St. Croix River

Petition of William Vance of Plantation No. 6 -- 1821

"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature assembled

The petition of William Vance of Plantation No. 6 on the St. Croix or Schoodick river humbly sheweth that the inhabitants on that river have suffered and the settlement of the Country been greatly impeded by having the fish destroyed and their passage up said river obstructed by the great number of seines and trap-wears placed in said river for the purpose of taking fish -- To prevent this evil your petitioner humbly prays your Honorable body to enact a law adapted to the local situation of this river (which is a boundary line between areas of this State and the British Colony of New Brunswick) which shall preserve the fish in this river and its branches, prove of great utility to the settlement of this remote part of the State and greatly increase the value of the State lands on this river and its branches -- And as in duty bound will ever pray.

William Vance"

Source: Maine State Archives.

Petition of Joseph Whitney et al. for Removal of Obstructions in St. Croix River for the Passage of Fish

December 3, 1822

"To the Honourable Senate & House of Representatives of the State of Maine:

We the undersigned, citizens of said State, respectfully represent that previous to existing obstructions, by mills and mill dams, on the St. Croix or Schoodic River, great quantities of Salmon, Shad & Alewives annually passed up and returned down said River, to the great benefit and advantage of the community generally; and in an especial manner of the new settlements in the eastern part of the State --

That said obstructions have rendered it almost impossible for the Shad & Alewives to pass above the Town of Calais; whereas they used to pass from eighty to an hundred miles above; and they are now almost totally excluded from said River --

That it is confidently believed that if suitable fish ways should be provided & also suitable regulations for the taking of fish on said River, it would, as formerly, be abundantly supplied with fish, and all the privileges and advantages of the proprietors of the mills & mill dams on said River remain unimpaired --

Wherefore, we pray, that such fish ways and such regulations concerning the taking of fish on so much of said River and its branches as be within this State as may be deemed necessary to restore to its citizens their ancient privileges in this respect, may be provided by the Honourable House of Representatives and as in duty bound we will ever pray.

December 3rd, 1822

Joseph Whitney
Anson G. Chandler
Enoch Darling
William Smith
Andrew Tracy
Samuel Perkins
James Stuart
John Havey"

Source: Maine State Archives

1823 -- Petition of Rufus Lane and others of Plantation No. 6 on St. Croix or Schoodic River that a Law be Passed for the Preservation of Fish

"The petition of the Inhabitants of Plantation Number Six on the Saint Croix, or Schoodic River, humbly sheweth that the Inhabitants on this river have suffered much and the settlement of the country greatly impeded by the fish being mostly destroyed and stopped from passing up this river to the Lakes to spawn, by the great number of seines and trap wares and other impediments in said river which stop their passage. To prevent this evil your Petitioners humbly pray your Honorable Body to enact such a law adapted to the local situation of the river, which is a boundary line between a part of this State and the British Government which will preserve and increase the fish in this river and all its branches and which will be the greatest utility to these poor settlers in this remote part of the country and greatly enhance the value and settling of the State's land, and near said river all of its tributary branches; and as in duty bound will ever pray.

Rufus K. Lane
F.D. Morrison"

Source: Maine State Archives

1823 -- An Act to Regulate the Salmon, Shad and Alewive Fishery in St. Croix and its branches. Laws of the State of Maine, Chapter CLXXXVI.

Text of Act:

"Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled, That from and after the passing of this act, no person shall be allowed to take any Salmon, Shad or Alewives, in the waters of the river St. Croix, with any large net or seine, excepting between sunrise on Monday and sunrise on Thursday of each week; nor with spears, scoop nets, or in wears, except between sunrise on Monday and sunrise on Friday of each week, under the penalty of twenty dollars for every barrel or less quantity of Salmon, and fifteen dollars for every barrel or less quantity of Shad, and five dollars for every barrel or less quantity of Alewives, so taken, against the foregoing provisions.

"Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That all wears or other obstructions placed in said waters, for the purpose of taking said fish, shall be kept open from sunrise on Friday, till sunrise on Monday of each week, under a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense; and any net or seine that shall be placed in said waters, contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be forfeited to the use of any person or persons who may seize the same.

