48 Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 



accomplished this work, encouraging the first great advance in the task 

 of restoring the shad rivers, retired and an entirely new board was ap- 

 pointed. The appointees were Henry C. Ford, Philadelphia, president; 

 H. C. Demuth, Lancaster, secretary ; James L. Long, Pittsburg, corre- 

 sponding secretary; W. L. Powell, Harrisburg, treasurer; S. B. Stil- 

 well, Scranton, and A. S. Dickson, Meadville, associates. 



The new board found a much more encouraging condition of affairs 

 than its predecessors bad done in their assuming office. A satisfactory 

 fish-way for dams had been found, and the work of getting rid of fish 

 baskets seemed to have made some progress. Feeling sure that there 

 was little use in undertaking the work of shad propagation and river 

 stocking until the illegal devices were removed from the waters, they 

 started vigorous work in that direction. Hearty co-operation in this 

 was offered by the commissions of New Jersey and New York, and the 

 good work in the Delaware was begun. Hon. L. M. Ward, the New Jer- 

 sey Fish Commissioner, for the upper portions of that state, took an ac 

 tive personal share of the work, and the New York commission detailed 

 their game proteotors to operate in conjunction with Mr. Jesse M. Mil" 

 ler, the efficient warden of the Delaware from Hancock to Port Jervis. 



Every fish wier that was come upon was destroyed promptly, but the 

 work was not accomplished without difficulty and danger, collisions be- 

 tween the wardens and the enraged fishermen were common, and on one 

 occasion Mr. Moses W. Van Gordon, the warden from Port Jervis to the 

 Water Gap was fired upon in the prosecution of his duties. The would-be 

 murderer was promptly arrested and punished, and the fish wiers he 

 had owned destroyed. There had been numerous threats of killing the 

 wardens about this time, but the summary and stern manner with which 

 this case was disposed of had a wholesome effect, and the wardens there- 

 after had little trouble. Mr. John L. Bruce, the warden who patrolled 

 the river between the Water Gap and Trenton was equally vigilant and 

 cleared the waters of all illegal devices. So thorough was this patrol 

 work done that by the close of 1888, it is said that for the first time in a 

 century, the Delaware river was entirely free from fish baskets, wiers 

 and traps. 



Although an equally vigorous policy was adopted for the Susquehanna 

 river, the results, it is to be regretted, were not so encouraging. From 

 the nature of the river, with its great breadth and numerous islands, the 

 work prevented many difficulties, besides which the numerous tributar- 

 ies and their great length were drawbacks to complete success. 



Although the commissioners succeeded in getting rid of the fish 

 baskets in the Delaware, they found they had another and serious 

 trouble to surmount in their efforts to restore the fishing industries 

 This trouble was in the laxity of the prevailing laws, the confusion of 

 conflicting enactments and hiuderances iu the way of prompt prosecu- 

 tion. Indeed, the code of fishing laws in some instances seemed better 



