HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND SALMON RIVERS. 



85 



At that time a visit was made to the junction of the East and West branches to ascer- 

 tain the conditions exisiting there. It was found that the bottom everywhere, in the 

 main river and the West Branch was covered with waste paper-pulp material, and that 

 the shrubs and bushes on the banks up as high as a previous highwater extended were 

 coated with the same material. It was a substance resembling material of which hornets' 

 nests are made. 



It was evident that some time prior to the visit the water had been impregnated with 

 this fine pulp, although it appeared perfectly clear when observed. Whether or not this 

 deposit impedes salmon in their ascent of the East Branch is not known, but is quite 

 positively known that they could not ascend the West Branch. The Great Northern 

 mills are about seven miles up from the mouth of the West Branch. In 1901, 1902, and 

 1903 young salmon were very abundant in the East Branch from the mouth of the 

 Wissaticook to Mattagamon Lake, and far up the Wissaticook and Sebois. There 

 are no later data concerning these waters, excepting that in the fall of 1916 I visited the 

 Mattagamon Lake and upper East Branch. The water was very low. No adult or 

 young salmon were observed. 



An index to the number of salmon ascending the river is in the fisheries. Atkins 

 gave positive data of 13,690 salmon caught in Penobscot Bay and River in 1873, stating 

 that nothing was known of the number of salmon caught above Oldtown. He said that 

 a due allowance for this omission and for certain fishing stations where it was impossible 

 to obtain correct statements, would probably swell the total to 15,000 salmon. 



The following statement exhibits the jdeld of two of the best weirs on the Penobscot 

 as derived from tables given by Atkins for 13 years: 



TABLE 14. 

 Catches of two weirs, time of capture, for 13 years, in the Penobscot, near Bucksport. 



Smith (1898, p. 116) carries the catches of two weirs from 1874 to 1896. His statistics 

 show considerable increase in 1896 over 1874, but a bigger falling off from Atkins' 

 figures of 1872 and 1873. 



The average number taken per annum in the 13 years listed bj^ Atkins was 202.9 

 and in the 23 years listed bj^ Smith 103.8. The total average weight of Atkins' table is 

 11.6 pounds; that of Smith's, 13.52. These figures pertained to the same two weirs or 



