392 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



are pure, the bottom sandy and pebbly, affording ample and the best 

 of spawning-grounds. The Alabama, Tombigbee, and Bigby, pene- 

 trating the northern limit of the State, are equally as well adapted for 

 the purpose as any streams in the South. 



For its central location, its proximity and facilities of transportation 

 to the waters of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, point to Colonel 

 Yonge's place. Spring Villa, as the sonthern fish nursery. 



I have seen a letter from J. T, Knight, of Grreenville, Butler County, 

 Alabama, stating that the genuine white shad has been taken out of 

 Pea Eiver, a tributary of the Conecuh. At Elba, Coffee County, Ala., 

 Mr. W. R. Thugan says he has taken a few white shad at his mill this 

 season, nine miles from Greenville, out of Pigeon Creek, another tribu- 

 tary of the Conecuh. Mr. J. P, Reynolds, a resident of Greenville, who 

 was raised in Macon, Ga., and an old fish-dealer, on a recent visit to 

 Alabama, saw the shad that was taken out of Pea River, and pro- 

 nounced them the genuine white shad. If the above be a true state- 

 ment, which I do not doubt, it is no longer an experiment, but a fact, 

 that the shad can be introduced into the southern waters. 



We are too poor to make it an individual enterprise. We want help. 



Yours, most respectfully, 



ISAAC W. POLLARD. 

 Hon. W. A. Handley, 



Washington City, D. C. 



Hot Springs, Ark., August 13, 1872. 



Dear Sir : In reply to the query contained in your letter just re- 

 ceived, I have to reply that shad are caught in the Ouachita River, Hot 

 Springs County, Arkansas. Ye lovers of choice fish ; ye epicureans of 

 Roman taste ; just contemplate a fine, fat, delicate broiled, or a selected 

 white shad, {Alosa pnestahiUs,) nicely " planked," served up for your 

 breakfast, dinner, or at a picnic lunch, fresh from the pure, cool, bright 

 waters of the Ouachita. Yes, we have aunually a supply of shad, in 

 April and May, found in this stream, near its mountain source, over one 

 thousand miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. They are 

 caught in a trap constructed of boards, just below the dam. This dam 

 is the first mechanical or physical barrier found on the Ouachita. It was 

 built by the late William Farr, to supply water for a saw, grist, and 

 carding mill erected in 1858. 



The fish-trap was securely fastened to the bowlders and bed-rocks, in 

 18G0, in effort to supply the Hot Springs market daily with fresh fish. 

 After a spring-rain and a good rise in the water, we found, (April, 18G1,) 

 among a lot of black bass, salmon-trout, red horse, drum, and goggle- 

 eyed perch, five fine large shad secured in the trap. Being familiar with 

 the fish, I secured the lot and encouraged the attendants to save me all of 



