Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-01-03
CURIOUS MAINE gISHiN0
Yearly aoo,oOo Squirmir.; E-..slo Al
 wives Are Captured in a Day.


 wives Arc Captured in a Day.
 Oamariscotta Mills, small village about midway from the cities of Bsti and Rockland, is one of the busies, places in Maine during the last of May and the first part of June The cause of this unusual activity is the appear ance of that migratory fish, the ale wife.
 am informed that nowhere in the New England states are there as many of that kind of fish captured as here. There have been taken from the stream In one day upward of 200, 900. snd l50, 900 in day is not Q rare catch.
 This bony fish generally makes itseft visible from May to May 10 annually, and the run lasts about three weekA There are thSee streams issuing out ot the Damsriscotta lake from fell of zxty feet, and in these streams are ar sanged stout locks for the reception ot i the fish.
 The fish cOme from the sea up the ! Dam;GiscOssa river, thence into a large < bay, where DSs 6 bright sunny day millions of then may be seen School ing. preparatory for making a run for ! shs strea,n- Upon their arrival within { the locks they are taken out of the water in dip nets and thrown into large square boIes-called traps-holdiDg from 5000 to 5,G00, and then sold to kIRa tSN-Duol-a,.,I s-- RRt,- oo,>+z o I- dred, and carried by them in hods hold ing POO 60 their carts to be transported to the smoke houses.
 The hods are made from flour barrels by sewing of about one-third of the top qnd mailing two poles, one on each side, with cleats of board connecting to strengthen them. During a pleas ant day, when there is large run and good many ''cOuntrymen," as the boys call them. are in, it is very anus a4g to watch the barefoot urchins fol- ssTE up the hods to pick rr the squirpl- Ing hsh as tacy flop oil to the ground Two or three of these young Amer lcas will be after ono bod at time, and the way they'll scramble to pick Up the fallen fish will make the most sedate dyspePtie laugh, for they'll push punch and fight like two dogs after 6 bone, stringing them OH their fingers as fast as they gather them in. The young kids wi1 stock more than 1, 900 in this way some days, with the assistance of purloining 6 few from the traps and essts of the countrymen.
 The smokers do not buy all of the dsh, however: the surplus is sold to BoothbOy Harbor firm, which has a large saiying and packing platform ahout 150 yards from the f1shways
 Wooden aqueducts in which there Is running water a.e erected, and con- nect the fshways with the packing es- tabliahment. The surplus fish arc thrown into theae aqueducts, and car lied by the water to the packing plat form, landing on large wooden Etrainer, where they are salted and packed iI barrels.
 A barrel of salted alewives brings from $3. 90 to S6 in the market, and the fish are, am informed, shipped to Al riea; also South America.
 The smoking of the alewife Is another process. As soon as they arrive at the smoke house the fish are placed in tubs holding 1000, salted, and remain in that state usually three or four days, according to the temperature of the weather, after which they are washed and strung on sticks holding from 10 to l2 in number, and then hung on poles placed in the upper part of the house. Large holes are dug in the earth (there is no floor in the smoke house), around which large stones are placed, fire is built out of logs and banked with saw dust, and the alewife is now prepared to receive it's red coat in few days
 When ready for market the first fish bring as high as s hundred, but later In the season get down as low as 70 and 50 cents.--COP Boston Herald
 The Omnipotence Of the Spells System.
 From the second election of Jackson, in 1882, down to the present time the doctrine that public office Is party l prize" has been the controlling factof | in the administration of the national | The limited and imper | fectly executed civil service act, SO far l as it's effect OF the great body of the 1 common people is concerned, consti- tutes no exception. Every boy of 15 l who hurrahed because his father voted | for Jackson in 1882 had, if alive ct | the election in 1888, passed the age of threescOre and ten. Every voter who ! east ballot in 1882 and lived to cast ! one in 1888 was then 77 or more years old. Even among this little band of aged men the administration of govern ment upon any other plan was but Q iin "reminiscences of boyhOod. Prac- ticalIy they were in the same condition as Sheir younger fellow citizens.
 The people of the United States, hen, have no practical knowledge of my other method of administering government. Tine spells system is like 1ne of those customs which the com non law declares equivalent to stat lte, "a custom so old that the memory If man runneth not to the contrary" It is part of the unwritten law, an but understood provision f the constitution. 1t is mterwoven Sith all their modes of DOliticaI thouoht, |