ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS AETIFICIAL CULTURE. 311 



The eastern mouth of the river is of a differeut character, discharf^jiug 

 a much smaller volume of water, which is maiuly received from the maiu 

 Penobscot by the Thoroughfare, a broad, shallow passage around the 

 north end of Wetwore Island, but is considerably augmented in the 

 early part of the season by the water of Eastern River. The latter is 

 not a salmon- stream, but is the principal nursery of the alewife, which 

 finds in its many ponds admirable breeding-grounds. It flows to its 

 junction with the Thoroughfare through a broad estuary, in which its 

 scanty waters are insufficient to delay long the setting-in of the upward 

 current that accompanies the flood-tide ; while in the Penobscot and in 

 the Thoroughfare the current sets down near two hours after low water. 

 Hence we have the phenomenon of a down-current in the Thoroughfare 

 at the same time that there is an up-current in the estuary of East- 

 ern River, and the water from the former fills the latter for some distance 

 above the point of junction. This is a sufiicient explanation of the fact 

 that while the salmon rarely attempt to ascend Eastern River, those 

 that come in by the eastern mouth passing into the main Penobscot 

 through the Thoroughfare, yet they frequently pass the mouth of the 

 latter and are caught in weirs some distance up the estuary of Eastern 

 River. Thus, in 1873, ISTo. 185 (see appended map of fisheries of Penob- 

 scot Bay and River) caught 60 salmon, and Xo. 168 caught 30. This ex- 

 planation accords well with the theory that salmon find their way back 

 into their native rivers, not through any knowledge of topography but 

 by recognizing in some way the qualities of the water. In the weirs of 

 Eastern River farthest up salmon are seldom caught; and indeed neither 

 in any portion of it, nor in the Thoroughfare, nor in the common river 

 below, is the catch at all to be compared with that in the western channel 

 of the Penobscot. 



Above the port of Bucksport but few weirs have been built for many 

 years, and the number has of late diminished. In 1870 there were 15 ; 

 in 1873, only 9. The latter year was quite profitable, the increase in 

 the number of salmon being remarkable. Three weirs in Marsh Bay 

 caught 250 salmon, 5 shad, and 6 barrels of alewives. Weir-fishing 

 has never been practiced in the Penobscot above Orrington. It is, 

 however, known that as early as 1780 there was a rude half-tide weir 

 in the town of Hampden. 



Within this district, on the eastern side of the expansion of the river 

 called Marsh Bay, are Dram Point Flats, the history of whose fisheries 

 is very interesting. In 1812 there was a single half-tide weir built on 

 these flats ; it was of triangular shape, one side being formed by the 

 shore and the other two being built of stakes and brnsh. On the up- 

 river side the brush-work was built higher than high-water mark- 

 The down-river side, which, however, was exposed to an eddy-current 

 on the ebb-tide, was, for the outer half of its length, built to an equal 

 height with the upper side, while the part next the shore rose only to 

 half-tide mark. Over this low part of the inclosure the fish swam at 



