First Century After the Expulsion 71 
     
    
   
   
    
     right to fish off the coast of the British colonies in North America. 
     
     They were even permitted to come ashore to dry their nets and salt 
     
     their fish. 
     
    

    
     After 1858 Americans were authorized to buy land on the Island. 
     
     As a result of this new policy the fishing industry benefited from 
     
     substantial American investments. With the help of this capital, numer- 
     
     ous fishing companies sprang up in the colony. While there were only 
     
     five businesses of this type in 1850, by 1855 there were thirty-seven 
     
     and eighty-nine in 1861°°. Among the American investors were Isaac 
     
     C. Hall and James H. Myrick who founded the fishery in “Tignish 
     
     Run”’°. The Myrick establishment was to become the most important 
     
     one in the region. Furthermore, the Myrick family played a prominent 
     
     role for a long time in the fishing industry and in the economy as a 
     
     whole. 
     
    

    
     Skilled fishermen and workers were available on the spot for the 
     
     new companies that were set up in Acadian localities. The regrowth 
     
     in the fisheries took place just around the time when the Acadians 
     
     were experiencing difficulties finding land for the younger generation. 
     
     The expansion provided both employment and the opportunity for 
     
     Acadian farmers to fish in order to pay their rents to the proprietors”. 
     
    

    
     After approximately sixty years of moving and quarrelling as a 
     
     result of the land question, the growth of the fisheries pointed to a 
     
     more promising future for the Acadians. After the middle of the 
     
     nineteenth century, all the maritime colonies enjoyed some degree 
     
     of prosperity. To a certain extent the Island Acadians were to benefit 
     
     from this prosperity. 
     
    
   
   
    
     PEOPLE OF THE LAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Acadians on the Island after the deportation years tried to 
     
     keep vegetable gardens. But as we have seen they had to turn to the 
     
     sea for a living. Agricultural endeavours were thus very limited. The 
     
     first governor of the Island, Walter Patterson, noted that the Acadians 
     
     did not grow any grain whatsoever in 1770”. 
     
    

    
     Gradually the Acadians began to apply themselves more earnestly 
     
     to clearing the land and cultivating the soil. In 1782, a petition sub- 
     
     mitted to government officials of the time by the Acadians in Rustico