Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/844

824 Since the erection of the obstruction in 1823 the spawning grounds of the upper river had been inaccessible to the fish; but now, after an absence of nearly seventy years, they are caught at Downsville, ]Sr. Y., upon the Popacton Branch, and at Deposit, upon the West Branch, being at their farthest three hundred miles from the sea. Where for two generations they have been unknown exists a promising fishery, which, with provident and careful administration, would doubtless become as bountiful as of yore. It was above this newly opened fish way that the season's largest shad was caught in 1891. As with the Susquehanna,-the long journey seems to insure the presence of fish of superior size and flavor, and "Delaware River shad" is now a conspicuous sign in the markets of the West.

In our noble Hudson the construction of dams has not been so disastrous to its fishery, and although the shad formerly ascended to Glens Falls, and even to Saratoga Lake, their spawning grounds are now confined to beds in the river's course between Hudson and the Troy dam. Despite the multiplicity of gill nets, its annual stocking with millions of fry affords a substantial supply, that, however, falls far short of the requirement and is but a poor fraction of the yield of aforetime. Our catch under proper regulations and due access to the upper river could doubtless be greatly enlarged, the last season's product being estimated by the Fish Commission at about eight hundred thousand fish.

In colonial times shad were so extraordinarily cheap and abundant in the Connecticut Valley that a measure of discredit was attached to their appearance on the table. The possession of the salted fish, to the exclusion of the orthodox and more luxurious pork, argued the poverty of the host, and, even when fresh, it was considered vulgar fare, inasmuch as shad sold for years as low as a cent apiece. The denser peopling of the valley and the consequent decline of the catch naturally occasioned a higher appreciation of the once-despised fish, especially among those with whom cheapness is synonymous with worthlessness. The Connecticut is a river of smaller volume than the streams already discussed, and its banks are thickly populated—circumstances tending to aggravate the difficulties of restocking, the principal obstacle probably being, there as elsewhere, the rapacity and improvidence of the fishermen. About 1870, when the effort of the commissioners was begun, they derided their undertaking, but a few years later the whilom scorners begged them to desist, alleging that the abundance was so great that they could get no due remuneration for their catch. The New York wholesale price, they complained, was reduced to three dollars per hundred fish, and they argued that it was useless and a scandalous waste of the people's money to hatch fish beyond the absorptive capacity of