The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-14
LIKE LITTLE TOWNS AFLOAT
THE BIG FISHING RA FITS OF THE
 sUs0UEHANNA FLATS.

Hauling a Seine Nearly a Mile LonI
 Seven Hundred Thousand Fish nt
 Catch-WhoIesaIo Methods of Han
 ding Fish How tho Men Live on tn
 Rans.
 Where the Susquehanna empties it
 wa ters in Chesapeake Bay there ap
 pears every spring little group of vii
 lages which rise and fall with the tide
 maintaining through each season tht
 same relative positions. Each of these
 floating towns has its population of if
 ty or sixty men, its lodging houses, it'
 streets and its local government. They
 are virtually temporary municipalities
 enduring for the fishing season anc
 governing themselves after the law ane
 customs of the "Susquehanna Flats,
 as the fishermen call their unique set
 clement. Each year they send back in
 to the country millions of herring, shad
 and rock, and while these fish are run
 ming, the little raft cities are the busi-
 est, most bustling communities in al
 industrial America.
 Early in the spring the herring and
 shad leave the ocean and seek the fresh
 waters of the Susquehanna in which
 to spawn or breed. Before the first
 school passes the capes the proprietor
 of the fishing establishment has made
 ready for the seasons work by getting
 his floating towns in shipshape, or
 perhaps 1t would be more accurate to say in township shape. The float prop
 CT is 1910 feet long by 60, built out on three sides forming an artificial shore
 for the dragging up of the seine AS early as the middle of March the doors are unnailed and the buildings, some eight or ten, are prepared for use. They form two rows facing upon the narrow avenue which runs lengthwise of the float Rooms for cooking, eating and sleeping, tool houses and engine rooms make up the main street: Night Owls avenue" the men call it, in commemor- ation of the late hours they keep in finishing up large haul.
 When the seine is tarred and hung, the engines in running order and the workmen, who make up class unique in its incongruity, have arrived from various quarters, the miniature town, with smoke curling from it's chimneys, leaves it's winter mooring and is lowed down stream. All the fishing is done on the shoal or shallow side of the flats, and when the spot is reached, which by right of occupancy belongs to the proprietor, four huge piles, each weighing one ton, and shod with point ed iron, which pass perpendicularly through wells or holes in the raft, are unpinned. They drop, their weight sinking them deep into the bed of the river, and the float, left free at the wells to rise and fall with the tide, is securely anchored. The outer edge of the apron is loosed and allowed to sink of its own weight, if old and water soaked; if new, it is weighted with gravel until it rests upon the bottom. A breakwater Is built some twenty five feet from the float on the upstream side, forming little harbor for the landing of the tug which tows the ecowloads of fish to the packing house.
 When all is ready for the first haul heavy boat is manned by twenty weather- beaten men, ready to lay out the seine, and the engines, one at either end of the float, wait for orders The end of the heavy rope which lies coiled upon the seine boat is made fast to the steam capstan, the tug catches the tow line from the bow and the order Give way" puts every oar in stroke. Off they go, looking like huge spiders on a single web as the brail line pays out over the roller at the stern of the boat, and a heavy load 1t is. The boat Is f1fty-eight feet in length, and the wet seine, weighing from three to four tons, fills half of 1t. Tn the forward section are the men facing the crews stroke and the captain, who steers from amidships. When nearly a mile | out the seine starts over the roller un- | folding without hitch or tangle from | the uneven looking mass. Fastened to | the seine, 120 yards apart are quarter posts and as each sides into the water the captain signals to the lookout on the deck of the tug that he may know just how many sections are overheard. | They have headed home before the last post goes over, and the other brail line follows.
 The crew is we'll practised and they get aboard the float quickly. The line at each end Is passed around a cap- stan, the engine starts and the seine is drawn in while the boats crew enjoy a smoke in the bunk room until the whistle brings all hands on the plat form. Twenty men at either end with eather shoulder braces put their weight against the seine. The oap- ,tans start on the quarter lines which are run out to the quarter posts one after another, for without the help of steam the work of pulling through the water 5000 feet of seine would be colos- ,al. The whole process moves like clock . vork-a class of well-organized and Luiet laborers working under system 10 well planned that the captain can 1t any moment turn to chat with visit l ITS and the work still go on. Nearly ( Il signals are given by the steam whis- ! l le. As the seine reaches the apron, | hould the strain upon the quarter lines 'ecome too tense and the hauling too Z leavy for the grew, signal brings all { o a stardstill "Get the nigger," calls I he captain, and small seine is 1 rought out and put aboard a rowboat, Il this meaning that very large | I atch is in the seine and must be ham, 1 led in sections. The largest haul ever made and ham,