644 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
artificial planting proves that their disappearance was due not to any change in the character of 
the water, but merely to over-fishing. Before obstructions existed in the Rappahannock the shad 
ascended its main tributaries almost to the base of the Blue Ridge. Contests relative to the 
obstruction of the stream by dams began in colonial times, and petition after petition for arresting 
the encroachments of mill owners and manufacturers upon the general right was filed in the 
House of Burgesses. As is, however, usual, the march of progress triumphed, and the “ annually 
recurring bounty of Providence,” 4. e., the fish, was entirely cut off from the upper waters of the 
river. At the present day the upward movement of shad is limited to Falmouth—a short distance 
above tide-water—where a stone dam 20 feet high prevents further ascent. Here, as on most of 
the rivers, we hear the same well-grounded complaint of impoverished fisheries, due, however, as 
a rule, first to the diminished spawning and breeding area of the shad, and, secondly, to too 
excessive fishing by illegitimate appliances, such as traps and slides, the use of which above high 
water should in all cases be absolutely prohibited by law. 
Organized fisheries are prosecuted in this river as high as Fredericksburg—about 140 miles 
from its mouth—where tide-water ceases. From the bay up to Bowler’s wharf fishing is carried 
on almost exclusively by pound-nets. Thence to Leaton’s stake-nets prevail. Each staker fishes 
from twenty-five to fifty nets, each about 9 yards long, with a stretched mesh of 43 to 5 inches, 
the depth of the net varying with the depth of water. Three haul-seines are fished between 
Bowler’s and Leaton’s. From Leaton’s to Fredericksburg the haul-seines and the gillers hold 
disputed sovereignty. During the season of 1879 nine seines in all were fished on this river. 
These were operated by horse power, and averaged about thirteen men to a crew. 
The statistics of the personnel of these fisheries for the season of 1879, the capital invested, the 
products and their value,*are given in the following table: 
The Rappahannock River. 
Number. Value. 
FIG iccvesicesees 
180 $5, 335 
deweu sections 33, 538 
Products. 
Shad? oxsecwsensnssigouveseeies ceed pounds... 469, 073 18, 762 
HORrinig’ io se sje scee sacs sceccsess wows do.... 732, 797 8, 793 
ORTOP OY oy iad vdaveesakaowssacen gis do.... 17, 700 177 
Miscellaneous fresh-water fish ..... do.... 107, 850 7, 549 
Offal, scrap fish* ................ bushels. 5,100 765 
* Used for manure. 
5. THE POTOMAO RIVER. 
The Potomac River has its sources upon the eastern front of the main chain of the Appalachi- 
ans; flowing south and east, it breaks through the Blue Ridge at Harper’s Ferry and reaches tide- 
water five miles above Washington, by descending in rapids over a granite ledge about 60 
feet high, known as the Great Falls. By its main tributary, the Shenandoah, which joins the 
Potomac at Harper’s Ferry, it drains the rich valley of Virginia as far up as Staunton, which is on 
the divide between the waters flowing into the James and the Potomac. 
The Potomac has always been celebrated for the excellency and value of its shad and herring 
fisheries. Reports of their magnitude have come to us from early days, and from them we gather 
that the production must then, as compared with our own day, have been simply fabulous, While 
