70 Tzventy-sixth Annual Meeting 



after, except two, when no eggs were obtainable. The sound- 

 ness of Mr. Ford's reasoning was shown in 1895, when nearly a 

 .hundred salmon were caught in nets. The results were so grat- 

 ifying that last year the United States Fish Connnission ordered 

 an investigation to be made by the agent taking an account of the 

 shad catch. This official found that in 1896 nearly $2,000 worth 

 of salmon were taken by the regular fishermen alone, and that 

 there was reason to believe that many tish had been captured by 

 other parties not regularly engaged in professional fishing. 



Mr. Ford dietl before the figures could be given him, but he 

 lived long enough to feel that he had demonstrated the possi- 

 bility of making a great salmon river out of the Delaware. He 

 felt it to be his greatest triumph, except, perhaps, the part wdiich 

 he took in making the river the greatest shad stream in the 

 United States, with the possible exception of the Potomac. ^h\ 

 Ford, with his characteristic modesty, rather under-rated the im- 

 portance of the part which he took in this great work, but others 

 who were associated with him in the labor, or \vho are familiar 

 with the circumstances, are confident that the ultimate and com- 

 plete success was largely owing to his energy and determination. 

 When Mr. Ford became Commissioner he found the Delaware 

 and Susquehanna rivers full of fish baskets antl other destructive 

 contrivances for catching fish. He discovered before long that 

 the task of ridding the Susquehanna was, for some years to come 

 at least, a hopeless task. Maryland owned some thirteen miles 

 of the river, and l)y her laws permitted fish baskets and similar 

 contrivances calculated to destroy all the valuable fish. There 

 were also several large dams over and al)(>ve which the shad 

 could not pass. But what was more discouraging than all was 

 his discovery that the sentiment of the peoi)le along the Susque- 

 hanna, including most of the legal officials, were in open and 

 active sympathy with the lawless element and against the work of 

 the Fish Commission. 



In consequence of these things Mr. Ford determined to de- 

 vote his efforts mainly to the Delaware, where he would have the 

 active aid of the Fish Commissions of New York and New Jersey. 

 By united action the Delaware was soon cleared of all serious 

 obstructions and of every illegal device, in spite of bitter opposi- 

 tion on the part of the fish basket men. As a result of this work 

 the catch of shad in the Delaware now reaches a half million dol- 

 lars in value at the nets every year, while that of the Suscjuehauna 

 has sunk to barely $20,oog a year. 



