680 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
was 40 feet, for use on a bold shore; the prevailing mesh was 7 inches, stretch measure, and the 
common depth twenty meshes, or about 8 or 9 feet; they were knit at home, of hemp twine of 
medium weight. In 1814 the length of nets set in the Penobscot River, including any other 
contrivance to which they might be attached, was limited by statute to one-third the width of the 
stream where used. The use of set-nets for salmon has been generally abandoned on the Penob- 
scot and Kennebec since the erection of weirs became common, but is continued in Denny’s River 
to a small extent. 
Drifting for salmon was formerly practiced in all the salmon rivers. In the Kennebec and 
Penobscot the drifting-ground was the whole length of the river, though of course the best 
spots were just below obstructions, on the Kennebec at Waterville and on the Penobscot between 
Bangor and Oldtown. After the building of dams these grounds were changed, and were always 
below the lowest obstruction. As the salmon became scarcer drifting on the lower courses of the 
rivers was gradually abandoned. It is now practiced more or less on the Saint Croix, Penobscot, 
and Kennebec, but the recent laws forbidding fishing within 500 yards of a dam or fishway have 
greatly discouraged it. 
Angling for salmon has been successfully practiced for many years in Denny’s River, and 
it is probable that the lack of success that has thus far attended its trial on the Penobscot is 
attributable to transient causes. 
The salmon weir.—The most radical difference in the river weirs concerns the mode in which 
the captured fish are removed. In the most common forms the fish are finally entrapped in an 
inclosure of rather small size, provided with a board floor, upon which they are left by the 
retreating tide, and upon which the fisherman comes and picks up his catch. Upon the Kennebec * 
River there is in use a weir of which the “ fish-pound” is a large inclosure, with no floor but the 
bottom of the river, from which the fish are removed by means of a small seine operated from a 
boat, which is pushed into the inclosure. This is known as a “deep-water” weir, and as its use 
is mostly or wholly confined to the Kennebec River, where the shad is the main object of pursuit, 
it will be described in connection with the remarks on shad. The kind first mentioned, which 
may be called a “ floored weir,” will first receive description. 
For an example of a typical floored weir we may take the Penobscot salmon weir. This - 
generally consists of a “leader” and three “pounds.” The leader is a straight fence running out 
from shore, generally at right angles with it, constructed of stakes driven firmly into the ground 
2 or 3 feet apart, and woven with brush or, rarely, hung with nets. Its length varies according 
to the natural features of the locality. It is always sought to place the pound in the channel, or, 
in case that is not attainable, in as deep water as can practicably be reached, generally from 10 to 
20 feet at low water. In some cases broad “ flats” intervene between the shore and the chosen 
site for the pounds. In other cases the bottom slopes off steeply into the deep water and powerful 
currents of the channe]. The former may require a leader a third of a mile in length ; the latter 
less than 50 feet. The outer end of the leader stands in the middle of the entrance to the outer 
pound, dividing it into two parts, which occupy the base of the large, symmetrical, heart-shaped 
figure formed by the walis of the inclosure. The entrance (embracing both sides of the leader) is 
about 22 feet wide; the pound is about 60 feet in extreme width and 60 feet in length. It is 
generally built of brush, not rarely in whole or part of netting. It has no floor. At its apex it 
opens by a narrow entrance into a smaller inclosure, the “ second ” pound, which has a floor above 
low-water mark. The second pound is also heart-shaped, is 18 feet wide, is always made of 
netting, or, as termed on the Penobscot, “marlin.” It leads by an entrance but 12 inches wide 
into an oval “ fish-pound.” This is also floored and built of the best and strongest netting, 
