210 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac. 
Shepherd's Wharf. 
When John Smith made his famous voyage of daring- 
exploration up the Potomac he found an Indian town 
" of Nacochtant, just below the mouth of the Eastern 
Branch. The Rev. Edward D. Neill, writing on the 
■'Founders of Maryland," quotes from a manuscript in 
the library of the Archbishop of Canterburj-, of the voy- 
age of Capt. flenry Fleet, who spent several years among 
the Indians here at an early date. He set sail from England 
in 1631, on the 4th of July, of all days, and in the foUdw- 
ing summer was doing business with the Nacostines or 
Anacostans, a tribe living south of the Eastern Branch, 
and whose name is still perpetuated in the suburb, Ana- 
costia, that is nestled among the hills opposite Wash- 
ington. Fleet said; "This place without all question is 
the most pleasant and healthful place in all this countrj\ 
and most convenient for habitation ; the air temperate 
in summer and not violent in winter. It aboundeth in 
all manner of fish. The Indians in one night will catch 
thirty sturgeons in a place where the river is not above 
twelve fathoms broad." 
The sturgeon continues to attract attention from the 
later navigators and writers. Hugh Jones, Chaplain, 
etc., writing "On the Present State of Virginia," in 
1724, a pamphlet of 151 pages, printed ini London, for 
J. Clarke, at the Bible under the Royal Exchange, said: 
"As for carr>'ing on the Fishing Trade in Virginia, 
though there be plenty of fish there, yet I believe other 
countries where fisheries are established, and that have 
little else to mind and depend upon, would outdo it in 
this respect. Only more whales might be taken upon 
the Eastern Shore and bring good gain to such people 
as would make it their business; and I don't question but 
the sturgeons (with the best of which the rivers abound) 
might with good management and industry be made to 
surpass all others, both for cheapness and goodness, for 
they are large, fine and easily taken; nay, they frequently 
leap, some ashoar and some in boats, as I have been 
•credibly informed." And in a pamphlet of the same title, 
printed for John Wyat, at the Rose in St. Paul's Church- 
yard, in 1727, the triple authors say: "Here might be a 
great trade for Sturgeon. Drums, Sheepsheads and sev- 
eral other fi.sh, as also Whales." 
The sturgeon attains a tremendous size, and Badham 
in his Halieutic? tells of one in the Po, of 15 feet in 
length and reaching 3000 pounds. But Faber, in his 
Fisheries of the Adriatic, while claiming seven species 
in. that locality, of which four are distinct and local, puts 
the limit attained by the Po sturgeon at 7 feet and 100 
pounds. A discrepancy so marked as this leaves one in 
grave doubt as to anything except the unusual exaggera- 
tion of the Badham account. But Houghton, always 
reliable, is authority for the statement, and he gives con- 
vincing details of one caught in English waters w*eighing 
623 pounds.- Six or seven feet was not uncommon for 
sturgeon in the Potomac up to a few years ago, but the 
demand for caviare, and above all the enmity of tl# 
fishermen, have so reduced them that they are now rarely 
caught in the upper estuary. They proved so destructive 
to the nets that they were destroyed whenever taken; if 
too small to use or too far from market to handle they 
were killed and thrown away. An establishment for the 
gathering of roe was for some time maintained lower 
down the river, the product of which was sent to. some 
caviare manufactory. It has been calculated that the 
noe of the largest sturgeons contain three million eggs. 
The Caspian factories turn out or^ave produced as high 
as a million and a half pounds of caviare in a year. 
Most of our own product is exported. An excellent ac- 
count of its history and manufacture is contained in the 
Bulletin of the Fish Commission for 1898. 
^ Shepherd's wharf, in the District of Columbia, is a 
terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, opposite 
Alexandria, Va., where a car ferry connects it with 
the Southern Railway, nearly a mile distant. The post- 
office is Oxen Hill, and is an interesting instance of the 
corruption of names. The mansion house here, a cen- 
tury and a half ago was Oxon Hall, built by Col. John 
Addison, and named in honor of Oxon, the ancient title 
of Oxfordshire, where he had at Queen's College been 
educated; he married Rachel Dulany, of Annapolis, was 
a Tory impenitent, and went to England during the Rev- 
qlution, but after the peace, came back and died at 72 
in. 1789. Oxon Hall is forgotten, save to those who care 
to. wander through the old records, and there is left Oxen 
Hill for the postoffice, and Oxen Run, an insignificant 
stream that makes into the flats just below Shepherd's 
\yharf, near the dividing line between Prince George's 
cbuhty and the District of Columbia. 