"Sect. 3. Be it further enacted, That no box or trap-wear shall be built or placed in said river, nor shall any wear of any kind be built in said river, higher than a half tide wear, under the penalty of one hundred dollars.

"Sect. 4. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each town and plantation of this State, adjoining said river, at their annual meeting for the choice of town or plantation officers, to choose three suitable persons for a fish committee, who shall be duly sworn, and whose duty it shall be to cause the provisions of this law to be carried into effect; and if any town or plantation shall neglect to choose said committee, such town or plantation shall forfeit the sum, not less than twenty dollars, nor more than fifty, at the discretion of the Court before whom a conviction shall be had.

"Sect. 5. Be it further enacted, That there shall be a good and sufficient fishway made and kept open, round, through or over, every mill dam on said river, and all its branches, where said fish were ever known to pass, by the owners or occupants of the mills on said river, which shall be four foot wide, and twelve inches deep, and be kept open at all times between the fifteenth day of May, and the twenty-fifth day of June, in each year: And if any owner or occupant of such mill or dam, as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to make and keep open such fishway, as herein directed, he shall forfeit two hundred dollars, for each neglect or refusal.

"Sect. 6. Be it further enacted, That hereafter no eel wears shall be erected on any part of said river or lakes, or its branches, either by the citizens of this State or Indians, so as to stop or impede the passage of the young fish or fry in returning down said river; and if the fish committee shall neglect their duty in causing the provisions of this section and of every part of this act to be carried into effet, they shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than five nor more than twenty dollars, at the discretion of the Court before whom conviction may be had.

"Sect. 7. Be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful, for the Agent or Agents for the State's Land, to cut down so much of any eel wears as to give a passage to the young fish or fry in returning down said river or its branches, wherever they may find said wears so erected on any of the State's Land, as to stop or impede their passage down said river, or its branches.

This Act Passed January 31, 1823."

1836 -- Petition of Matthew Fowler and others Praying for a Law to Regulate the Taking of Fish in the Town of Baring

Baring, November 15th, 1836

"To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives in Legislature Assembled --

The undersigned inhabitants of the Town of Baring in the County of Washington, respectfully represents that formerly the fish called Salmon, Shad and Alewives were very plenty in the River St. Croix and its Branches --

That said fish were of great utility to this portion of the community and tended much to promote its settlement --

That the number of said fish has been rapidly diminishing of late years, owing, principally, to the dams and obstructions that have been built across said River --

Your petitioners believe that if a law were passed compelling the owners of mills on said river to build suitable fishways round, through or over the mill dams on said river and also regulating the times and days of taking said fish, and requiring the fishways to be kept always open and the wears to be kept shut two days in each week, from the first day in April, to the first day in September, in each year, and prohibiting all persons from taking said fish on said days, either in wears, seines, drift nets, set nets, scoop nets, or with spears, that said fish would soon become plenty in said river and its branches, and greatly tend to promote the interests of this community, and the settlement of the wild lands in this vicinity --

Your petitioners therefore pray, that your honorable bodies will pass such a law relating to fishways and the taking of said fish in said river, as you, in your wisdom may think best calculated to promote the public good.

Baring, November 15th, 1836

Matthew Fowler
Thomas Skofield
Calvin Whitman
Moses Heath
John Anderton
Daniel Hamilton
Rufus Farnham
William Greenlaw, Jr.
Will Emerson, Jr.
George Wells"

Source: Maine State Archives

1837 -- An Act to Regulate the Salmon, Shad and Alewive Fishery in the River St. Croix and its branches. Laws of the State of Maine, Chapter 283.

Text of Act:

"Section1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled, That from and after the passing of this act, no person shall be allowed to take any Salmon, Shad or Alewives, in the waters of the river St. Croix, with any large net or seine, excepting between sunrise on Monday and sunrise on Friday of each week; nor with spears, scoop nets, set nets, drift nets or in wears, except between sunrise on Monday and sunrise on Friday of each week, under the penalty of Five Dollars for every Salmon, and Fifty Cents for every Shad and Five Dollars for every barrel or less quantity of Alewives, so taken, against the foregoing provisions.

