The record-union., 1897-08-18
,ubin C CO., 4OO-4l2 X Street. Sacramento.

| high prices that prevailed, gave the in
dustry a great impetus.
Those were the palmy days of the
business when the menhaden steamers
came into port with 10000 barrels of
fish in their holds, a, cargo worth S10,-
600 or more
"It beat cod takin' and even whalin'
all hollow in them days." as an old
coast Captain regretfully said a few
days ago in speaking of the decline in
the industry.
The discovery of petroleum was the
first serious blow to the menhaden in
dustry. 1t was found that the coal oil
could be used in compound for many
of the purposes for which fish oil had
formerly been exclusively used. and. of
course, it was much cheaper. The sup
ply Of fish oil was too great for the
American market, and the producers
| turned their attention to Europe To
establish themselves there, they put
down the price of oil in the European
market, but this brought protest from
American leather manufacturers and
others on this side who used fish oil
and who claimed that their business
was injured by such discrimination.
ming their industrial awakening, and
anxious, perhaps, to prove their right
to the title, "YAEnkees of the Orient,
stepped into the American market and
became a factor in the situation. AS it
cost them almost nothing to extract the
oil from the thousands of tons of her
ring caught off the Japanese coast
every season. and there was no demand
for it there, they could afford to un
dersell the Americans to their own
market. They promptly proceeded to
do this and almost ruined the oil pro-
ducers
About the only branch of the busi-
ness left in the undisputed possession
of the Americans was the canning of
small menhaden for sale in Europe as
american sardines." This is an en-
terprise about on par with the man
ufacture of wooden nutmegs and per
haps the less said about it the better.
1t has attained considerable proportions
of recent years, however, and many
thousands Of ''sardines'' are sent abroad
from menhaden factories every year
under alluring labels and in attractive
boxes that seem to satisfy the foreign
ers. whatever the effect of their con-
tents may be-
Menhaden are known by a different
name on almost every strip of the At
lantic Coast where they are found. They
are mossbunkers off Long Island, and
pogies further north, and alewives in
New England, and sinners in other
places. They are a blush gray in color,
with silvery sides, and grow to length
of twelve to sixteen inches. They are
found along the mud bottoms close to
shore, and travel in schools which may
be traced by the Slick or grease, upon
the surface. 1t is not a difficult mat
ter to capture them, but there is plen-
ty of excitement and plenty of risk in
menhaden fishing for several reasons.
One of these is the mysterious and err
ratio nature of the fish. Other fish ap-
pear season after season in about the
same places and in something near the
same numbers, but there is no counting
on the menhaden. One season school
after school of fine fat fish will be taken
off the Jersey shore, and the following
year only the leanest and scantiest ar
ray will be found between Cape May
and Sandy Hook, while the men on the
Massa achusetts coast report that the
fish are simply jumping into their nets.
Consequently; it is highly important
matter in fishing for menhaden to 10
cate the fish, and the menhaden fish
ermen are even more superstitious than
the ordinary run of their craft.
The ordinary menhaden steamer car