Kennebec River
From the May 22, 1829 edition of the Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine:
Salmon Fishery -- A correspondent of the Wiscasset Citizen
gives the following account of this fishery in the Kennebec.
"The Salmon is a river fish. All the theories respecting its wintering
at sea, &c. are unfounded. Several facts are well known that make it
evident this fish remains in the deep holes of all our freshwater rivers
the greater part of the year. When Col. Wm. Lithgow commanded at Fort Halifax,
he discovered Salmon in the month of January at Tyconic Falls. Salmon have
also been taken from Peirpoles hole in the Sandy river, in the town of Strong,
in the winter season. A gentleman informed me, when first acquainted with
that fishery, that salmon were never taken plentifully, until after the
spring freshet; and I found that to be the case every year. The first that
are taken on the Kennebec in the spring, are at Jones' Eddy, Parker's Flatts,
and Back River ....
"But few men now on the stage, appear to have a knowledge of the superabundance
of these fish as far back as the period before the Revolution. If my memory
does not misgive me, a Mr. Rogers and his company, seven all in the year
1784 or 85, at Hunnewell's Point, exclusive of Fox Island, took in set nets
between eight and nine thousand salmon. The average weight of each was 20
pounds of the first shoal, and the last 18 pounds.
"When I owned the same fisheries, the salmon were two to three pounds
lighter. Where Rogers caught a thousand, my fishermen had need be industrious
to get 100. In the year 1813, I kept an account of the number and weight
of Salmon caught. In five nets, were caught that year, 1,143 Salmon. The
last run were usually smoked for the New York market. 240 in number weighing
2,564 (lbs.) and 1,765 (lbs.) when smoked fit for market, sold at 14 cents
per pound at the smoke house.
"I took some care that year to know the amount of Salmon caught on
the Kennebec below Fiddler's Reach. Fox Island caught 1,000 -- all the berths
at Cape Small Point, say 500 -- Hunnewell's Point 1,143 -- Stage Island
and all on the east side below the Fort 1,500. All the above was one eighth
of the quantity below Bath on the Kennebec, of Salmon only, making 33,000.
You perceive that the small school, from the above would average about
$1 to the Salmon. Those sold fresh in Boston before the middle of May did
average 12.5 cents net profit, and 18 to 20 and 22 lbs. each, so that in
a lot of 13, weighing 270 lbs. May last, of that year I received $3,375.
From which data, the conclusion may be drawn that every Salmon caught, was
at that time worth a dollar. The Salmon fishery alone then, on the Kennebec,
below Fiddler's Reach, was worth to the State $33,000. And it is a fair
estimate to value the Shad and Alwive fishery within the compass at one
half the Salmon, making a total of $49,500 in Kennebec, below Fiddler's
Reach in the year 1813.
This appears large, but by the manner the trade was carried on, the fact
can be demonstrated with tolerable certainty. One third at least of the
Salmon were sold fresh in the Markets of New York, Newport and all the seaports
between that and Portland. -- There were three regular trading sloops with
a capital of about $3,000 each, who purchased Salmon only, and generally
exchanged the whole of their produce readily for that article, making up
$9,000 in value. And 11,000 for the consumption of the inhabitants was but
a reasonable proportion in all the other methods of saving and cooking that
fish. If therefore the Salmon, Shad and Alewife fishery, even in that part
of the Kennebec could be restored, it would give a source of wealth to the
State about equal to the amount of the State tax."
Source: Microfilm of Kennebec Journal, 1825 to present, at Maine State
Library, State Museum Complex, Augusta, Maine.
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