THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MAJ 719 



In early times the salting and .smoking- of salmon were common, and probably the greater part of 

 the catch was disposed of in this way. Small vessels from Connecticut visited the Kenuebec, as 

 well as the Penobscot, to buy salmon. This was practiced a.s late as 1614 or later. But since 

 1825 it has been almost or quite the universal practice to market salmon fresh. The average price 

 received in Bowdoiuham in 1826 was about 9 cents per pound; in 1S27, 15 cents per pound; and 

 between these extremes it remained until 1845, with the exception of 1834 and 1840. Since 1845 

 there has been a considerable augmentation. 



Shad. The shad is the most important of the products of the spring fishery, yielding a pecun- 

 iary return sixteen times as great as salmon and nearly twice as great as the alewife. It is taken 

 in weirs and drift-nets. Nearly every weir on the river depends more on shad than any other 

 fish, but the most productive shad weirs are those of Merryineeting Bay and vicinity, which are 

 of the form already described as '-shad weirs," whose distinguishing characteristic is the capture 

 of the fish in a large pound of deep water, from which they are taken with a seine. This form of 

 weir is exclusively used in this vicinily, as on the lower part of the river the weir with a board 

 floor is almost the only form in use. The principal reason for the diU'ereuce in practice of the two 

 sections is the difference in the condition of the river and the currents, a seine-weir requiring a 

 gentle current for its successful operation. The form of weir has doubtless something to do with 

 the fact that four-fifths of all the shad are taken in the Merrymeetiug Bay district, including the 

 Androscoggin arm of the bay and its tributaries, but it seems that while in the cooler and salter 

 water of the Georgetown district they are more inclined to avoid the shores and pass up the river. 

 Of the 140,000 shad taken in the Kenuebec in 1880, 108,000 were taken in the Merryuieeting Bay 

 district, 5,800 above Richmond, 16,744 between the bay and Bath, and only 10,000 below Bath, in- 

 cluding the Sasanoa or eastward arm, between Woolwich and Arrowsic. The approximate averages 

 are as follows : In the bay district, 44 weirs averaged 2,048 shad ; below Bath, 29 weirs averaged 

 345 shad. All included in the above statements are the breeding shad, called by the fishermen 

 " river shad," or " spawn shad." The sea shad are mostly taken with drift-nets in the lower reaches 

 of the river, but to some extent in the weirs. In 1880 the catch of sea shad was exceedingly small, 

 and only about 80 barrels were cured. The drifting below Bath is wholly for sea shad; above 

 Bath, for river shad. 



In early times shad appear to have ascended the main river to Norridgewock Falls, Sandy 

 River, a few miles from its mouth, and the Sebasticook in small numbers to Newport. Tradition 

 also assigns the shad a place in the fauna of the Cobbosseecontee. There were productive shad 

 fisheries at several points above the flow of the tide, among which we may mention Ticonic Falls 

 (Waterville) and the Lower Sandy River. At Ticonic Falls there is an island in mid-stream, where 

 great facilities existed for catching shad with dip-nets. This island' was private property. The 

 proprietor, from 1804 down to the extinction of the fishery, has stated that in the early days of his 

 fishing he used to take $500 to $600 worth of shad yearly. As remarkable feats he mentioned 

 that with the assistance of his three boys he had taken 1,100 shad and 20 salmon in an afternoon, 

 and that one day four men dipped out and boated ashore 6,400 large shad. There was a similar 

 but less productive dip-net fishery on the falls at Skowhegan. 



The drift net, seine, and weir fisheries in the tidal waters were very productive. It is in 

 evidence that in 1S22 a seine at Augusta was known to take 700 shad in a day ; that about 1837 

 there were about 100,000 shad taken in Eastern River (Dresden) alone. It is known that the shad- 

 fishery was by no means uniformly productive. A period of scarcity occurred about 1820. That 

 year the weir at Abagadassett Point took but 150 shad (its catch in after years ranged from 3,000 