From the great sturgeon so easily taken in the olden 
days to the little .'^unfish or perch which are the fisher- 
^^an's reward to-day of the natural inhabitants of the 
river, is a long way down hill; from a hundredweight to 
a few ounces. But it is true of other life as well. The 
Canadians used to come to this region to trade for 
buffalo skins, and to-day the squirrel and the muskrat are 
the only fur bearing animals a hunter might be confident 
of , finding. A bear has not been seen since the Revolu- 
tion.' It does not take long to clear out game with fire- 
ailns." Rey. Jos. Doddridge in "Notes on Settlements and 
Indian Wars of Western Parts of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania, from 1763 to 1783," speaks of the disappearance 
of the wild turkey, once so numerous, and says that while 
woodpeckers were still plenty the large redheaded wood- 
p.epker or, woodcock was already very scarce. This bird, 
thfe ^xory-Wll^d woodpecker, called Indian heti in the 
Vf|esf;.^,1y-as plenty enough thirt}^ years ago- on the lower 
P.o&rnac and the heavy timber countrj^ of the Mississippi, 
but is now rarely seen. So rarely, indeed, that even the 
watchful Burroughs confesses he never heard one drum, 
and it's worth a ten-mile tramp to catch his rataplan, on 
the dry limb of a giant sycamore, in the still woods oj a 
quiet morning, and. if the wind is toward you you need 
only walk five. 
-While the indigenous life is thus declining, the artificial 
stocking of the woods and waters with suitable objects 
of the chase would be easily possible, if only they were 
protected by the laws and public seatiment; without the 
sentiment laws are not very effectual. The bass from th^ 
West is thriving here as no native fish is doing, and there 
are a good many other immigrants and their descend- 
ants in the Potomac, not all valuable, but at least all 
curious. 
Among the fish often taken by the seines in this river, 
but rarely in any great number, is the golden ide, now 
called Idus idus by the Commission, from whose ponds 
it escaped into the Potomac and has there bred. When 
the fish was first introduced into England from Germany, 
our Commission in describing it called it Idus melanotus, 
or golden orfe, or golden tench, though the latter is a 
very different fish. The golden ide is a fine aquarium 
fish, the upper color a brilliant red, but reaching its best 
development in domestication and sunlight. In the 
deeper dark waters of the river as it runs wild, it goes 
off in color to^ a pink tinted white, and even in the Irouse 
tanks of the Commission the specimens are losing their 
brilliancy. They are called sand perch by the fishermen 
and a few are sold in the fish markets here. The gold 
fish too have bred freely in the Potomac, and sometimes 
crossed with the carp. These crosses too are called sand 
perch and not easily distingtiished alwaj'S. It is odd to 
notice that the red ide fades to a sickly pinkish-white, 
while the red gold fish when run wild turns to the olive 
brown of the carp. Thousands of these wild gold fish 
are used for bass bait every year, and so exactly are they 
like the carp that specimens submitted to the Fish Com- 
mission experts were at once pronounced young carp, and 
it was only on close examination they found to their 
surprise that the bronze beauties were real gold fish. 
The lack of barbels, arrangement of the teeth, with some 
other slight distinguishing marks not apparent on a 
cursory examination, decided the Chinese crimson cypri- 
uoid had got back where he started from. 
The ide grows about a foot in length, and as we have 
very few bright colored fish in our waters, he always 
creates a sensation when seen swimming about in clear 
water. He is reputed good eating, but what is a good 
fish is so much a matter oi taste, prejudice or habit that 
it is a little itnsafe to call any fish good till it is eaten. 
It is bony, like all the carps, and there are some people 
so unreasonable as to insist that only one bony fish is 
good to eat, the shad. 
We took a skiff at the dock in Alexandria one hot day 
in the late summer, and paddled across to the wharf, glad 
of the shelter of its shadow. While the sun was high and 
burning, vye found little desire to try the shallow flats, 
already grown with grass, which is spreading in all the 
bays along the river. 
