OCR Text |
Show Tho Toothsome Shnd. Of all the fishes of America shad may bo regarded as the most popular; it appears on tho table of the wealthy epicure aa a delicacy, while to tho un pampered palato of tho worklngraan It forms u aubatantlal and nourishing dish. In tho golden days of tholr former abundance abun-dance no shad woro so highly prized as thoso captured In tho uppor reaches of tho Susquehanna, whoso oloar, running waters only tho better conditioned could attain, and which In their long Journey against a swiftly flowing stream woro supposed to acquire a llavor peculiarly their own. In tho van of the ascending shoal wero massed tho strongest and largest ibjh. tho steady, von approach of tholr denso-ly denso-ly corapaotod rankB being betrayed by a noarlny ripple, vlBlblo at a dlstanco of several sev-eral hundred yards. Battling with a mad, ly contondlng curront sometimes halting, sometimes retreating, and again advancing advanc-ing aa tho wators becamo warmer, many of tho weaker and eraaller fell out of tho serried ranks, but tho larger and atrongor pushed-on- to tho difficult goal. The upper vallor. apparently tho bourno of their long and toilsome Journey, was generally attained toward tho close-' of March, or, If tho 'season was backward, early In April. In this slow northern movement tho maloa preceded tho roc-burdonod roc-burdonod llsh, and successive shoals of each prolonged tho fishery for several weeks. The best shad caught at this time and placo wolghod eight or nlno pounds, and In exceptional Instances reached a weight of olevon or twelve pounds. It Is well known that tho Indians who once populated tho Atlantlo seaboard gTeatly prized tho Hhad and lingered along tho banks of tho Susquohanna, Delaware and Hudson rivors for tho annual reappearance reap-pearance of thojr favorite fish. Shad also vial ted the wators of tho Now England rivers, and tho early settlers In Massachusetts Massa-chusetts found lmmonso numbors of shad In tho various BtroamB of that colony and, following tho Indian practice, wero ac-customod ac-customod to use their surplus catch as manure. After tho desolation of tho lovely Wyoming Wyo-ming valloy by tho memorable Indian massacro of 1775 Its widowed and fatherless father-less wore tho objects of much solicitude, and among tho thoughtful administrations of tho rugged frontiersmen was what becamo be-camo known as the widows' haul. Tho llrst Sunday nter tho soaeon began tho ontiro catch of tho seine, whether much or little, was set apart for their excluslvo benefit and this gonorous practice was continued for moro than a decado after tho maseacro. In 1700 ono of thcso widows' wid-ows' hauls, near Wllkcsbarro, resulted In an authenticated total catch of 10,000 Hhad. and oven larger draughts woro reported from Nantlcoke and Bloomsburg. The damming of tho Susquehanna, con-Joined con-Joined with wasteful methods of capture, utterly extinguished thcso mngnlllcent fisheries. During the last ten years of tho nineteenth century, however, tho labors of tho Pennsylvania Fish commission partly renowod tho fornior abundance of tho catch. Tho lavish generosity of nature na-ture has ovorywhero been abused, and the tinny treasures of tho Delaware have been wasted with the same reckless prodigality and unconcern for tho future that olsc-whero olsc-whero markod tho fishery. But In 1S31 tho Joint notion of commissions of Now York and Pennsylvania in establishing an of-rectivo of-rectivo fishway at Lackawaxen dam, on the Delaware, opened an additional hundred hun-dred miles of that splendid stream to the shad, and aft6r an absence of seventy years, they reappeared at Downsville, N. Y., upon tho Popacton branch, and at Doposlt. upon tho West branch, having at their furthest reached a point 300 mllos from tho sea. Philadelphia Record. |