THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 723 



business of buying eels in the Keunebec at one cent per pound and carrying them alive to New 

 York. At present, though followed by a few persons at other points, it is mostly confined to Phipps- 

 burg, Georgetown, and Dresden. In Phippsburg and Georgetown there is a summer fishery, with 

 traps and pots, employing a portion of the time some fourteen men and yielding 28,000 pounds of 

 eels, of which about half were shipped "round" (packed alive iu barrels with ice), and the rest 

 dressed, nearly all to New York. The fishery at Dresden is a winter fishery, conducted on the ice 

 with spears by some twenty men, whose catch, however, is only about 4,000 pounds. The only 

 other eel fishery worthy of mention is an autiunu_weir fishery at Gardiner, in the Cobbosseecontee 







stream. The catch here consists solely of gravid female eels on their way to the sea. The pro- 

 prietor, Mr. W. H. Spear, has sometimes practiced transferring the young eels found so plenti- 

 fully in early summer iu the Kennebec to the lakes above, hoping thereby to increase his catch. 



Sturgeon. All essential facts with reference to the sturgeon fishery of the Kennebec are 

 stated above in connection with the description of the natural history of the sturgeon and modes 

 of catching it. The catch of 1880 is estimated at 250 sturgeon, weighing 12,500 pounds. 



Striped Boss. The principal points in the bass fishery of the Keunebec have already been stated 

 (see p. 693). The only modes of fishing expressly for bass that have been employed on the Kenne- 

 bec are the stop-net above described, and a floored weir, of which latter method only a single 

 example has come to our knowledge, a weir having been built expressly for bass in 1880, just 

 below Merrymeeting Bay. Bass were once plenty in the Keunebec, but there was at that time 

 little demand for them. Now they are in demand, but are unfortunately scarce. The catch of 

 1880 is estimated at 12,760 pounds. 



Tomcod. This fish is little prized in the Kennebec, and is now taken only as an incidental 

 product of the smelt fishery, except those captured with dip-nets and grapples at Augusta in mid- 

 winter, which are estimated for the winter of 1879-'80 at 40,000 pounds. The quantity taken in 

 the smelt fishery is estimated at 60,000 pounds. The greater portion of these are fed to animals, 

 but the best of them are selected and sold for human food. 



Blueback. The fishermen of the Kennebec almost without exception distinguish the blueback 

 (Clupea cBstivalis) from the true alewife (C. vernalis). As a rule the former is not cured or mar- 

 keted in any way, but is sold for bait to passing fishing vessels or thrown into the refuse heap. 

 Occasionally, however, some of them are smoked and sold as alewives. The number taken in the 

 Kennebec in 1880, estimated at 400,000, was much larger than ever known there before. 



ANDROSCOGGIN RIVEE. The Androscoggin ranks in size as the third river of Maine, 

 draining 3,600 square miles, of which 2,750 are within the State limits. Its aggregate lake surface 

 is 213 square miles, but very little of this was ever accessible to migratory fishes. Its sources are 

 in the mountainous region of Western Maine and Northern New Hampshire. Its upper waters are 

 more elevated than those of any other river, and its descent to the sea steeper. It abounds in 

 gravelly rapids and so far as accessible afforded in early time excellent breeding ground for 

 salmon. The highest point reached by salmon appears to have been Rumford Falls, a little more 

 than 100 miles from the sea, where a natural fall prevented their further progress. It is matter 

 of direct testimony that a few salmon were taken hereabout 1815, and of tradition that they were 

 abundant here and in Swift River, a near-by tributary, at an earlier date. Probably, however, 

 the falls at Lewiston was always a serious impediment to salmon, being quite impassable to shad 

 and alewives. Salmon are known to have been caught at Lewistou as late as 1815. They were 

 finally shut out by a dam at Brunswick. Alewives used to breed in Sebattus pond, and shad in 

 the main river below Lewistou. Neither of these species has ascended farther than Brunswick 

 for many years; consequently they are reduced to exceedingly small numbers. 



