63f> EEPORT OF OOMMIv'^SIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 



Dr. Crawford iu his diary, under date of June 14, 1779, says : 



"The river at Wyoming abounds with various kinds of fish. In the 

 spring it is full of the finest shad. Trout and pickerel are also plenty 

 here." 



George Grant, under date of June 23, says : 



"The Susquehanna Eiver aftords abundance of fish of various kinds 

 and excellent." 



Dr. George Elmer, under date of 23d June, says : 



" Spent chief part of the day in fishing. Salmon, trout, suckers, bass, 

 and common trout are plenty in the river, of which we catched a number 

 with a seine." 



Daniel Gookin, under date of 28th June, says : 



"The river Susquehanna, on which this lies, abounds with fish. Shad 

 in great plenty in the spring, as they go up to spawn. The shores are 

 covered with these fish which have died up the river, through their too 

 long stay in fresh water." 



There were some twenty-five or thirty what we called shad fisheries 

 within the bounds of old Wyoming. Every available point for casting 

 out and hauling in a seine on the beach, whether on an island or on the 

 mainland, was used as a fishery, and had its owners and its seine. The 

 average number of shad taken at each of these fisheries in a season was 

 from 10,000 to 20,000, beside other fish which were caught before and 

 after the shad made their migration. 



It is given on good authority that 10,000 were caught at one haul at 

 the Stewart fishery, about midway between Wilkes Barre and Plymouth, 

 about 1790. This was called the widows' haul. 



The settlements, after the massacre of July 30, 1778, had so many 

 widows and fatherless children among them that they made special pro- 

 visions of bounty for them on many occasions, which were wrought out 

 in such a way as neither to give offense nor to convey a sense of undue 

 obligation. 



Among the arrangements of this character was that of giving one of 

 the hauls at each fishery every year, to the widows and fatherless of 

 the neighborhood, and hence called the widows' haul. By common con- 

 sent it was agreed that the widows should have a haul made of the first 

 Sunday after the season of shad fishing commenced, and they were to 

 have all caught, whether more or less. 



This big haul was made on Sunday. * 



At the rate I have given, which is made uj) more from general infor- 

 mation upon the subject than from statistics, the number of fish caught 

 annually was about a half a million, which at 30 cents each would make 

 $150,000. 



Were the Susquehanna as well stocked with shad to-day as it was a 

 hundred years ago our keen and hungry fishermen would easily double 

 the catch, and still, like Oliver Twist, "cry for more." 



I recollect seeing^, in the spring of 1826, a haul made in n cove at the 



