History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
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Business<br />
133<br />
reorganized, Feb. 28, 1913, with the same name and Number,<br />
and at this time, (1916) has 280 members; also took the prize<br />
as having had the largest average attendance in the State<br />
(1915).<br />
Fisheries<br />
The shores <strong>of</strong> <strong>Swansea</strong> have abounded in shell-fish,<br />
though at present, having been overworked there is scarcity.<br />
The tidal-rivers, which make up into the Town used to afford<br />
good fishing also; but <strong>of</strong> late years, traps have taken the<br />
migratory fish before they get to the mouths <strong>of</strong> the rivers.<br />
However, *'the fishing-privilege" is still sold at auction, with<br />
little or no competition, at the annual March meeting.<br />
As has been mentioned in another connection, there was<br />
a period, at the close <strong>of</strong> the war <strong>of</strong> 1812, when fisheries became<br />
**more attractive and lucrative than farming," in particular<br />
to the Gardners <strong>of</strong> Gardner's Neck, now known as South<br />
<strong>Swansea</strong>. The war <strong>of</strong> 1812 having interfered with whaling<br />
interests, the manufacture <strong>of</strong> oil from menhaden was made<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>itable also. And later there was quite a general demand<br />
for dressed and salted menhaden which were shipped to the<br />
Southern markets and to the West Indies.<br />
It is probable that the Indians taught the first white<br />
settlers to use fish in the hills <strong>of</strong> corn and other crops as<br />
fertilizer; and it became a common practice with the <strong>Swansea</strong><br />
farmers. But later, between 1880, and 1890, fish-fertilizers,<br />
as by-products <strong>of</strong> the menhaden oil industry, became important<br />
in this town, at the works <strong>of</strong> Wm. J. Brightman & Co.,<br />
on Cole's River, at Touisset, where *'the fishworks" became<br />
a scientific manufactory. Fish scraps from the oil-works at<br />
Tiverton, potash from New York, acid phosphates from the<br />
Rumford Chemical works, and bones from Hargraves <strong>of</strong> Fall<br />
River were compounded according to formula, to meet the<br />
demands <strong>of</strong> different kinds <strong>of</strong> soils and crops. C. M. O'Brien<br />
was the superintendent <strong>of</strong> the business, and from fifty to<br />
sixty, or even more, men were in the employ <strong>of</strong> the Company,<br />
varying at different seasons <strong>of</strong> the year.<br />
The North <strong>Swansea</strong> Manufacturing Company<br />
In 1879 Daniel R. Child came from Providence R. I. and<br />
built a small shop on the old Ship Yard lot at Barneyville<br />
under the name <strong>of</strong> D. R. Child Co. He manufactured Collar