638 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [20] 



kept by John Courtright on the Plains, Wilkes Bane Township, in 

 the spring of 1815. There were then two fisheries between us and the 

 Pittston Ferry — one at Monocacy Island lauding, on the shore of Mr. 

 Samuel Gary's land, the other starting at or near the Wiutermoot Isl- 

 and and landing above the ferry at Blanchard's. That season I got my 

 supply at the upper fishery ; the first day's attendance was a " blank " 

 day — few or no fish. The large schools of Mr. Fowler's times were 

 dwindled greatlj^, undoubtedly because of the numerous fisheries that 

 existed below, and the destruction of the young shad by the many eel- 

 weirs in their descent to the ocean in the fall. My time was too valu- 

 able to attend on blank days. I left money with Mr. Joseph Arm- 

 strong, and he sent me my supply when successful. The next season 

 (181Gj the difficulty that had existed between the fishermen at Monoc- 

 acy (twelve iu number) and Mr. Gary, the owner of the land, was set- 

 tled by giving him the thirteenth share, and ever after I got my supply 

 from the fishery until the canal dams cut off our supply totally. It was 

 a serious damage and inconvenience to us, as markets for fish and meat 

 did not exist then as now. The Susquehanna shad had a far more de- 

 licious flavor than any we get now. 



General Isaac Bowman, Samuel Moffit, and some of our Plains neigh- 

 bors, having secured a lauding on the Nommock, at the foot of Monocacy 

 Island, fitted up a fine seine and necessary boats (canoes) and caught 

 half a dozen shad, having fished twice as many days. I shared two, hav- 

 ing found the whisky (before my temperance days) ; others outbid me, 

 determined to taste the good of their labor. I am in my ninetieth year. 



13. Statement of Isaac Thompson, Lee, Lee County, III., April 12, 1881. 



I was born at Pittston in 1796. My father's farm lay along the side 

 of the Susquehanna River. I lived on the farm fifty-one years. In re- 

 gard to the shad fishing, as I grew up to manhood I fished many days 

 in the shad-fishing season of the different years. The first run was the 

 male shad — not near as good as the female. After catching the first 

 run then if we could have a rise of water then came the female — a far 

 better quality. The female put for the headwaters of the river, and 

 there would spawn ; then the old fish would come back down the river, 

 and the wind would often drive them on the shore, and they would lay 

 there rotting till they stunk. People used to come down from toward 

 Easton, Northampton County, and bring whisky and salt, and trade for 

 fish ; also from the upper part of old Luzerne Gounty, bringing maple 

 ^sugar to trade for shad. One man by the name of Taylor bought fif- 

 teen and put them iu a sack after they were cleaned, shouldered them 

 and walked off with them. I have known upwards of a thousand caught 

 in one day on the point of the island. As to the localities of the fish- 

 eries, there was one at Falling Spring, about four miles from where I 

 lived, another on the point of Wintermoot Island, and the next on the 

 side of the island ln'tween two and three miles from where I lived. They 



