PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
479 
from 1845 to 1872 was not less tliaii 500,000 boxes. The Washington treaty had a very 
serious effect on the smoked-lierring industry, the product in Maine in 1880 being only 
370,615 boxes, or 4,434,111 jmunds, worth $99,973; whereas importations increased 
from 1,029,095 pounds, valued at $34,670, in 3874, to 10,441,355 ponnds, worth $129,034, 
in 1885. After the abrogation of the treaty in 1885 the business again reached its 
former proportions and has been more extensive during the past few years than ever 
before. The annual product amounts to about 1,300,000 boxes, containing 6,500,000 
pounds of cured fish, the wholesale value of which approximates $115,000, 
The smoking of hard herring in the United States is confined principally to the 
State of Maine and to Washington, Hancock, and Knox counties, the business being 
centered at Eastport and Lubec. The mature Clupea haretigtts is used, taken almost 
wholly by weirs, the season extending generally from the first of September until late 
in December. The smoking is done principally by the persons catching the fish, who 
also depend partly on farming for a livelihood. Usually several of them own a weir in 
common, dividing the herring equally and preparing them on their separate premises. 
The following description of the process of smoking hard herring at Eastport and 
Lubec is from an account of the industry by Mr. Ansley Hall:* 
Description of smokehouses . — The smokehouse is generally only one of a number of huihlings used 
in carrying on the smoked-herring industry. In addition to it there are sheds and shops of various 
kinds, in which Is done a variety of work incidental to the business. There is a shed for pickling 
and salting herring, a shop in which the smoked-herring boxes are made and where the herring are 
packed, and there is sometimes a cooper shop for making herring barrels. The buildings are usually 
located on a wharf or near the shore for convenience in landing the fish from the boats. The frame of 
the smokehouse is covered with boards and made sufficiently tight to iirevent the smoke from escap- 
ing. There are board windows in either end and ventilators in the roof. The latter are provided by 
arranging the boards on either side of the ridgepole so that they can be raised or lowered by means 
of cords attached to levers. The building is entered by large doors in the end. The value of the 
smokehouses, including the sheds and ecpiipments, varies from $60 to $3,500 each ; for an entire stand 
of buildings the average value is from about $200 to $500. 
In the early days of the industry the smokehouses were very inexpensive, being built of slabs 
obtained at small cost from the sawmills in the vicinity. A very few of these primitive structures, 
now almost a century old, are still in use, but in most instances they have been replaced by better 
0 ) 168 . As the business increased larger smokehouses were built, in order to make it possible to meet 
the greater demand for the product. The largest one now in use is at Lubec. The length of the 
building is 231 feet, 115 feet of which is included in the smokehouse and 116 feet in sheds of various 
kinds. The width is 25 feet, the length of posts 16 feet, and the height of the ridgepole 29 feet. 
The smokehouse is divided into three compartments, each having 10 “bays” or spaces in which to 
hang herring, and its capacity is about 45,000 boxes of medium or 60,000 boxes of large herring. It 
is as large as three smokehouses of the ordinary size. The smokehouses have no lloors, as the area 
has to be used for the fires. The interior is arranged with a series of vertical rows of 2 by 4 inch 
scantlings. The spaces between the rows are termed “bays” and are 38 inches in width. The 
scantlings in each row begin near the ridgepole and extend horizontally crosswise of the building, 
each one being placed from 13 to 14 inches below the other, to within 6 or 8 feet of the ground. In 
smokehouses of the average size there are usually 10 “bays,” and the capacity is about 15,000 boxes 
of medium or 20,000 boxes of large herring. 
Equipment . — The only eqpiipmeut used exclusively in a smokehouse are the herring sticks. A 
large number of these are necessary in the larger houses, as it requires on an average about two sticks 
to each box of herring. The sticks are prepared at the sawmills in long strips. The size of the sticks 
as they come from the mill is one^half inch square for medium and five-eighths inch square for 
large heriiug. After being cirt into lengths of 3 feet 4 inches each, the edges taken off, and one end 
sharpened they are ready for use. They cost at the rate of about $3 per 1,000 at the mill, and are 
estimated to be worth from $4 to' $5 per 1,000 after being made at the smokehouse. 
*“The herring industry of the Passamaquoddy region, Maine,” by Ansley Hall, United States 
Fish Commission Report for 1896, pp. 454-463. 
