New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-27
THE T0oTHSoME sHAD.
Most Popular of All the Food Fishes of
America.

OF all the food fishes Of America shnd may be 70
Farded the most popular it appF ars on the taols
of the wealthy epicur' a deliCacv. while tn the
uupampered palate Of the wo"kngman tt forms
substantial and 'uTishrC dish
In the golden da US of their former abundance no
sh9d were so highly priced as those captured In
the upper reaches OF the Susquehanna whose clear.
running waters only tho hette- conditioned could
attain. and which in their long journey against a
swiftly flowing stream supposed to acquire a
favor peculiarly their own
In the of the ascending shoal were massed
the largest and the strongest fish. the steady even
approach of their deus5ly cOmpacted ranks being
betrayed by a nearing ripple visible at distance
of several hundred yards Battling with a madly
Contending current. sometimes haltins. sometimes
retreatng. and again advancing as the waters be-
came warmer many of the weaker and smaller fell
of the serried ranks. but the larger and
stronger pushed on TO the difficult goal
The upper valley. apparently the bourn of their
long and toiiSome journey generally attained
toward the close of March. or. If the
backward. early In April In this slow Northern
movement the males preceded the burdened
fish, and successive shoals of each prolonged the
fishery for several weeks The best shad caught
at this time and place weighed eight or nine
pounds. and in exceptional Instances reached a
weight OF eleven twelve pounds
1t is we'll known that the Indians who once popu-
lated the Atlantic seaboard greatly priced the shad
and fingered along the banks of the Susquehanna
Delaware and Hudson rivers for the annual re-
appear OF their favorite fish Shad also visited
the waters OF the New England rivers. and the
early settlers IN Massachusetts found immense
numbers of suad 10 the various streams OF Tint
colCny. and, following the iDuIan practice. were
accustomed 20 use their surplus cat. as manure.
After the desoiation Of tie lovely VA Oming Val
ley by the memorable indian massacre OF lJ,S Us
widowed and faiths rless mere the OBJECTS OF much
solcituGe, and among the taoughJfui admin'stra-
tors OF the rugged { Jntiersmeu what De
came known as Lac widows haul rae nrst SUI
day after the season began tbs entire catch OF the
Stine. Whe her much little. set apart Tor
their exclusive benefit and this generous practice
was continued for more than a decade after the
DtasSRCie. In 1850 OF widows n4Uls. OS4r
WNktsCarre. resulted In authenticated total
catch OF ten thousand shad and even larger
Graughts were reported f.om Nanucoke and
bloomsbury
The dammns Of the susauehanna. coHJotaed WITH
WastStul methods OF capture, Utterly ,Nd.SuisHed
tht Sc magnificent fisheries DGraus the last ten
years OF the nineteenth century pc VcNer. the Ia
hoTs Of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission partly
law Sn generosity OF has eNeryW here been
abused, and the hnuy treasures % the pe,a ware
nave been wasted with the same reckless ptOdlSal-
it, and lHconce ior the future that elsewhere
marked the tsh ~. But In 1879 the joint action ~
commissions OF New-Yor and Pennsylvania IN as
'abishtrg an effective hsEway at LackownNeu dam.
On the L9elaNare. opened an additional hundred
miles " lhat splendid stream 10 the ShaS- and
attsI an sosence OF seventy years they reaPpearyd
e. DownsF.lle, y. Y, upon me Fopacton branch.
ana ~ p@posit. upon tina West branch. having AZ
their furtheSt reached point three hundred miles
from the sea--(Ph.ladeIphia Record.