68 Tivciity-si.vth Aiinital Meeting 



voted to the trout stream, or the work of the Fish Coniniission, 

 were spent on the river in the search of black bass. A thorough 

 sportsman, Mr. Ford made a resolution (which I never knew him 

 to break) to keep no fish of this species under eleven inches long. 



He grew to love the upper Delaware, with its beautiful sur- 

 rounding mountains, almost as much as he did his favorite sport 

 of angling, and when he felt that his last days were approaching, 

 he expressed a desire to be buried within the sound of the music 

 of its waters. I shall never forget the day on which Mr. Ford 

 first spoke of what was in his heart in this respect, nor the 

 manner in which he did so. It was less than a month before his 

 death when he sent to consult with me concerning some fish 

 cultural matters which he had in mind. When the main business 

 was over, he said to me in that quiet, even tone familiar to many 

 of the members of the National Fisheries Society, "Meehan. I 

 am beginning to feel as though my illness will have a fatal end- 

 ing, and if it should I want you to convey my w'ishes with respect 

 to my burial to my family. I tell you because I don't w^ant to 

 cause them unnecessary worry now, by leading them to think 

 that I do not believe I will recover. There is a handsome mauso- 

 leum at Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia, belonging to my 

 family, but I don't wish my body laid there. I want it buried in 

 the little graveyard on the hill back of Dingman's Ferry, which 

 overlooks the stretch of the Delaware river where I have fished 

 for twenty-five years." He had his heart's desire. When the 

 end came, his body was taken by a few intimate friends onlv. and 

 with no pomp was laid reverentially in the little churchyard on the 

 hill from which can be seen the sparkling- pools and be heard the 

 song of the long rifts of the Delaware river. No thought could 

 be more poetic or more characteristic of the man; nor could a 

 more fitting resting place have been selected for his remains. 



Mr. Ford's expertness as an angler, and his broad knowledge 

 of fish cultural matters, brought him into prominence while he 

 was little more than a young man. For some years it was felt 

 that The Board of Pennsvlvania Fish Commissioners needed a 

 thorough overhauling and new life put into it. Without solicita- 

 tion on his part, a number of friends urged him strongly for the 

 position of Fish Commissioner, but through some misunderstand- 

 ing, the appointment was not given him. and it was not until 

 General Reaver was made Governor of Pennsylvania that Mr. 

 Ford received his appointment. His work was admittedly so 

 valuable that successive executives reappointed him, his last com- 

 mission coming to him on his sick bed. 



