SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 199 



POTOMAC RIVER. 



This river, the largest and most important tributary of Chesapeake 

 Bay, is formed by the union of the north and south branches on the 

 line between Maryland and West Virginia, whence, forming the bound- 

 ary line between Maryland and the Virginias, it flows a distance of 290 

 miles to its entrance into Chesapeake Bay, 75 miles above Cape Henry. 

 Below Washington it is broad and sluggish, forming one of the largest 

 estuaries on the Atlantic coast, covering 370 square miles, not includ- 

 ing its tributaries. This estuary is 100 miles in length and varies in 

 width from 2 to 7 miles, with a navigable depth of 10 feet or more at 

 low water, the depth in some places exceeding 100 feet. At Wash- 

 ington, the head of navigation, the fluvial characteristics appear, and 

 from that point to Great Falls, 15 miles above, there are numerous 

 shoals, with several small falls, the most important being Little Falls, 

 at a distance of 5 miles above Georgetown, where the descent is several 

 feet. At Great Falls, where the Potomac crosses the escarpment line, 

 the water passes over a mass of rock, descending 35 or 40 feet, the 

 total fall in a distance of 1£ miles being 8(> or 90 feet. Great Falls have 

 always presented a barrier to the upward movement of shad. If they 

 could be passed no serious obstruction would be met with until where 

 the river breaks through the Blue Ilidge, just below Harpers Ferry, 60 

 miles above Georgetown. In 1882 an appropriation of $50,000 was 

 made by Congress for the erection of suitable fishways at Great Falls, 

 and in 1885 the work of construction was begun, the plans providing 

 for a lishway in six sections in the Maryland channel. A high freshet 

 during the night of October 29-30 considerably damaged the partly 

 completed sections, and after examination it was decided that " the 

 iishways were not planned sufficiently strong to withstand the effects 

 of the violent floods of the locality in which they were placed," and the 

 project was abandoned. 



That portion of the river below the District of Columbia is entirely 

 within the limits of the State of Maryland, the boundary line between 

 Maryland and Virginia following the extreme low- water mark on the 

 Virginia side of the main body of the river and from headland to head- 

 land at the mouths of creeks along the same shore. In 1785, while the 

 boundary line was in dispute and before the adoption of the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States, Maryland and Virginia entered into articles 

 of agreement for the regulation of commerce, navigation, and other 

 industries of mutual interest, and one of the articles provided for a 

 right of fishery in Potomac Eiver in common to the citizens of the two 

 States, and that in the regulation thereof neither State should enforce 

 any law not approved by the other. The effect of this compact has been 

 to prevent any regulation of shad fisheries by either of the two States, 

 and the citizens of both States enjoy equal fishing privileges in the river. 



Prior to 1830 shad fishing was prosecuted almost exclusively by means 

 of seines, the fisheries being controlled by the well-to-do riparian pro- 

 prietors. Nearly every large plantation on the river had its fishing 



