SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 149 



were used iu 1890, yielding: 152 shad. About 10 miles above Hunt 

 Bluff is another seine bar, where two short seines were used in 18!)0, 

 the catch approximating- 50 shad and 1,000 hickories. Just above 

 Douglass Falls and about 3 miles below Society Hill a small seine 

 was used, catching 22 shad and 280 hickories. About 4i miles above 

 Society Hill and 17 miles below the lowest fishing dam a double-seine 

 fishery was operated, the catch numbering 790 shad, of which 470 were 

 bucks. The season was quite short, extending only from jMarch 1 to 

 April 5. It thus appears that in 1890 there were but 4 seine fisheries 

 operated below Cheraw, yielding 1,018 shad, of which 594 were bucks. 

 If the present scarcity of shad continues, even these fisheries will 

 doubtless soon be abandoned. 



In the neighborhood of Society Hill there are 4 drift nets, used by 

 as many negroes, iu the capture of shad. These nets are 32 yards 

 long and have 5^-inch mesh. On account of the clearness of the water 

 it is necessary that the fishery be carried on at night instead of during 

 the daytime. The season begins March 1 and lasts about six weeks, 

 the men fishing about four nights each week. In 1890 190 shad were 

 taken, of which 103 were bucks. Between Society Hill and Cheraw 

 shad are first taken by both seines and drift nets about six weeks later 

 than in the vicinity of Georgetown, and as the distance is 230 miles, it 

 appears that they travel about 5i miles per day. 



From Cheraw to the Narrows. — The second of the three sections into 

 which it has been found convenient to divide Pee Dee Eiver extends 

 from Cheraw to the Narrows, a distance of 71 miles. 



Throughout this length of the river the current is quite swift, the 

 descent being about 355 feet, an average of 5 feet to the mile, but in 

 places exceeding 20 feet to the mile. There are numerous fishing-dams 

 along this stretch of the river, with from 1 to 2 feet fall. The dams are 

 constructed of rough stone masonry, or by filling a log cribbing with 

 rocks, at convenient points where the river is narrow and shoal, the 

 cost ranging from $100 to $1,500 each. While these dams frequently 

 extend across the stream, there are generally thoroughfares around 

 them, and at high water, which usually prevails during the shad sea- 

 son, they are partly submerged, permitting many fish to pass over. 

 Numerous sluices are left for the passage of water, in which are i)laced 

 the fall traps and wheels for catching the fish. 



The fall traps differ little from those in use in many of the Atlantic 

 coast streams, and, being placed so as to catch the fish going down the 

 river, take very few shad during the upward run. They are 25 to 30 

 feet long, to 8 feet wide, with a descent of about 5 feet, and cost from 

 $20 to $00 each. 



The wheels, which are intended especially for shad, are somewhat 

 similar to those used in the Columbia Eiver salmon fisheries. They 

 are said to have been introduced in the Pee Dee about 1840, antedating 

 by over thirty years those used on Columbia River. They consist of 

 two or more curved wings, 5 to 7 feet long, attached to a rotary shaft 