We made half a dozen short trips, at intervals, up and 
down the shore, but there was more comfort and more 
reward walking along the edge of the pier and whipping 
the fly as far under as we could reach, or lounging in 
the skiff in the shadow and making side casts about the 
piles. Small fish were plenty, too plenty% more rises than 
casts, and occasionally we had a glimpse, or an offer, 
from rockfish or something worth while; enough to make 
the day pleasant and interesting. There was litttle use 
and little temptation to venture into the bay until even- 
ing. Then the holes in the moss beds and the channel 
through the grass, where Oxen Run creeps out to the 
river, oiifer first rate sport with bass, especially late in 
the season, when they make their fall run. They seem at 
this season to haunt the mouths of the creeks, whether 
haunting shallow waters for winter or only because they 
find such abundance of feed where the smaller fish play 
in the grasses or because the flies are thickest in these 
gras.sy bays, is still a matter of conjecture to the layman. 
At any rate the fishing is not to be despised here where 
270 years ago the Nacostines were practicing for food 
what we are only doing for fun. Henry Talbott. 
A Hatchery for West Virginia* 
RoMNEY, W, Va., March 6. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Since writing luy last letter we have been visited by the 
coldest weather we have had this winter, preceded by 
a rain and snow, which makes it bad for the small game. 
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnson, of Washing- 
ton, D. C, who is here looking for a suitable site to 
establish a hatchery for the propagation of bass and 
other fish: He has examined a number of springs in 
this vicinity, and says that he will return here in warrner 
weather and investigate more carefully before deciding 
upon a site for the hatchery, which was authorized by the 
last Congress, through the efforts of Senator S. B. 
Elkins and Hon. A. G. Dayton, our present Congressman. 
We hope that a suitable site can be found here, as it 
would be a help to otir county and also we would then 
be able to restock the South Branch River with plenty 
of the game black bass. Our efforts, with this place in 
sight for a hatchery for fish, to prevent the covers or any 
one else polluting this stream, will be redoubled and every 
lover of sport will extend us his aid iii tliis fight against 
the mercenary spirit -of this age, which would destroy 
the good and pure of anything in its greed for gold. 
Will write again soon. 
Our weather has been fine hefe this winter for game, 
and so far we have had little snow and the turkeys, par- 
tridges and pheasants have had a show for their life. A 
good many fish of the sucker species were killed under the 
ice here in the early winter bv local fishermen. 
J. B. Brady. 
The Cumberland News says: The contemplated build- 
ing of a tannery at Moorefield, W. Va., by Leonard & 
Dayton and other parties at Winchester, Va., has called 
forth many protests from the sportsmen who for many 
years Iiave" eitjbyed angling in the South Branch of the 
Potomac, which is regarded as one of the best fishing 
grounds iit the cotintry. The recent announcement that 
a wealthy Pennsylvania tanning company is also negotiat- 
ing for a tannery site near Moorefield, the sewage from 
which must go into the South Branch, has stimulated the 
local lovers of piscatorial pursuits in opposition to the 
pollution oi the stream. The hundreds of anglers from 
Pittsburg and other points in western Pennsylvania who 
annually camp on the historic stream have joined the 
ranks of the local sportsmen and declare that it shall 
be preserved from pollution at any cost. 
Upon which the Hampshire Review conimentsr The 
lleview agrees with the Hardy News tha[t it Is "busineses 
before pleasure" and as much pleasure as is to be found 
in angling for bass in the South Branch, if it was an ab- 
solute necessity to dump filth in the streams and pollute 
them, we would not, for the mere love of sport, protest 
or attempt to hinder it. However, public health is at 
stake in the pollution of the streams. It has been demon- 
strated time and time again that disease has been con- 
tracted by persons apd particularly bj' cattle and other 
animals for miles down a stream below plants where hides 
of diseased animals were tanned. 
Cumberland's expensive but successful fight against the 
ptilp mill's pollution of the Potomac has shown two things, 
— first, that the law can be enforced ; second, that great 
industries can be operated without endangering the health 
of the people of a large section and destroying the beauty 
and usefttlness of the water of the streams on which they 
.are located. 
The Review wants to see the South Branch Valley htiin- 
ming with industries of every land. But it wants to see 
the river remain pure as it now comes trickling from 
the mountain sides. There is a law for the prevention 
of the pollution of streams, and as long as that law 
remains on the statute books we will stand for- its en- 
forcement. This, "with charity for all and malice to- 
ward none," bttt with earnestness, nevertheless. 
ANGLING NOTES, 
Planting Black Bass in Adirondack Waters. 
