84 ia:NDALL: NEW ENGLAND SALMONS. 



Sheepscot River. — The Sheepscot was formerly frequented by salmon in great num- 

 bers, but the stream was obstructed many years ago. However, occasional salmon have 

 been observed and taken in recent years below the dam at Alna. 



Medomac River. — Obstructed for many years, the only salmon taken in recent years 

 have been caught near the mouth of the river. It has been over 100 years since any 

 considerable numbers were taken. In those early days they used to be dipped below the 

 dam at the head of tide water. 



Saint George River. — Salmon were plentiful in the river a hundred or more years ago, 

 and considerable numbers were taken 70 or 80 years ago, but have since been rarely seen. 



Penobscot River. — At the present time the Penobscot is the only New England river 

 affording any extent of commercial salmon fishery. Atkins wrote that besides being the 

 largest between the Saint John and the Connecticut, it is distinguished from nearly aU 

 others within those limits by the manner in which it discharges its waters into the sea, 

 namely, through a large bay or estuary, narrow at its head, where it receives the waters 

 of the river, but widening gradually to its junction with the open ocean. The works of 

 man have interfered less with the migration of salmon in the Penobscot than in any other 

 large river south of the Saint John. Owing to its great volume and other favorable cir- 

 cumstances, dams, quite impassable by salmon, have never been in existence many 

 years at a time. The four points on the lower part of the river at which dams have been 

 built are Veazie, Ayer's Falls, Great Works, and Oldtown. 



Of the tributaries, the lower ones were nearly all effectually closed against salmon 

 by dams, and had been in that condition for many years; in few of them, however, if 

 any, was the species ever abundant. In the upper tributaries there were comparatively 

 few obstructions, and there the salmon had access to their original spawning grounds. 

 Of the lower tributaries the finest and most extensive breeding-grounds were in the 

 Piscataquis and its branches, to many of which salmon had access, visiting them yearly 

 and often showing themselves at Brownville on the Pleasant River. 



Atkins beUeved, and in my opinion he was correct in his belief, that the Mattagamon 

 or East Branch, was a better salmon river than the West Branch, and that much greater 

 numbers of salmon resorted to it. Atkins stated that they could ascend as far as Grand 

 Falls, 31 miles from its mouth, but to my personal knowledge they ascended as far as 

 the foot of Mattagamon or Grand Lake, which is a considerable distance further. In 

 the East Branch were extensive spawning grounds, also in the Wissaticook and Sebois 

 streams. The Wissaticook is an impetuous mountain stream, draining the northern 

 and eastern sides of Mount Katahdin. The Sebois traverses a more level district, and 

 is a fine, gentle, gravelly stream, with numerous rapids of sufficient force to form ad- 

 mirable spawning beds. Salmon formerly spawned in aU these places. 



Up to the time of the estabUshment of the Great Northern paper mills at Millinocket, 

 salmon continued to ascend the West Branch to some extent, and to a considerable ex- 

 tent the East Branch, including the tributary Wissaticook and Sebois. I observed 

 salmon in the East Branch as late as 1903. In 1904 a visit was made to the East 

 Branch but the water was so low that the stream could not be traversed by canoe. 



