Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 51 



CHAPTEK VIII. 



History of the Pxke-Peech. 



The shad was not the only great food fish that inhabited the waters 

 of the Susquehanna about three-quarters of a century ag'o in prodig'ious 

 quantities. Pike-perch in countless numbers and of larg-e size were to 

 be found everywhere from the Chesapeake to the headwaters of the 

 main river, and in the large tributaries. Although not indig'enous to 

 the river the fish became widely known as the Susquehanna salmon, and 

 as such is still often offered for sale in the markets, and spoken of by 

 many fishermen. It was under the name of salmon also that the ap- 

 prentices rejected it as food in their indentures, more than once or twice 

 a week. 



In addition to these names this fish was known by many of the older 

 residents along the Susquehanna as the swager salmon. It is also called 

 wall-eyed pike, glass-eye, blue-pike, yellow-pike, green-pike and grass- 

 pike. It is also occasionally called the pickerel and white salmon. The 

 Cree Indians call it the okow, and the French Canadians dorfe or 

 picarel. Among the fur-traders of British America it is called the 

 horn-fish, and in the Allegheny and Ohio it is called the Jack salmon. 



Just how the pike-perch became an inhabitant of the river is some- 

 thing of a mystery, especially as, until introduced recently by the com- 

 mission into other streams of Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna alone 

 contained them. 



The most plausible story of their introduction is related by Hon. 

 Simon Cameron. He says that shortly after the war of 1812 a Jesuit 

 priest and an Englishman living on the banks of the Susquehanna, who 

 had previously seen the pike-perch in Seneca Lake, New York, conceived 

 the idea of transplanting them to the waters of the river on which they 

 lived. They accordingly made the journey to this lake and captured sev- 

 eral specimens and brought them safely to Chemung river, a tributary of 

 the Susquehanna, where they were deposited, at Elmira, then known as 

 Newton, and there set them free. While the distance between Seneca 

 Lake and Chemung river is but twelve miles, the way in those days was 

 beset by many difficulties, and considering this the bringing of these 

 few fish successfully from their native waters to their new home is much 

 more remarkable than the feat which has been accomplished in the 

 present generation of carrying live fish several thousand miles. 



From these transplanted pike-perch, it is sfiid, the "salmon" of the 

 Susquehanna have all sprung. 