A prominent lawyer in New York city, and a personal 
friend of the writer, asked me a short time ago about the 
advisability of planting black bass in a certain Adiron- 
dack lake in which it is reported that pike, the fish com- 
monly called pickerel, had made its appearance through 
fair means or foul. Naturally I opposed the movement 
to introduce black bass, for pike can be removed and 
black bass cannot, and in small waiers black bass do 
well, if at all, only for a few years. Furthermore, black 
bass introduced with the best of intentions in a lake 
surrotmded by trout water is dangerous, because the bass 
may find their way through natural channels into trout 
waters, and evil disposed persons have placed at their 
disposal the means of doing much harm. My friend 
has just written me again on the subject, and I quote a 
paragraph from his letter: "Two points with respect to 
'the bass: If you are clear that it is unwise to plant 
them in those waters, you had better keep your eyes 
pretty carefully out, for I had some intimation during 
this. summer that somebody up there (I forget at this 
moment who) had talked about putting them in the lake 
on his own hook." , . . 
It may be well to call the attention of this somebody 
to Section 70 of the Forest, Fish and Game Laws of New 
York, which reads : 
"Fisli, or the fry, spawn or milt thereof, other than trout, lake, 
trcut and Adirondack frost fish, shall not be placed in the waters 
of tlie .Adirondack region except under the supervision of the 
Conimis.sion and pursuant to a resolution thereof." The Commis- 
sion means the Forest, Fish and Game Commission. Now as 
to pen.-ilty. "A person who violates ^ny of the provisions of this 
article is guilty of a misdemeanor, and in addition thereto is liable 
as follows: For each violation of Section 70, in relation to placing 
fish in the .\dirondacks, a penalty of five hundred dollars." 
A man who, "on his'own hook," planted black bass in 
Adirondack waters might find it an expensive experiment 
in fish planting. There is a provision in the law which 
reads: "The Commission may permit the taking or de- 
struction of pickerel at any time in waters inhab'ted by 
trout." I suggested this to my. lawyer friend, and he 
replied: "I feel very much afraid that your suggestion 
about netting pickerel will fail up there because nobody 
will attend to it." I expect from past experience that that 
is the cold truth, and no one will ever make the a. tempt, 
for it is mtich easier when pickerel get into a water to ask 
the State to furnish other fish that may destroy the 
pickerel than it is to net out the pickerel and preserve the 
water by so doing for trout that are native to it. The 
first movement, since the planting of black trout in 
Raquette Lake, to introduce the black bass into other 
Adirondack waters, which are nattiral trout waters, was 
begun by people interested in an Adirondack hotel, and 
the old Fish and Game Commission defeated it. The next 
was also by people interested in a hotel, and that was 
defeated. It is true that it would require some labor and 
an expenditure of money to remove the pickerel to assure 
the safety of the trout to a reasonable degree, but it is 
constantly done in Europe, where pike (pickerel) are in 
very many trout waters and are kept down by netting. 
Here it is easier to ask the State to do the work of 
planting other fish on the blind chance that matters can 
be no worse. Last summer I was one evening sitting on a 
hotel piazza which overlooks the lake that some one pro- 
poses to plant with black bass on his own hook. A guest 
had been fishing and complained to a friend in my 
hearing about his lack of fish. He advanced some vtry 
original ideas about what should be done to make good 
fishing in the lake, and I finally discovered that he was 
talking at me, not to me, From his tackle and his speech I 
thought the trouble was not so much with the fish as 
with the fisherman, for in my opinion he would have 
caught no fish had the water been stiff with them unless 
some one put a fish on his hook and held it on. He 
talked as I would expect the man to talk who once ap- 
plied to the State for some black bass for fresh water, and 
some black bass for salt water, and some lobster spawn. 
It is a very easy m.atter to criticise tlie conditions that 
one happens to find, without knowing what may have 
brought the conditions about, or what may be necessary 
to remedy the conditions which may operate against 
good- fishing. If I should get a letter from someone who 
proposed to undo what may have been done in the way 
of poor fish stocking or unwise fish stocking, as a start- 
ing point, it would surprise me; but when water has been 
stocked with fish or found unsuitable, there is no effort 
made to remove thetn, but at once, the people who dis- 
cover this condiliori. say, "Why, put in something else, 
tor whatever is put in, it cannot be any worse than it is 
at present.'" ' . 1 : • ' 
Here is a case^frofti th^i' records: An application was 
made to the Sfite -for trotit for a certain lake in the 
Adirondacks. The' person to whofn the application came 
knew something of the waters., and had reason to beli^v^ 
