The evening times., 1897-02-12
FISH CAPTURED BY THE ICE
Picked Up and Pinioned in a Great
Jam in the Upper Potomac.
A Novel Spectacle Seen Above the
Aqueduct Bridge Citizens Dig
Them Out for Food.

Ever since the close o. the recent cold
snap many families in the river district
+ Geor getown, and along the Conduit
road leading west from the Aeueduct
Bridge. have had on their tables fish
that were caught in a most peculiar man.
ner Many OF the fish were OF the finest.
too, though more OF them were of the slug
! gish German carp variety which were too
slow and lazy to move out of the way OF
the forces that brought about their deaths.
The fish have been taken from the great
ice jam that mas been heaped on the north
bank of the river. Even yet some of them
are being taken out, and it is no unusual
sight TO see half score or more OF bows
digging on the south side of the gorge
after school hours, and when the tide is
down. The Jam extends UP stream for a
distance of about 500 feet from the north
pier of Aqueduct Bridge. It Is probably
fifteen or twenty feet wide and seven or
eight feet deep. The jam came with the
breaking up Of the ice. As the strong
current hurried the great cakes downstream
they were thrown back W hen they came in
contact with the piers and gradually began
to accumulate on the bank along the line
of the abandoneds railway tressel that
can be easily seen ffonTi the bridge After
the foundation for the Jam had been made
the accumulations were faster. The swell
ing currents ana tire tides soon piled the
cakes up to height dfseven or eight feet,
as already noted
The novel feature Of, the whole thing
is. However, the manner in which the fish
so. into the Jam. This is explained by
old river men, who have seen the same
thing many times. before. In floating
Gown the stream, the great cakes crush
and jam together and over each other until
there viii something's be one mass OF ice
almost as large a.. a small house This,
of course, is composed. of numberless cakes
OF greater or less size, and the whole mass
isthIown into the jam a zone time.
In the crashing together the unwary
fish are caught The ice cakes viii
readily freeze together of their own tenn
perature, and the IOor fish are thus pin
ioned in a natural refrigerator, to go
later with the mass of ice into the Jam.
That the fish are sometimes crushed in
manner that makes them useless for
food is shown in the mangled fish cnrpses
that are now and then picked from the
face of the ice pile. This is of TaTer &C.
curTence than might be expected, though,
and as a rule the swimmers are taken out
in excellent condition, and fit for food.
As said before, the German carp are
found in the jam oftener than any other
variety. The slow habits OF the fish,
and its lack OF strength, as compared to
bass and some other varieties, makes it
quicker the prey OF the terrible current and
susceptible to even a small pressure OF
the ice cakes. Strangely enough, most
of the fish that are held are of goodly
size, and will average over a pound in
weight. The river men explain this phe
nomenon by saying that the smaller fish
are of course able to get out OF smaller
holes than the large ones, and when the
cakes come together they are oftener
able to make their escape.
Both sides of the Jam along the river
front have been picked away by men and
boys until the pile lacks probably three
feet Of its original width. One can easily
see the fish by walking along the sides
and looking through some OF the clearer
portions OF the gorge. The finny fellows
will be held in this natural embalmer until
they are dug out by hand. or until the sun
meltS the pile away.