298 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.- 



formerly til ey are said to have abounded. Owing to the exertions of 

 the late N. W. Foster, of East Machias, both alewives and salmon were 

 preserved from destruction which almost overtook them about 25 years 

 ago. Several dams had been built on the river, and the fish- ways allowed 

 to fall out of repair. Mr. Foster introduced some improvements in the 

 fish-ways, and prevailed upon his fellow-townsmeu to have them kept in 

 order and the laws protecting the fish enforced. A gratifying increase 

 rewarded these efforts, but Mr. Foster was never able to carry out fully his 

 plans of improvement. Some of the fish-ways remained defective, and 

 the greed of the fishermen took too great a share of the ascending fish. 

 There was never, therefore, a complete recovery of the fishery from its 

 depletion. 



Salmon-parr are frequently caught with the hook in Chase's stream 

 near the outlet of Gardiner's Lake, and it is inferred that in this stream 

 the adults are accustomed to spawn. No information has been received 

 as to" the number of salmon taken in the river recently. Several years 

 since it was estimated at 50 adult salmon annually. Sinolts are occar 

 sionally taken in the winter by dip-nets, along withtom-cods and smelts. 



8. — 3IACHIAS RIVEll. 



This river, unlike the East Machias, has a small extent of lake surface, 

 and is not so well adapted to the growth of alewives. For salmon, 

 however, it appears to be much the better stream of the two, and this 

 species is described as having been in old times extremely abundant. 

 There was no market for the surplus, and a ten-pound salmon could 

 be had for fifty cents. Even as late as forty years ago, they are said to 

 have been as plenty as that. A man with a dip-net could take 60 salmon 

 in a day at the lower falls. As in other cases, insurmountable dams 

 were built, and salmon disappeared from the river. For twenty years or 

 more, not one was seen. A weir built for alewives in 1870 and several 

 preceding years never caught a salmon. In 1873, however, they re- 

 appeared in considerable n umbers. They were first observed in the sum- 

 mer at the ordinary season, below the dams, in the tide- water. Not 

 many were seen at that time, and it is not known that any passed up 

 into fresh water. In September and October they appeared in larger 

 numbers, and made great efforts to pass the lower falls. Many of them 

 succeeded, and some were taken with a dip-net below the dam, and 

 placed above it. The fish-warden observed that part of these salmon 

 were "hook-bills," and part were "round-nosed," from which it may be 

 inferred that the sexes put on their distinguishing marks even when kept 

 in salt or brackish water.* 



There are three dams on the Machias Riv^er. The first, at Machias vil- 

 lage, at the head of tide-water, is not impassable. The second, also 

 at Machias, is a high dam, and completely stops the ascent of fish. It 

 was provided with a Foster fish-way some years ago, but there being 



* Letters of M. H. Wilder, esq. 



