Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1906-10-03
OFFICIAL GuEssER.
How Uncle San Pays for Live
SALMON.

Salmon.
| Uncle Sam does not do much business
I by CROSSWORD. When he pays out money
! II is usually upon vouchers solemnly exc
/ cuted and doubled and twisted With red
tape. Although the department Of com
I merce and labor is under the same general
/ system as the other departments IN this
/ respect, there is at least one claim which
/ is paid, based upon the guessing ability Of
down-east Yankee fisherman, who
gnesses up a bill of about 5000 an
Eually.
every season the U. ). fish commission,
| now under the department Of commerce
and labor, buys from the fishermen in the
! lower Penobscot river In Maine for breed
ing purposes, from 500 to 1000 live Atlantic
sea salmon, or Penobscot river salmon, as
they are generally known. 1t pays for the
salmon the market rate, usually from
twenty to thirty cents a pound, also a
bonus of fifty cents fish for the trouble
of catching and keeping alive.
In the spring the salmon are very deli
cate and slight thump on the nose will
kin them. To capture them alive, the
fisherman must go TO his weirs or traps
while the tide is still high and without
alarming the fish, dip them into a net
lined with soft flannel and as carefully
transfer them to scar. an old dory
half full OF water, also lined with flannel.
II the fish are alarmed they will dash
themselves against the sides Of the trap
and soon be useless as live fish. Under
these circumstances IL can be readily seen
that to weigh the live fish would be an ex-
treme1y difficult operation, IL not practi-
eally impossible, and keep the fish alive.
The only way is to guess at it''.
Fishermen who have been handling
salmon all their lives can estim tic the
weight of fish with astonishing accn-
rscy, many being able to call the figures
on a hundred fish within two or three
pounds of the total weight o. the whole
lot, and rarely varying a pound ON
single fish, scores being guessed exactly
correct.
But the man who guesses for Uncle sam
is up against a much more complicated
proposition, Almost anyone can make
fairly good guess on the weight OF a fish il
he can handle and ''hefin IL, bot IL is
another thing to peer into the depths Of
fish ''car" where nothing bat long slim
back of big fish il to be seen and this
often shooting about so that II can hardly
be seen at all; or perhaps IL is but a
glimpse of the wriggling stlvery sides as
the feb is being dipped from one ''car" TO
another.
Avery Fl. whitmore, OF Verona, has for
many years been the official guesssr ON
the Penobscot river. He makes the trips
ON the little tug which steams from weir
to weir in the collecting season, taking in
tow the cars with the live fish and leaving
empty cars. Only about dozen fish are
allowed In q car. Mr.. Whitmore keeps
the tally with each fisherman, taking q
gssod look al the fab in the car ano credit
ing the weights according TO his best
Judgment and no one ever questions it..
MIR &hitmore owns extensive weirs
and has been handling salmon all his life.
lie is one OF the most prominent citizens
Of the town of Verona and has been q
representative to the Maine legislature
and has done statistical work for the L. ).
fish commission along the coast.