THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 703 
WESCONGUS OB PLEASANT RIVER.—The drainage basin of the Wescongus measures about 
110 square miles, the greater part of which is, like the basins of all the rivers thus far mentioned, 
covered with forest. »The country about its mouth has been occupied by civilized people for more 
than a century, and is at present organized in two towns, Addison and Columbia Falls. The 
latter contains the most important village, which is located at the head of the tide, and was 
founded as early as 1765. At this village were found facilities for the building of mills for the 
sawing of lumber, which engaged the attention of the first settlers. 
Salmon, tradition says, were once very abundant in this river, and notwithstanding the serious 
impediments placed in their way by the dams, continued to struggle up to their breeding grounds 
for many years after the settlement, and even at the present day are not utterly exterminated, a 
very few being yearly taken. About 1820 it was possible for a man to take a dozen in a day with 
a dip-net, which was the ordinary mode of capture, though gill-nets were sometimes used. In 
1880 but a single one is known to have been caught. Salmon used to appear at Columbia Falls 
rarely earlier than June 1, but from that date they continued to ascend the river till January.* 
They ranged in weight from 6 to 18 pounds, the latter size being more common than the former; 
7 and 8 pound fish were common. Their ascent:of the main river is believed to have been stopped 
by an insurmountable natural fall 6 miles above Columbia Falls, and they are said to have 
spawned in a fine, gravelly tributary called “ Lower Little River.” 
Alewives were pretty plenty sixty years ago, and were then of good size, whereas they are 
now small. Though they have not been able to surmount the dams at Columbia Falls for many 
years, they still come there yearly, about the middle or last of June (say two weeks later than at 
East Machias), and about 30 barrels yearly are dipped and smoked. 
Shad are taken to a very limited extent in the three weirs built in the river and occasionally 
in drift-nets, of which several are owned in Addison, but none regularly used. They do not appear 
to have been plenty in the river within the memory of old inhabitants. 
A very few eels are taken with spears. Tom-cods are caught with the smelts in very small 
uumbers, but rarely sent to market. No sturgeon or bass are caught. 
The most important place among the fishes of this river is now held by the smelt. About 15 
tons of them are taken in weirs and bag-nets in Addison, 25 bushels are dipped at Columbia Falls 
in the spring, and perhaps an equal quantity in the brooks all up and down the river. 
The weirs, which were introduced about 1872 or 1873, are all built of stakes and brush, stand- 
ing with their tops 3 or 4 feet below high-water mark, the tide flowing over them. They are in 
the form of the letter L, the long arm running straight ashore and the short arm pointing up river; 
at the angle is asmall pound constructed of wooden pickets. There were 3 of these built in the 
census year, all below Addison village. 
The smelt-nets are in part plain bags, such as are used farther west, but most of them are 
fykes. They are set by attaching them to poles, which are planted through the ice into the mud 
in a location where the water is 8 feet deep at low tide. The nets are set both on the flood and 
ebb tide, and hauled at both high and low water. Fishing begins as soon as the ice will bear, 
which is generally about December 10 or 15, and continues till near April 1, the limit fixed by law. 
The first attempt at bag-net fishing was made by H. BE. Willard, of Portland, in 1868. For the 
last eight years it has been carried on continuously. In the early years of the fishery smelts were 
plentier than now, prices were higher, and great returns were sometimes realized; in one instance, 
$58 for a single barrel of smelts. They are now marketed in Boston aud New York, about two- 
* Statement of Gowen Wilson, of Columbia Falls. 
