638 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
numbers of the citizens of Virginia, Maryland, and other States. Many salt-water varieties of 
fish occur in the bay in countless myriads at their peculiar seasons, and furnish profitable and 
extensive fisheries. The most important species are the Spanish mackerel, two species of cyn- 
oscion, and the tailor or bluefish. In smaller quantities, also, are taken the sheepshead, drum, 
and porgy, and many other species of minor importance. Vast schools of menhaden frequent the 
bay from May to November, and, though not edible, are- eagerly preesued amd captured for con-- 
version into oil and guano. Extensive manufactories for these purposes are in operation all along 
the bay, being more particularly abundant, however, on its western shore from the Rappahan- 
nock to the mouth of the Potomac. Northumberland County, Virginia, is the center of this 
industry. In the fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay are included those of Maryland and Virginia, 
and therefore the statistics of the commercial fisheries of those States, given in Census Bulletin 
No. 298, should be added together in order to show the aggregate production and value of the 
fisheries prosecuted in this important water area. 
By this collation of figures we arrive at the following facts: Fishermen, 31,924; shoresmen, 
1,884; factory hands, 11,064. This gives a grand total of 44,872 for persons employed in the 
Chesapeake fisheries. 
The value of the apparatus, plus the capital otherwise invested, is $8,256,562. 
The product amounts in pounds to 254,587,179, the value of which is estimated at $8,346,159. 
2. THE JAMES RIVER. 
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES.—The most southerly tributary of the Chesapeake 
is the James River, which rises in the heart of the Alleghanies and flows in a generally southeast 
direction, traversing more than 200 miles, through the mountains and the Piedmont section of 
Virginia, before reaching tide-water at Richmond, Va. 
Prior to the establishment of obstructions in this river, caused by the construction of the 
James River and Kanawha Canal, large numbers of shad ascended the river as high as Clifton 
Forge and were taken in considerable quantities in fall-traps or “slides,” in Ja¢ékson’s and Cow- 
pasture Rivers. . 
In the valley of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge seme fisheries were operated with profit, and 
the number of shad taken annually between Lynchburg and Richmond was at one time far in 
excess of the now entire catch for the whole river. The shad at the present time do not ascend 
higher than Bosher’s Dam, about 9 miles above Richmond. 
In the tide-water section of this river are received its two main tributaries, the Appomatox 
and the Chickahominy, which latter was, up to the time of the war, famous for its fine shad. The 
migrations of the fish into this river have not been limited to any appreciable extent by artificial 
obstructions. The erection of dams on the Appomatox at Petersburg has prevented the further 
ascent of fish, and consequently no organized fisheries are now prosecuted on that river. 
During and long after colonial times large seine fisheries were operated all along the lower 
James. These have ceased to exist, only one small haul-seine—that at Harrison’s Landing— 
being now in operation, gill-nets having almost entirely taken their place. A few pounds have 
been occasionally worked near the mouth of the river, but, being in defiance of law and unpro- 
ductive in their results, have been discontinued. é 
