ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS ARTIFICIAL CULTURE. 325 



off of the supply of salmon as early as 1660. They were, however, 

 by no means exterminated till a more recent date. 



As late as 1830 stray salmon have been known to ascend the river up 

 to Salmon Falls dam, and to a lower point within twenty-five years. 

 About thirty years ago a large-sized salmon was caught within a few 

 rods of the dam at the head of tidewater by one Moses Varney. Fish- 

 ermen near the mouth of the river say that in drawing their seines for 

 other fish they have occasionally taken salmon, but it is not reported 

 that this has occurred recently. 



25. — MERRIMACK RIVER. 



Salmon originally ascended the Merrimack, and its main branch, the 

 Pemigewassett, 150 miles, branching off into only one tributary. Baker's 

 Eiver, which enters the Pemigewassett at Plymouth. 



It is also reported that they frequented the Contoocook in small num- 

 bers. They were very abundant before the obstruction of the river. 

 Their extinction was gradual. In 1796 a good deal had been done in 

 the way of dams, but they were either low or were wing-dams. By 1814 

 there was great falling off as compared with twenty-five years before. 

 By 1830 they were quite scarce. In 1847 the Lawrence dam extin- 

 guished them, except a few each year that perhaps straggled from the 

 Maine rivers. This river was the first to receive attention from the 

 commissioners of fisheries first appointed in 1866. In that and the two 

 following years the two dams in Massachusetts, at Lawrence and 

 Lowell, and most of those in l!^ew Hampshire, were provided with fish- 

 ways. The greatest difficulty was experienced at Lawrence, where the 

 dam is very high. 



In its .first form, the fish- way was unsatisfactory. It has since been 

 remodeled, and various kinds of fish ascend it ; but the difficulties in 

 the way of getting a sufficient supply of spawn, delayed for some years 

 the re-establishment of a brood of salmon in the river. 



26. — PAWTUXET AND PAWCATUCK RIVERS. 



The only information received about the former occurrence of salmon 

 in these rivers is obtained from the reports of the Rhode Island commis- 

 sioners of fisheries, who state that salmon were plenty in them both. 

 Vigorous measures are being taken to restore them, some 70,000 young 

 salmon having already been distributed in their branches and those o 

 the Blackstone. 



27. — THAMES RIVER. 



Salmon formerly frequented this river and several of its tributaries . 

 On the Shetucket they used to be taken in considerable numbers thirty 

 or forty miles above Greenville, but a dam at the latter place shut them 

 out about thirty-five years ago.* In the Willim antic they were caught 



■* Letter of William Story. 



