THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 703 



WESCONGUS OK PLEASANT RIVEK. The drainage basin of tbe Wescongus measures about 

 110 square miles, the greater part of which is, like the basins of all the rivers thus far mentioned, 

 covered with forest. The country about its mouth has been occupied by civilized people for more 

 than a century, and is at present organized in two towns, Addison and Columbia Falls. The 

 latter contains the most important village, which is located at the head of the tide, and was 

 founded as early as 17G5. At this village were found facilities for the building of mills for the 

 sawing of lumber, which engaged the attention of the first settlers. 



Salmon, tradition says, were once very abundant in this river, and notwithstanding the serious 

 impediments placed in their way by tbe dams, continued to struggle up to their breeding grounds 

 for many years after the settlement, and even at the present day are not utterly exterminated, a 

 very lew being yearly taken. About 1820 it was possible for a man to take a dozen in a day with 

 a dip-net, which was the ordinary mode of capture, though gill-nets were sometimes used. In 

 1880 but a single one is known to have been caught. Salmon used to appear at Columbia Falls 

 rarely earlier than June 1, but from that date they continued to ascend the river till January.* 

 They ranged in weight from 6 to 18 pounds, the latter size being more common than the former; 

 7 and 8 pound fish were common. Their ascent of the main river is believed to have been stopped 

 by an insurmountable natural fall 6 miles above Columbia Falls, and they are said to have 

 spawned in a fine, gravelly tributary called "Lower Little River." 



Alewives were pretty plenty sixty years ago, and were then of good size, whereas they are 

 now small. Though they have not been able to surmount the dams at Columbia Falls for many 

 years, they still come there yearly, about the middle or last of June (say two weeks later than at 

 East Machias), and about 30 barrels yearly are dipped and smoked. 



Shad are taken to a very limited extent in the three weirs built in the river and occasionally 

 in drift-nets, of which several are owned in Addison, but none regularly used. They do not appear 

 to have been plenty in the river within the memory of old inhabitants. 



A very few eels are taken with spears. Tom-cods are caught with the smelts in very small 

 n umbers, but rarely sent to market. No sturgeon or bass are caught. 



The most important place among the fishes of this river is now held by the smelt. About 15 

 tons of them are taken in weirs and bag-nets in Addison, 25 bushels are dipped at Columbia Falls 

 in the spring, and perhaps an equal quantity in the brooks all up and down the river. 



The weirs, which were introduced about 1872 or 1873, are all built of stakes and brush, stand- 

 ing with their tops 3 or 4 feet below high-water mark, the tide flowing over them. They are in 

 the form of the letter L, the long arm running straight ashore and the short arm pointing up river; 

 at the angle is a small pound constructed of wooden pickets. There were 3 of these built in the 

 census year, all below Addison village. 



The smelt-nets are in part plain bags, such as are used farther west, but most of them are 

 fykes. They are set by attaching them to poles, which are planted through the ice into the mud 

 in a location where the water is 8 feet deep at low tide. The nets are set both on the flood and 

 ebb tide, and hauled at both high and low water. Fishing begins as soon as the ice will bear, 

 which is generally about December 10 or 15, and continues till near April 1, the limit fixed by law. 

 The first attempt at bag-net fishing was made by H. E. Willard, of Portland, in 18G8. For the 

 last eight years it has been carried on continuously. In the early years of the fishery smelts were 

 plentier than now, prices were higher, and great returns were sometimes realized; in one instance, 

 $58 for a single barrel of smelts. They are now marketed in Boston and New York, about two- 



* Statement of Goweu Wilson, of Columbia Falls. 



