The Republican journal., 1881-10-13
Catching Fish with a Pier at Montauk



An iron pier on the Atlantic coast at Napeague,
H. l., sixteen miles from Montauk Point was re-
Gently set to work fishing and it will be kept at
work night and day until the frozen spray of De
cember makes the nets useless. The pier is in
principle gigantic pound net AS to the name
pound applied to fish net, It describes the way IN
which fish are imprisoned.
The scheme OF fishing with al iron pier was
first preached by Mr.. A. c. Rogers Of New York,
and he has lived at Napeague since the building
of the pier was begun The money to buy lands
and build the pier was furnished by the Long
Island Fish Company, stock corporation formed
for the purpose last year The object of the com
pany was to send food fish to the New York mar
ket but ii is now thought that not only this will
be brought about, but also that UNBEATABLE fish will
be caught i'll such quantities that fish rendering
works viii be built, and that another large profit
VIII be made by selling oil and scrap The land
bought by the company is on neck half mile
wide. with the ocean on the south and Little Pc
comic Bay on the north
This spot was pitched upon in the first place as
the great natural fishing station of the Atlantic
coast Fish, in migrating up or down the coast,
touch the eastern end Of Long Island. Just at
this spot 100, there fewer sand bars than at
any other point on the southern shore and the
fish can and do run closer in shore than elsewhere
The iish procession there is almost continuous
For few weeks one species vii! predominant, and
suddenly Will move of the stage and another will
q me on OulN III inc tGIuesl weather QOeS tEe
march OF fish fall off Sometimes the fish travel
IN enormous schools OF the shore near where
the pier stands as many Il 600 pounds Of blue
fish taken not long ago in single seine net
at one haul
In high water this trap has a capacity OF - goo
square feet, and it can be pulled up at any time
and the fish taken out.
In what fashion is the pier constructed : asked
ii reporter.
AS you see, said the inventor, 1T looks as any
4.
completed excepting that ii has but one story
and has a swelling at the Outer end From where
We stand at the shore end you cannot see the
shade OF the pound; it Is just thousand feet dis
tant, nearly a quarter OF a mile. The IRON splles
are inches diameter, outside measurement and
they are Of wrought iron and hollow The first
spe driven April . last; the last on uly
- The Reading Iron Works made them and
they were brought here by water last spring At
the shore end of the pier they are SINK / feet in
the sand at the other end, where water is deep
est Of course. % feet in the sand The spies are
from POI to 81 feet in length, with cast iron disc
at each end The method Of sinking the spiles
was the same as that used by the contractor, Hen
~ Case, IN building the lew iron pier at Coney Is
land II is well known as the hydraulic process
The Orders tor braclng were made by Cooper,
Hewitt u Co. Two rows Of spiles driven
The rows are 10 feet apart. and the spiles III the
same row are 20 feet apart GiTders are fastened
both iengthwse and across the pier, and the whole
structure Is Draced dlaSOnally Win three quarter
inch rods
THE usual size for a pound Is forty feet along
shore and fifty feet oil shore 1t is placed with the
longest sides off shore, because the fish are less
likely to escape by swimming out at the place
where they came in They try to get to deep wa
ter all the time. This pound eighty feet along
shore by sixty feet off shore, and is set therefore
in the Jersey Style.
The pound net has upright sides and bottom
that rests flat on the sand. At each Spite the top
Of the side is fastened by means of an iron ring
around the spite, and held taut by lanyard fas
tened TO the top of the Spite Al the bottom of the
Spite is another iron ring that not only holds the
bottom in its place but keeps it down fiat to the
sand Each ring weighs ten pounds 4 lanyard
reaches from this ring TO the top Of the spile and
when want to take up the net and anything
that's in il, pull the lower rings up little by lit
tie, one at time
1t IS the Intention OF the company to run car
from the head of the pier to the land and continue
It across the narrow neck where the sloop lies. At
the end OF the pier oyer the pound there is TO be
crane carrying a basket, 50 that the men in boats
below can scoop the tish into the basket Other
labor saving appliances are daily suggesting them
selves
The per and the land adjacent cost 80 900
The majority of the stockholders OF the company
are New FORK business men. The President is
Herbert NJ. Rogers, of the Fulton Market Fish
mongers Association Superintendent, A. G. Rog
ers Secretary and Treasurer, Herbert C. Plass