The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-09-09
From IA occasional Correspondent.
LETTER FR8sa NEW REDE0lsR.
rae Pleasures of the Sea shore.
NEw BEproRp. Mass, AuguI


ally rising from the water, making it one of
the nest cleanly and healthy cities in the
Union. 1t contains population of twenty
thousand inhabitants, nearly all efwt1om have
depended mainly upon the whale fishery Tor
their support :. and many have amassed
princely fortunes and reared costly edihces,
from which fact the place has been called the
.'city of palaces' The most noteworthy
.ublic buildings are the City Hall, Post Office
and Library Building, the two former being
massive stone structures. the lattera fine piece
of architecture, containing a library ofsixteen
thousand volumes. A very large cotton fac
tory is in successful operation, also copper.
works, and an establishment for making horse
shoes, the proprietor being the original invent
or. A road has been constructed south of the
city, around what is called Clark's Point, at
an expense of seventy-five thousand dollars.
four miles in length. 1t is near the waters
edge almost its entire distance and. is a great
place of resort, especially during the summer
months. A person has the double advantage
of fine scenery and breathing the inyigorating
sea air. A fort is. being built at the end of
this point, for which Government has appro-
priated one million of dollars. 1t was but a
few miles from this that the yacht America
was captured from the rebels, the circum-
stances OF which you are familiar with. The
yacht was in New Bedford harbor when l first
arrived here The school ship Massachu-
sets was here at the same time. This is q
branch of the State Reform School. Between
one and two hundred lads are constantly being
trained and educated on board. 1t has been
in successful operation, something over three
years. A, few days since the first death oe-
CURED since its establishment. This season
there are a great many excursions upon the
water from New Bedford. Newport, Rocky
Point, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are
among the principal places. visited, There is
common place of resort called Horse Neck
Beach, distance of thirteen miles from the
city. .,,.f ....ss.5 f,,;5f sefas
This place affords rare opportunities for
fishing add hunting, and has one of the finest
beaches on The shores of New England. We
rode half mile on this beach when The tide
was low, and it was notouly perfectly smooth,
but so hard the wheels scarcely made any in
dentatons upon its surface. About four miles
off shore from, this place your correspondent,
with two others, fshed on the bosom of "Old
Ocean" We sailed over the spot where
twenty-five years ago monster of the deep
mad dvertently wandered, and was captured
this whale measured forty eight feet in length,
and yielded lforty-twe barrels of 'oil. Her
skeleton now lies bleaching upon the shore
After fishing about four hours, we found we
had caught two hundred lbs. of fish, mostly
tautog, or-blaek fish !; quite large number Of
these weighing from four to3seven pounds
apiece but strange ito say, this was corsid-
/ cred rather an unfavorabIe day by our guide
On a previous occasion, in New Bedford har-
Dor. we caught one hundred and thirty fish
weighing from ene-half to five lis this, oul
!. friend told us was rather ! oor sport, as the
season for fishing at that point was nearly
! ovcr,ss Those who al.gle on Brady and Pepir
can Imagine what pleasure they might hav,
here ewhen the season and weather were right
A few days ago had the pleasure of attend
t ing one of the celebrated, g Clam Bakes,', OF
/ Palmer's Island. This, to those who live
where no such bivalves grow, ,aisv xtrenielyin
/ terestlg.s a place WAS selected between TIVE
I rocks upon, which to build "a fire. After
| sufficient time the fire was removed, and
layer of seaweed put upon the spot; thel
several bushels of clans 5were placed upol
the seaweed. also fishiwrapped i'll paper, ear
j, of corn, &C.; then upon this another layer o
seaweed was put, which completed the ar
| rangements. In short time the clans wer
placed upo,ethe table, and we sat down Il
enjoy the best dish we have eaten since lcav
/ ing Ohie.a These clans are more delicious il
flavor than the hard shell clam or quahog
We get in the West! Until within a slior
time, there were owned III New Bedford thre
hundred and fifty whaling vessels. Now th
number is reduced to two hundred and seven
teen. This is in, partEowing to the scarcity O
whales, and to the introduction of petroleum
| oil. Owing TO the depredatienszmade by pri
vateers, many seSselssare kept in port, an,
others are returning from shorter voyag
g.---H =
/ than they otherwise would have made. /
ship arrived soon after came here, and ou
of curiosity I went OF the wharf to, see he
unload. A cask of oil containing ten barrel
was taken from the lower hold of the shi
and landed on the wharf in one minute
This is done by machinery attached to stean
engine. Notwithstanding the vast amount 0
/ petroleum oil in use sperm oil at presen
commands high price in market. 1t is al
most entirely superseded. here by the scarboi
oil for Illuminating, but is superior for lubri
eating purposes. Whalebene, which -copl
formerly be bought for six cents per ponnd, i
now wort.. one dollar and forty cents. With
a few years tanners oil has been obtained i
i quite large quantities from. fish called men
haden, caught in great numbers along thi
coast. Vessels are fitted out for this purpose
j The fish are boiled and pressed on board
\ One gallon of oil is usually obtained from on
barrel of fish. This oil is worth ninety cent
per gallon. The refuse, or guano, is used fc
dressing the soil, and, pays the expense
seining the fish. A. thousand barrels of th
fish have been got at one haul, ,a
The pride and prosperityYof New Bedfor
are fast diminishing. It is but a short tim
since the city We'd in wealth with any city i
the Union, according its. population. Ever
man, woman and child would have receive
one Thousand dollars, had the property bee
equally distributed. Real estate has deprec
| I r - !.