26 Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 



of a circle, and answering as a pen into which the fish could be driven, 

 was built in the middle of the stream with an entrance towards its 

 source. From the edges of this opening, racks were stretched obliquely 

 to each shore, and were secured in their positions by being tied with 

 withes to stakes which were driven into the ground at the bottom of the 

 river. A rope of grape vines and bushes, long enough to reach from 

 one shore to the other, was made, usually at the mouth of Mingo creek, 

 about five miles above, and when it was completed the fishermen started 

 in canoes to sweep the river. By this means the shad were forced into 

 the pen, 5,nd were there caught with a small net. Whole days were de- 

 voted to the work, sometimes as many as forty men were engaged in it, 

 and John Shaw, who was a person of veracity and had frequently as- 

 sisted, when an aged man told Moses Robinson that he had seen eight 

 thousand five hundred shad driven in the pound at one time. The fish- 

 ermen who were present when this assertion was made accredited the 

 statement. 



"Another method of fishing was afterward adopted. Racks extend- 

 ing from shore to shore were placed in the stream with their bais so 

 close together that the fish could not pass, and a pool or basin was 

 cleared away below. The shad ascending the river, to deposit their spawn, 

 crowded against the racks in such numbers as sometimes to push each 

 other out of the water, and a pole could not be thrust to the bottom 

 without displacing them. As many were taken as were wanted, and the 

 rest struggled in unsuccessful efforts to escape the impediment. This 

 plan, though effectual, was very wasteful and destructive, and awakened 

 the angry opposition of those who lived further up the river. In fact, 

 these fisheries, from their commencement, were the source of continual 

 jealousies and disputes, and their regulation was the subject of much 

 early legislation. 



"In May, 1724, a bill was passed for 'demolishing and removing 

 Fishing Dams, Wears and Kedles set aei-oss the Jiiver Schuylkill' 

 and was followed on the 15th of August, 1730, by an act to 'prevent 

 the Erecting of Wears, Dams, &c., within the Schuylkill.' The effect 

 of these enactments was, however evaded, and among the Archives 

 of 1732 is found the following deposition: 'Marcus Huling Saith That 

 as he was going down the Schuylkill with a Canoe Loaded with wheat, 

 that striking on a fish dam, she took in a great deal of water into ye 

 wheat.by means whereof bis wheat was much damnified, and that it was 

 in great danger of being all lost; and that at another time he stroke fast 

 on a fish dam, and should have lost his whole Load of wheat, if he had not 

 leaped into ye river and with hard Labour prevented ye Canoe from 

 Swinging round, and so Suffered very much in his body by reason of ye 

 water & cold; and that at another time he stroke fast on one of ye Rock 

 dams & with great hazard and hard Labor escaped with his Life & 

 Load. 



