SHAD FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC COAST. 225 



mouth to some distance above the New York State Hue. But since 1835 

 they have been confined almost exclusively to that portion of the river 

 lying below the Columbia Dam. The yield between Columbia and the 

 Maryland line in 1896 numbered 25,672 roes and 38,534 bucks, of which 

 21,492 roes and 32,214 bucks were taken in seines and 4,180 roes and 

 6,320 bucks in bow nets. Thirty-three seines were used, of which 14 

 were at Washington Borough, 7 at East Prospect, and 8 at Columbia. 

 The aggregate length ot these seines was 6,360 yards and the value 

 $2,345. The catch in 1896 was not up to the usual quantity. During 

 the early part of the season the water was very high and in the latter 

 part it was unusually low, thus shortening the season at each end. 

 The bow nets used in the Susquehanna below- Columbia are similar to 

 those in the Maryland section of the river. They are worth from $3 to 

 $5 and require one man to each net. They were used at the following 

 places in 1896: McCall's Ferry, 16 nets; Fite's Eddy, 12; Creswell, 8; 

 Long Level, 5, and Safe Harbor, 10, making a total of 51 nets. 



The researches of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society 

 show that above the forks at Sunbury, in the early part of the present 

 century, there were 40 fishing shores, some of which were worth $1,000 

 annually, the average value being about $300. There is an apparently 

 trustworthy record of the capture of 9,997 shad at a single haul of a 

 seine at Fish Island, near Wilkesbarre. It is reported that just below 

 Nanticoke 3,800 shad were taken in one night, and at Monocacy Island 

 2,800 were taken at a single haul. At the Sterling Island fishery "over 

 2,000 were caught in one day in five hauls." These large catches were, 

 of course, exceptional and possibly somewhat overrated, but they serve 

 to show that the yield was very great. The same society estimates the 

 annual value of the shad catch at the 40 fisheries above noted to have 

 been at least $12,000. At an average of 8 cents each this would make 

 150,000 shad. The catch on the West Branch and the Juniata combined 

 was probably equally large, and on the main river, between Sunbury 

 and the Maryland line, the yield was doubtless much greater, making 

 a total of at least 500,000 shad caught each year in that portion of the 

 Susquehanna located in Pennsylvania. This abundance continued till 

 the construction of dams on the Susquehanna during the Thirties, the 

 most injurious being those at Columbia, Clark Ferry, Sunbury, and 

 Nauticoke. The Columbia dam, being nearest the mouth of the river, 

 naturally drew to it the obloquy of those interested in the destroyed 

 up-river fisheries, that obstruction being regarded as the prime cause 

 of all the difficulty. 



The charter to the canal company required that a rafting channel 

 should be left in the Columbia dam. Three years after its construction 

 the State legislature directed that the company should build therein 

 a sluice not less than 100 feet wide, with an ascent of 1 foot in 5, to 

 promote the passage of fish. It does not appear that the company 

 satisfactorily complied with this mandatory act, nor with a similar one 

 F . R . 98 15 



