The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1916-10-06
AN old Time TREAT
-ampreyS Once a Fairly Coveted
Dish In New England.
FRIED BY GENERAL STARK.
ne old Hero Even Refused One Year
10 Give Up One of His Sixteen Bar.
re's to an Eel Hungry Neiahbor
'he'r Former Fame Sung In Verse

~~ ~ TVS 0tNCeGn Bar
.e's 10 an Eel Hungry Neiahbor.
'ne'r Former Fame Sung In Verse.
was recently carried back to nv
ooJhood days by dinner of lamnravs
locally known in the olden time as lam.
per cells because of their superficial re.
semDiance to the true eel. The struc.
'ufe OF the lamprey places It low down
III tne ranks of the fishes. In fact n
strlct classification excludes it from
them.
Ane lamprey Is vertebrate without
Done. Its spine is but cartilage. and
'here are no other tissues that ara even
as nard as cartilage. 1t has a sucking
mouth and seven gill openings on each
sue OF the body back of the head. II
Is the mouth and its peculiar use that
are described in its scientific namc
Peuomyzon marinus, meaning ocean
stone sucker. The color of the sea
lainprey Qo distinguish It from the 1T.
lie lampreys Of the ryers) is brown
mottled with black. Its maximum
length Is about three feet.
In the early days of New Hampshire
lampreys came UP the Merrimac and
other rivers by myriad thousands and
were caught by the settlers and salted
down for the years supply of meat an
were salmon, shad and newives that
came up from the ocean at The same
time early summer and for the same
purpose, the depositing Of their spawn
IN the fresh waters of the rivers and
lakes. Most of the fish were caught
with seines and dipnets.
The lampreys were caught by hand
in the Shallower water of the brooks.
The fishermen wadeJ IN where the wa.
ter was shallow and the current swift
and watched for the "eels," as the
lampreys were invariably called. In
rapid current lampreys progress by
darting for short distance and then
clinging by the sucking mouth to ii
stone while testing for another plunge
II was then that the men seized them
aud threw them TO the shore. where
helpers put them into receptacles.
SO important was the catching 0:
fish in those days In the town of Der
ryfield now Manchester. that all work
was suspended when they arrived.
There is story that lacks vertical
lion to the effect that the man appoint
ed to watch for the advent of the fish
spied the vanguard on Sunday morn
ing. He FASTENED to the meeting
house. where most OF the town was as.
sembled. and interrupted the sermon
with the cry: THE fish have come
The fish have GOMEZ" The preacher
stopped, pronounced the benediction,
and the men all went fishing.
There is another story that General
Stark who had settled down on his
farm after the Revolution, was asked
by a neighbor for the loan of barrel
Of "eels' for the winter The general
replied that he couldn't spare any, for
he had but sixteen barrels to last him
till spring,
However much OF little truth there
may be In these stories, 1t is a fact
that lampreys formed an important
part of the food of the settlers of Man
chester. In 1851 at the centennial Gel.
ebration of the incorporation of the
town a poem was read by William
Stark in which he thus referred to the
lampreys:
Our fathers treasured the Shiny prize.
They loved the eel as their very eyes,
And of one It's said with SANDER rife
For a string of cells he sold his wife.
From the cells they formed their food In
chief,
And eels were called the DerryfeId beef.
And the marks of cells were SO plain to
trace
That the children looked like cells in the
face
And before they walked It is well con
That the children never crept bui
squirmed.
Such a mighty power did the squirmers
WELD
Oer the eoodly men Of old Derryfield
it was often said that their only care,
Their only wish and their only prayer
For the present world and the world Ia
come
Was a string of cells and n Jug of rum.
Nv fathers boyhood was passed In
the DAYS OF the "cels, and long after
the dams in the Merrimac stopped the
ascent of the fish he bought lampreys
whenever they could be obtained from
fishermen farther downstream. Thus
7 learned TO eat and like them. II wns
many years since | had tasted them
when recently was delighted by The
nresent of fine mess Of them. They
carried me back generation.
Lampreys are fond in the north A:
Iantic as far south as Virginia, besides
being Iandi0cked in some OF the lakes
In western and northern New YORK
While they are not abundant enough
TO make much impression on the pres.
emf cost of living. a knowledge OF the!f
food value and the time and manner
Of catching them. minus prejudice.
do little toward solving mod
arn problem : W. II. Huse In Rural