THE SHAD STREAMS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 165 


“The fish that attracted the most attention and were the most highly 
considered in the early times were shad. The knowledge of these ex- 
cellent fish in the Susquehanna at Wyoming has become almost entirely 
historical, if not entirely so. But few persons now resident at Wyom- 
ing have a personal knowledge of the shad fisheries there and their 
value to the people in the early days, and hence some of the stories 
told of the immense hauls made in ‘ye olden time’ seem to the present 
generation more fabulous than real. 
“That we may better understand the subject I will give extracts from 
the writings of strangers and then conclude with an account of two of 
our own people and what I myself have seen. In 1779, when General 
Sullivan passed through Wyoming on his western expedition against 
the Indians, a portion of his advance were located at Wyoming from 
May to the last of July. Many of his officers kept diaries, in which 
they noted their movements from day to day and touched slightly upon 
such objects of interest as attracted their attention. I will give a few 
extracts from these diaries relating to fish at Wyoming: 
“Dr. Crawford, in his diary, under date of June 14, 1779, says: 
« «The river at Wyoming abounds with various kinds of fish. In the 
spring it is full of the finest shad. Trout and pickerel are also plenty 
here.’ 
“George Grant, under date of June 23, says: 
“<The Susquehanna river affords abundance of fish of various kinds 
and excellent.’ 
“Dr. George Elmer, under date of 23d June, says: 
“Spent chief part of the day in fishing. Salmon, trout, suckers, 
bass and common trout are plenty in the river, of which we catched a 
number with a seine.’ 
“Daniel Gookin, under date of June 23, says: . 
“<The river Susquehanna on which this lies, abounds with fish; shad 
in great plenty in the spring, as they go up to spawn. The shores are 
covered with these fish which have died up the river through their too 
long stay in fresh water.’ 
“There were some twenty-five or thirty what we called shad fisheries 
within the bounds of old Wyoming. Every available point for casting 
out and hauling in a seine on the beach, whether on an island or on the 
mainland, was used as a fishery and had its owners and its seine. The 
average number of shad taken at each of these fisheries in a season was 
from 10,000 to 20,000, beside other fish which were caught before and 
after the shad made their navigation. It is given on good authority 
that 10,000 were caught at one haul at the Stewart fishery, about mid- 
way between Wilkes-Barre and Plymouth, about 1790. ‘This was called 
the widow’s haul. 
“The settlement, after the massacre of July 30, 1778, had so many 
widows and fatherless children among them that they made special 