"Section 2. Be it further enacted, That all wears or other obstructions placed in said waters, for the purpose of taking said fish, shall be kept open from sunrise on Friday, till sunrise on Monday of each week, under a penalty of Fifty Dollars for each offense; and any net or seine that shall be placed in said waters, contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be forfeited to the use of any person or persons who may seize the same.

"Section 3. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each town and plantation of this State, adjoining said river, at their annual meeting for the choice of town or plantation officers, to choose three suitable persons for a fish committee, who shall be duly sworn, and whose duty it shall be to cause the provisions of this law to be carried into effect; and if any town or plantation shall neglect to choose said committee, such town or plantation shall forfeit a sum not less than twenty dollars, nor more than fifty, at the discretion of the Court before whom a conviction shall be had.

"Section 4. Be it further enacted, That there shall be a good and sufficient fishway made and kept open, round, through or over, every mill dam across said river, and all its branches, where said fish were ever known to pass, by the owners or occupants of the mills on said river, which shall be four foot wide, and twelve inches deep, and be kept open at all times between the fifteenth day of May, and the twenty-fifth day of June, in each year: And if any owner or occupant of such mill or dam, as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to make and keep open such fishway, as herein directed, he shall forfeit two hundred dollars, for each neglect or refusal.

"Section 5. Be it further enacted, That hereafter no eel wears shall be erected on any part of said river or lakes, or its branches, either by the citizens of this State or Indians, so as to stop or impede the passage of the young fish or fry in returning down said river; and if the fish committee shall neglect their duty in causing the provisions of this section and of every part of this act to be carried into effect, they shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than five nor more than twenty dollars, at the discretion of the Court before whom conviction may be had.

"Section 6. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Agent or Agents of the State Land, or of any person or persons whom they may appoint, to see that all obstructions to the passage of the young fish or fry in returning down the river or its branches, are removed on any of the State's Land.

"Section 7. Be it further enacted, That the penalties imposed in this Act may be sued for and recovered, by action of debt in any Court proper to try the same, by any one of the Fish Committee of persons aforesaid; and the amount recovered shall be appropriated one half to the prosecutor, and the other to the poor of the town or plantation where the offence may be committee; and when any nets may be seized as liable to forfeiture, the same proceedings shall be had as directed in an Act prescribing the mode of recovering forfeitures of personal property liable thereto by law.

Approved by the Governor March 23, 1837."

1839 -- An Act in addition to an Act to Regulate the Salmon, Shad and Alewive Fishery in the River St. Croix and its branches. Laws of the State of Maine, Chapter 381.

Text of Act:

"Section1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled, That any person may take Salmon, Shad and Alewives in the American waters of the River St. Croix with any net, seine, spear or in wears between sunrise on Monday and sunrise on Saturday of each week, without incurring any of the penalties specified in the first section of the act to which this is additional.

"Section 2. Be it further enacted, That there shall be a good and sufficient fishway made and kept open, round, through or over, every mill dam across said river, and all its branches, where said fish were ever known to pass, by the owners or occupants of the mills on said river, which shall be six foot wide, and two and a half feet deep, and be kept open at all times between the fifteenth day of May, and the twenty-fifth day of September in each year: And if any owner or occupant of such mill or dam, as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to make and keep open such fishway, as herein directed, he shall forfeit two hundred dollars, for each neglect or refusal.

"Section 3. Be it further enacted, That the fourth section, and so much of the first section of the act to which this is additional as is inconsistent with this act, be and the same are hereby repealed.

Section. 4. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its approval by the Governor.

Approved by the Governor, March 7, 1839."

Fourth Report of Maine's Fisheries Commissioner, 1871

"Fishways and Other Matters in Detail

Saint Croix River

I was able, in my last report, to announce the construction of the fishways over the dams at Calais and Baring. I am now able to report the success of the experiment.

The fishway in the dam at "Middle Landing" or Union Mills, the first obstruction met by fish in ascending the river, was completed in 1869, and has thus been tested during one season, and through several freshets of unusual violence. When, in the month of June, the alewives came, they readily found the entrance to the fishway, and passed up through it in great numbers. Crowds of people gathered to witness the ascent. "

Source: Maine Fisheries Commissioner Report for 1871. Maine State Archives.

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