364 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



their cliildren, none were rented as far as my knowledge extends. Own- 

 ers of rights woukl allow men who had none to fish for them on shares, 

 thus extending the benefits as far as i)ossible. Good feeling pervaded 

 the community in those days. 



3d. "Were other fish taken in any considerable quantity; if so, what 

 kinds?" 



With the exception of an occasional striped bass, or, as they were 

 then called, " Oswego bass," of large size (supposed to have been intro- 

 duced to the headwaters of the Susquehanna from that lake), none 

 of value were taken, as the nets were woven for large shad only. 



I cannot better illustrate the value and importance of the shad fish- 

 eries at that early day to the people on the Susquehanna Eiver than to 

 repeat an anecdote told me long years after by a genial gentleman of 

 New England, who in youth visited my father at his home in Wyoming. 



Leaning on the front gate, after breakfast, as the little children were 

 passing to school, each with a little basket, the universal answer from 

 their cheery, upturned little faces was, "Bread and shad," "Bread and 

 ghad" (corn bread, at that). 



What think you, my dear sir? Had that fish diet anything to do 

 with the known enterprise of that generation I If so, would it not be 

 well to make a strong and united effort to again introduce so valuable 

 an element of brain material? 



I am greatly pleased that our society is agitating the subject of re- 

 storing the shad to the peoj^le on the North Branch, not as a luxury for 

 the few, but for all, cheap and faithful, and coming at a season of the 

 year when most desirable as food, for nowhere on this continent were 

 finer shad found than those taken from the North Branch of the Sus- 

 quehanna Eiver. 



The long run of the pure, cold, spring-made waters of the Susque- 

 hanna made them large, hard, and fat, nowhere equaled. 



Why must we be denied this luxury now, when other streams are 



being filled with fish ? 



Very truly yours, 



C. DOREANCE. 



[From the Timkhannock Eepublican, April 15, 1881.] 



SHAD — HOW THEY W^ERE CAUGHT IN YE OLDEN DAYS — THE FISHERY 

 COMPANIES — THE REASON SHAD DO NOT NOW INHABIT THE UPPER 

 WATERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA. 



We are indebted to Hon. P. M. Osterhout for the following interest- 

 ing history of early shad fishing in the Susquehanna. It was written by 

 him for the Historical Society of Luzerne County, by the society's re- 

 quest : 



The first shad caught in the Susquehanna Eiver was by the early set- 

 tlers of the Wyoming Valley, who emigrated thither from Connecticut. 



"1 



