626 REPORT OF COMmSSIOKER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



its season was a staple article of food, and employed in the taking and 

 handling quite a large proportion of the inhabitants. This industry was 

 wholly abolished by the erection of these dams, and thousands of dollars 

 of capital invested in the business were instantly swept out of exi.stence. 

 The first fishery below this place was known as Hummel's fishery, and 

 its reputation was good. I never fished there myself, but was well ac- 

 quainted with it by the speech of my neighbors. In fiict all of these 

 fisheries were profitable investments, and the loss of them to this sec- 

 tion of the country was incalculable. All of the fisheries meutioned 

 above, except Hummel's, were between Northumberland and Danville. 

 Any mention of those good old times brings up a flood of recollections, 

 and the difficulty is, not to remember what occurred in those days, but 

 to sift out what would be useful in this connection. 



2. Statement of Henry Roberts, Falls, Fa., March 24, 1881. 



I reply to your inquiries regarding shad fisheries in the Susquehanna 

 between Tunkhannock and Lackawanna Creeks, that, according to my 

 recollections, the first was at the head of Scovel's Island, opposite 

 Lackawanna Creek ; not many shad were caught here, say from twenty 

 to sixty per night. The next was at Falling Spring; same seine as that 

 used at Scovel's Island ; the number of shad caught here ran from fifty to 

 three hundred per night. The next, above Falling Spring, was at Kee- 

 ler's Ferry (now Smith's). This was a small fishery, and only used when 

 the water was too high to fish at other points ; the seine was hauled 

 around a deep hole to bring in the shad. Thenextand only fishery between 

 this and Tunkhannock Creek was at the head of Taylor's Island, or the 

 "Three Brothers;" this was an important fishery; more shad were 

 caught here than could be taken care of, on account of the scarcity of salt. 

 I can speak of this fishery from experience since 1812. The catch per 

 night ran from two to four hundred. The shareholders attended to it as 

 closely as to their farming or other business, as it was our dependence in 

 part for food. Shad were oftener exchanged for maple sugar than sold 

 for cash — one good shad for a pound of sugar ; large shad were worth 12i 

 cents apiece. A right in a fishery was worth from ten to twenty-five 

 dollars. Shareholders made a practice of salting down more or less 

 shad during the season. An incident in connection with shad-fishing 

 presents itself to my mind, related often by my grandmother. A party 

 of Indians returning from a treaty at Philadelphia landed their canoes, 

 came to her house to borrow her big kettle to cook their dinner in. After 

 building the fire and hanging over the kettle they put in the shad, just 

 as they were taken from the river, with beans, cabbage, potatoes, and 

 onions. My grandfather, David Morehouse, one of the early Connecti- 

 cut settlers, then owned the same farm 1 now own and occupy. I am 

 now in my eighty-seventh year. 



