THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 925 
entire basin is covered with forest. Its lake surface measures 46.8 square miles. A much larger 
proportion of its basin is occupied by sandy and gravelly land than any of the larger rivers of 
the State, a circumstance that doubtless contributes largely to the constancy of its flow. The 
main river is deep, not a single ford existing within 100 miles of the sea. The tributaries, how- 
ever, afford many gravelly shallows adapted to the requirements of salmon as spawning ground. 
Several natural falls of considerable height oppose the ascent of anadromous fishes. The first, 
at the head of the tide, seems to have prevented the ascent of any but salmon, which were able 
to surmount all obstacles as far as Hiram, 45 miles from the sea, where they encountered an 
insurmountable obstacle in Great Falls, about 80 feet in height. Below this point they had 
access to the Great and Little Ossipee Rivers, tributary to the Saco on the west side, in which 
they are believed to have found their best breeding ground. Tradition asserts their ancient 
abundance, but that had passed away more than ninety years ago, and at no time within seventy- 
five years have they been so abundant that a man could take more than five or six in a day 
with a dip-net at Saco Falls, the principal fishing place known to Saco tradition. The latest 
date of the capture at Salmon Falls, 16 miles from the sea, was in 1843, and since 1850 they have 
been practically extinct, but in recent years occasional specimens are taken with dip-nets in an 
illegal and surreptitious way at the Saco and Biddeford Falls. 
Shad and bass have been taken in the tidal portion of the river in recent times, and both 
were much fished for in 1860. In 1867 gill-nets were in use for shad and several men found occu- 
pation in the fishery, but it has since been abandoned. Several nets are still in existence and 
occasionally set, but not regularly. Alewives are sometimes dipped, but not regularly, nor in 
any considerable numbers. 
The smelt fishery is the only one regularly followed. The only method employed is that of 
hook and line, plied under the shelter of a movable house on the ice. The favorite location is 
about 2 miles below the falls, and the fishing is done mostly by night, the houses being lighted by 
kerosene lamps and heated by small coal stoves. The largest and best houses use six lines each. 
Some twenty-five men engage in the business. Their aggregate catch is estimated at 6,250 pounds 
of smelts in the winter of 1879-’80, and they received better prices than the fishermen of any 
other locality, owing to the superior size and quality of the smelts. 
Movusam RIvVER.—This small river, about 24 miles long and draining about 120 square miles 
of territory, runs for nearly its whole length through a sandy country, and its water is very pure. 
At its head is Mousam Pond, a body of water covering about 3 square miles. The Mousam was 
anciently frequented by salmon, shad, and alewives, and salmon were at one time very. plenty. 
The salmon were exterminated many years ago, and though a few alewives and shad yearly enter 
the river, there is no fishery for them nor for any other river fish at present existing. 
York RiveR.—The extreme length of York River is about 12 miles, and its basin has an 
area not exceeding 50 square miles. Of its early history no facts have been learned. At present 
it is the site of a small smelt fishery employing two bag-nets and prod ucing 3,000 pounds of smelts 
in a year. 
PISCATAQUA RIvER.—The drainage basin of the Piscataqua, which forms the boundary 
between Maine and New Hampshire, has an area of 550 square miles, of which 240 square miles ig 
in the State of Maine. Its lakes, having an area of 16 square miles, are thoroughly utilized as 
reservoirs for extensive mills at Great Falls and Salmon Falls. At the latter point the main river 
(here called Salmon Falls River) is hopelessly obstructed against the ascent of anadromous fishes, 
and the principal tributaries are in nearly the same condition. The main upper waters are believed 
