in Maine, in 1880, 132 weirs, 

 valued at $27,500. 



3. THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF CAPE ANN. 



Until the year 1874 no attempt had been niacTe In the vicinity of Gloucester to capture fish by 

 the use of traps, pounds, or weirs. In that year a floating trap was set at Milk Island, on the 

 outside of the cape, aud a successful trap fishery has beeu carried on there since that time. In 

 1880 there were fourteen traps along the shores of Cape Ann, from Manchester to Anuisquain. 

 Most of them were made of old seine-netting, and they were therefore of little value. The fish 

 taken in 1880 were chiefly herring and mackerel, valued at $18,000. A description of the trap in 

 use here is given in another part of this report. 



4. TEAP FISHING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF CAPE COD. 



LOCATION OP THE TRAPS. The fisheries of Cape Cod aud the adjacent islands are of much 

 greater moment than those of Maine. As I have already implied, the pounds located in Massachu- 

 setts Bay are quite different from those in Vineyard Sound, and the fishing is differently prosecuted. 



The restless waters of Massachusetts Bay have caused many changes in the configuration of 

 the northern shore of Cape Cod. Moved by their power, the sand has spread itself in an even 

 plain, extending from high- water mark a half mile seaward, and but little inclined to the plane of 

 the horizon. Relentlessly it has filled the old-time harbors, and thereby stifled the activity of the 

 north-shore fishing-towns of former days. But while the vessel fishery has forever disappeared 

 from many of the towns, the weir fishery has taken its place to a considerable extent. We may, 

 however, with the old fishermen, look somewhat regretfully upon a change which has taken the 

 profits of labor from the many and bestowed them upon the few. 



The north-shore weirs,* as I saw them in 1880, were set at intervals along the shore from 

 Truro to Sandwich. With but two or three exceptions they are "shoal-water" weirs, built accord- 

 ing to a single model, and varying only in dimensions or occasionally in the absence of one " wing." 

 The leaders run out to the edge of the great shore-shoal, being in several cases not less than half 

 a mile long. 



The manner of working the weirs is somewhat peculiar, though very simple. As one passes 

 along the north shore roads, running parallel to and a mile or more distant from the beach, one 

 sees narrow trails leading off at right angles through the unfenced, pine-covered, and sandy fields. 



If the curious traveler, desirous of kuowing how these by-ways were made and whither they 

 lead, turns into one of them when the tide in the bay be a little past the ebb, he will not long be 

 in ignorance. At a sudden turn in the narrow lane he will come upon the fishermen, in their single 

 horse, two-wheeled carts, returning from the weirs with loads of fish. Twice between sunsets, 

 during the height of the season, they drive from their houses through these lanes down to the 

 shore, across the great wet beach and into the weirs. The fish are shoveled into the carts and 

 carried back to the fishermen's houses, where they are packed for transportation by rail. In the 

 upper part of the cape the towns lie near the shore, the pine barrens give place to extensive salt 

 marshes, the water offshore is deeper, and one sees little of the odd lanes and two- wheeled carts. 



* For description of these weirs eo section on APPARATUS. 



