Monday, April 17, 2006

Eel Weir - from Norman M.

Norman writes in:

Bob Peal sent me the following reference to eel weirs in the Delaware River:

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/research_collections/research/history/histmonth.html

V-shaped walls were built in certain rivers as dams to raise the level of rivers so boats could navigate rocky shallows. These walls were similar to Native American stone weirs, which were also reused by non-natives for catching eels. Therefore what I photographed in theDelaware River just above Port Jervis could either be one of these dams erected in the eighteenth century, an ancient weir, or else one re-used byfishermen in the nineteenth century. Eel fishing reached its heydey in the early twentieth century.

1 comment :

pwax said...

Man, that was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.