The Sea ir, This was the Gulf fisheries, destined in the next thirty-five years to yield a tremendous harvest of mackerel. Great schools of these fish moved in and out of the gulf, swimming near the surface and eating all other smaller fish within reach. They moved like armies in close-packed formation, sweeping everything ahead of them. Mackerel could be, and often were, hooked by hand-line with bait, or jigged without bait. But the way to make a killing was to stretch a seine net around one of the little classes of those schools encircling a large number. Next, by pulling the running lines on the bottom of the net, the seine closed as an old-fashioned purse with drawstrings. All that remained was to pull in the purse and empty it of the treasure. Coopers: The day's catchwas never the end of the day's work. The fish had to be gutted and pickled and eventually packed in barrels, before they were ready for market. Barrel making was one of the important trades in Souris and the many coopers who have made a living in Souris attest to this fact. Figures are not available for every year, but in 1877 for instance, 3,000 barrels of mackerel were shipped from Souris to the United States as well as 43,000 bushels of potatoes, which would make a big dinner for someone. Mackerel were layered carefully in barrels. Pickle heavy enough to float a potato was used on the split fish. On shore, when a number of barrels were Courtesy Pictures of the Past by l«arda. Dumping the Catch at Matthew & McLean Note the collection of barrels on the sloven in the left rear of the photo. filled, the wholesale fish merchant sent for the cooper. He would presently appear with an adze and draw knife in one hand, a bundle of flags (call them bull-rushes or cat-tails if you like) under the same arm and a number of hoops or wythes over the other shoulder. The polehoops or wythes were generally beech or ash split down the middle for made-to-measure barrel hoops. The heads were with the barrels but now they were expertly fitted. The flags were slit and used for caulking. The adze and draw knife were used to make everything fit properly. With the last hoop neatly adjusted, the barrel