644 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



artificial planting proves that their disappearance was due not to any change in the character of 

 the water, but merely to over- fishing. Before obstructions existed in the Rappahannock the shad 

 ascended its main tributaries almost to the base of the Bine Ridge. Contests relative to the 

 obstruction of the stream by dams began in colonial times, and petition after petition for arresting 

 the encroachments of mill owners and manufacturers upon the general right was filed in the 

 House of Burgesses. As is, however, usual, the march of progress triumphed, and the " annually 

 recurring bounty of Providence," L e., the fish, was entirely cut off from the upper waters of the 

 river. At the present day the upward movement of shad is limited to Falrnonth a short distance 

 above tide water where a stone dam 20 feet high prevents further ascent. Here, as on most of 

 the rivers, we hear the same well-grounded complaint of impoverished fisheries, due, however, as 

 a rule, first to the diminished spawning and breeding area of the shad, and, secondly, to too 

 excessive fishing by illegitimate appliances, such as traps and slides, the use of which above high 

 water should in all cases be absolutely prohibited by law. 



Organized fisheries are prosecuted in this river as high as Fredericksburg about 140 miles 

 from its mouth where tide-water ceases. From the bay up to Bowler's wharf fishing is carried 

 on almost exclusively by pound-nets. Thence to Leaton's stake-nets prevail. Each staker fishes 

 from twenty -five to fifty nets, each about 9 yards long, with a stretched mesh of 4 to 5 inches, 

 'the depth of the net varying with the depth of water. Three haul-seines are fished between 

 Bowler's and Leaton's. From Leatou's to Fredericksburg the haul-seines and the gillers hold 

 disputed sovereignty. During the season of 1879 nine seines in all were fished on this river. 

 These were operated by horse power, and averaged about thirteen men to a crew. 



The statistics of the personnel of these fisheries for the season of 1879, the capital invested, the 

 products and their value, are given in the following table : 



The Rappahannock River. 



* Used for manure. 



5. THE POTOMAC RIVER. 



The Potomac River has its sources upon the eastern front of the main chain of the Appalachi- 

 ans; flowing south and east, it breaks through the Blue Ridge at Harper's Ferry and reaches tide- 

 water five miles above Washington, by descending in rapids over a granite ledge about GO 

 feet high, known as the Great Falls. By its main tributary, the Shenandoah, which joins the 

 Potomac at Harper's Ferry, it drains the rich valley of Virginia as far up as Stauuton, which is on 

 the divide between the waters flowing into the James and the Potomac. 



The Potomac has always been celebrated for the excellency and value of its shad and herring 

 fisheries. Reports of their magnitude have come to us from early days, and from them we gather 

 that the production must then, as compared with our own day, have been simply fabulous. While 



