======================+========+======== | | | 1879. | 1907. ----------------------+--------+-------- Production (bushels), | 500 | 15,000 Value, | $4,500 | $12,750 Men, | 75 | 50 Capital, | - | $1,200 Price (cents), | 40 | 85 ======================+========+========= SUMMARY OF INDUSTRY. Number of men, 50 Capital invested, $1,200 Production, 1907:-- Bushels, 15,000 Value, $12,750 Total area (acres):-- Sand, 500 Mud, 125 Gravel, - Mussels and eel grass, 25 Total, 650 Productive area (acres):-- Good clamming, 150 Scattering clams, 150 Barren area possibly productive (acres), 325 Waste barren area (acres), 25 Possible normal production, $120,000 _Gloucester._ The far-celebrated deep sea fisheries of Gloucester overshadow her humble shellfish industry; but within her tidal flats lie undeveloped resources, which if properly brought out would form no inconsiderable factor in her annual revenue. Even now her clam fishery attains considerable proportions, though by no means what it once was, or what it might be were suitable cultural methods employed. The main areas of clam-producing territory lie in the Annisquam River and in the Essex River in West Gloucester. The grounds in the Annisquam are the more productive. This river is some 4 miles long, and is bordered for the greater part of this distance with tidal flats. Of these the sand flats predominate, though there are large areas of mud and extensive beds of mussels. On the extreme head of the river, known as the Dumfudgeon region, dredging operations for the Gloucester canal have somewhat impaired the flats, but as a whole the river seems in every way suitable for the production of an abundant harvest of clams. The flats of West Gloucester, including a portion of the Essex Spit, are largely unproductive. The Spit is the only flat of any extent in this region which is at present of real economic value; the remaining flats, scattered along the south shore of the Essex River and its tributary creeks, are for the most part practically barren.