THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 369 
come into general use for certain purposes, such as painting, tanning, manufacture 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 skimmed off; a heavy pressure on the residuum 
expresses the remaining oil, and what is left is still useful as a manure. The oil fiuds a ready 
market. It has been estimated that a single fish will furnish enough oil to saturate a surface of 
paper 18 inches square.” ¢ 
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 1865. The trade 
grew rapidly for about four years, but has 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 within 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 
clear, yellow, nearly odorless substance now produced is vastly different from the article manu- 
factured in early days. 
The process of extracting oil by steam was patented in 1852 or 1853 by William D. Hall, of 
Wallingford, Conn., the originator of the Quinnipiac 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 Branford, 16 miles distant. At night, after his men had left the factory, he cleaned 
out his tallow 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 securing his patents, Mr. Hall visited numerous “pot works,” which had by this time been 
established, for 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. 
THE INDUSTRY IN CHESAPEAKE Bay.—The menhaden fishery in Chesapeake Bay is said to 
have been inaugurated in 1865, 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. EB. W. 
Reed, of Maine, and Mr. G. Terry, of Long Island, together with Mr. G. T. Owens, of Fairport, Va. 
These men, in the spring of 1869, 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 mau from Long Island put up a second factory. The industry 
t Fishes of the New Jersey Coast, 1855, p. 33. 
SEO V——24 
