THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 745 



1880, only 2,546 barrels. The prices paid to the fishermen for callings, or canning lobsters, were 

 90 cents per 100 pounds, at the traps, or $1, delivered at the canneries. The larger lobsters, 

 intended for shipment to the fresh markets, brought 3 cents each to the fishermen. Sales are 

 generally made by weight for the canning lobsters, and by count for the fresh market. The fish- 

 ermen live mainly on the islands, and comparatively few lobsters are now caught in this district 

 by Americans. About 94,500 pounds of lobsters were landed in Eastport by the American lobster 

 fishermen in 1880, the balance of the sales recorded for that place having been brought in by 

 provincial fishermen. The lobstermen are mostly farmers, tending weirs being the only other 

 fishery in which many of them engage. Some, however,-lso go boat fishing. The lobstermen of 

 the Saint Croix River fish only about two months, during May and June, and sometimes a little in 

 the fall. They catch about 500 lobsters weekly to a boat, each boat stocking, on an average, $30 

 per mouth, and sell at Calais, Robbinstou, Saint Andrews, and Eastport, receiving 3 cents each 

 at the three former places. The fish used as bait in this district are as follows, in the order of 

 their importance: herring, flounders, sculpins. They are usually caught by the lobstermen them- 

 selves. 



The canning of lobsters began at Eastport in 1842, but at that time these crustaceans were 

 not known to occur in the immediate neighborhood, in sufficient abundance to warrant fishing for 

 them. Hence smacks were sent in quest of supplies as far to the westward as Muscle Ridges, 

 stopping and buying also at intermediate ports. Large quantities were thus obtained from the 

 vicinities of Millbridge and Stuben. It was not until 1855 that lobsters were found to be plentiful 

 near Eastport, and then for the first time was the fishery engaged in extensively in that region. 

 From 1855 to 1865 this fishery continued to develop, reaching its height about the latter year. 

 Since then, however, it has greatly declined in the American waters, although it has proportion- 

 ally increased among the British islands of the vicinity. Formerly the entire catch was used by 

 the factories, but, later, when the demand for fresh lobsters, in New York and Boston, increased 

 beyond the capacities of the fisheries nearer home, the Eastport fishermen found a profitable 

 market in those places for their largest and best fish. 



Lobsters are sent from Eastport to the fresh markets at the west, mainly in flour barrels, 

 which hold from 135 to 140 pounds each, or about fifty-five lobsters by count. In the bottom of 

 each barrel a hole of about an inch diameter is bored to permit of drainage. The lobsters are then 

 packed in them, care being taken to have the tail of each curled up under the body. The barrel 

 is filled about even full, and on top is placed a large piece of ice, weighing from 10 to 15 pounds. 

 Over this is arranged a covering of marline or gunny cloth, which is held in place by the upper 

 hoop of the barrel. The journey from Eastport to Boston occupies about thirty-six hours, but 

 lobsters will live in the barrels fully forty-eight hours or longer, if properly packed. They are 

 transferred to cars, or boiled as soon as they reach Boston. The regular steamer from Eastport 

 for Boston leaves the former place, during the summer, about noon of every other day. It is 

 customary to pack the lobsters in the morning of each steamer day, in order that they may start 

 in good condition. 



A portion of the lobster scrap or refuse from the canneries is sold to the Red Beach Plaster 

 Company, by which concern it is dried and ground with plaster for fertilizing purposes. In 1879 

 2,000 barrels of scrap were thus disposed of, and in 1880, 1,500 barrels. A large quantity of the 

 scrap in its crude state is also used directly upon the farms in the vicinity. 



CANNERIES. There were four canneries located in Eastport in this district, in 1880, as follows : 

 One established in 1870, and owned by tlie American Sardine Company; one established in 1877, 



