Collections
MF 049 “Penobscot River Commercial
Fisheries Project” Interviews
Number of
Interviews: 9
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1973-1974
Time period covered: 1920s-1950s
Principal interviewers: David Taylor
Finding Aides: brief indexes
Access Restrictions: none
Description: The collection consists of a series of
interviews with eight fishermen done by David Taylor on the
commercial fisheries of the Penobscot River in Maine. Taylor
interviewed men who fished for smelt, salmon, sturgeon, alewives,
eels, and cod; also an eel wholesaler. Methods discussed include net
fishing; weir fishing; and winter fishing. Towns discussed include
Winterport; Frankfort; and Bangor.
805 Harold Reed, interviewed by David Taylor, February 5,
1974, at Reed’s home in Frankfort, Maine. (ISO 100). 4 page index.
Reed discusses, in detail, his experiences as a fisherman on the
Penobscot River in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Reed talks about
how his father, Fred Reed, fished for smelt with bag nets at
Winterport around Bald Hill Cove during the Great Depression and the
men his father fished with, including Herbert Alley, Phillip Alley,
Carl Clegg, and Leon Perkins. He discusses his own fishing on the
Penobscot River and Marsh Stream in Frankfort during high school and
after World War Two; fishing with gill nets, and how to set them,
how they caught fish, importance of net shape and how to rig the
nets, where to get the nets, the floats and sinkers used on the
nets, how to haul the net into the boat; the size of a good catch,
and what kinds of fish were caught in the nets, including smelt,
trout, and eel; how the fish, mostly smelt, were packed and shipped
to market; and the prices paid for smelts; fishing licenses and
warden Lewis Stubbs; the effects of weather on fishing and on the
nets, how to care for the net, and how much money one could earn in
a season. Also fishing with bag nets, how to fish through the ice,
men who fished with bag nets, including Herbert Alley, and Charles
Alley, their fishing camps. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries
Project. Tape 1 hour: T732
806 H. B. Calkins interviewed by David Taylor, February 23,
1974, and March 16, 1974, at Calkins’s home in Hampden, Maine. (ISO
100). 6 page index. Discusses weir fishing on the Penobscot River,
during the 1920s and 30s, near Winterport & Bangor, especially
Gilmore Beach, Whitney Beach, and Castle Rock; weirs owned by F. E.
(Floyd) Whitney; setting weirs, building weirs, weir season
(summer), shape of weir, fish caught in weirs (smelts, alewives, and
salmon), tending the weir, fishing rights; reasons for outlawing
weirs and gill nets; Lester Stubbs, warden and fisherman, had 10
weirs on Penobscot River. Talks about gill netting, financial
returns, catching smelts; sturgeon fishing, fishing methods, drift
netting, marketing and size of sturgeon; salmon fishing, nets, daily
activities, marketing. Discusses fish camps and their furnishings;
fishing with bag nets in the winter; Winterport fishermen Sidney
Johnson and Lin Perkins; eel potting at Stubbs Point, Oak Point,
Rooster Rock, and Bald Hill Cove, baiting the pots, marketing,
spearing eels, eel barrels; in gill nets. Also mentions John Rowe
and Ronald Randolph. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries Project.
Tape 1 hour: T733-T734
807 Avery Bowden interviewed by David Taylor, March 5, 1974,
at Bowden’s home in Orland, Maine. (ISO 100). 5 page index. Bowden
talks about fishing on the Penobscot River, Morse’s Cove, Orland
Dam, Verona Island, Alamoosook Lake, especially weir fishing for
salmon, smelts, and alewives; building weirs, goudy pole, placement
of weirs, closing a weir, taking fish from the weir, killing salmon
with club; working for his father, his father’s weirs; size of
seasonal catches, marketing salmon and alewives, salting alewives,
sold alewives to Tom Nickerson; fishing a seasonal job, father also
worked in the woods in the winter. Mentions Willis Givvs, George
Grindle, Frank Martin, Adison Marks, Ed Heath, Decatur Bridges,
Marvin Gray, Dave Davis, Reuben Simpson, Freddie Gross, and Oscar
Bridges. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries Project. Taper:
T735
831 Forrest Baker interviewed by David Taylor, March 26,
1974, at Baker’s camp on Green Lake in Dedham, Maine. (ISO 100). 1
page index, 5 page partial transcript. Baker discusses eel fishing
on the Penobscot River near South Orrington; describes eel pots
(traps), building eel pots, materials; Leon Hurd and Chet Stevens,
who also fished eels, and fishermen Walter Whitney and Ed Bridges;
salmon weir fishing; Sammy Stubbs, warden and gill net fisherman.
Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries Project. Tape 1 hour: T748
832 Calvin Young interviewed by David Taylor, April 3, 1974,
at Young’s home in Winterport, Maine. (ISO 100). 6 page index. Young
mentions his World War One job in a shipyard, job cutting cord wood;
father was a mason, brother-in-law ran ferry in Winterport. Young
describes winter fishing on the Penobscot River below Winterport, at
Mill Creek, Haggett Stream, Kempton’s Cove, Hurd’s Brook, Marsh
Rock, and Old Women’s Stream; fish camps, perils of ice-fishing,
marketing and price of fish, equipment, clothing, nets; Young plays
the hammered dulcimer, drawing of dulcimer; mentions George Page,
building a scow with Sid Johnson; fished with Ashley Young, Chet
Nealey from Hampden, Milton Baker, Raymond Down, and Phil Alley;
Waldo Perkins hauled the fish to market. Penobscot River Commercial
Fisheries Project. Tape 1 hour: T749
1993 Avery Bowden interviewed by David Taylor, March 12,
1974, at Bowden’s home in Orland, Maine. 2 page index. Bowden
discusses weir fishing on the Penobscot River for cod and alewives;
process of building or sticking a weir; winter storage of the weir;
smoking cod; tarring and maintenance of nets; names other fishermen
on the river near Orland and Verona; and fishing with his father, E.
Darling Bowden. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries Project. Tape 1
hour: T1960
1997 Gerald Crommett interviewed by David Taylor, October 9,
1973, at Crommett’s home in Passadumkeag, Maine. 3 page index.
Crommett discusses his years as an eel fisherman; buying his own
weir as a young man; current business as an eel wholesaler; buying
saltwater and freshwater eels; eel fishermen along the east coast
from the Maritime Provinces to Georgia; national and international
marketing of eels; details of equipment and catches from different
ways of catching eels including eel pots or traps, fight nets, and
weirs; and silver eels. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries
Project. Tape 45 minutes: T1964
1998 Sid Johnson interviewed by David Taylor, January 15,
1974, at Johnson’s home in Winterport, Maine. 2 page index. Johnson
talks about his experiences as a commercial smelt fisherman on the
Penobscot River; influence of weather and the tide on smelt fishing;
hauling the nets; Phil Alley from Frankfort first to use an engine
to haul his nets; placement of nets in the water; capacity,
durability, and mending of nets; marketing smelt; pollution and
marketing smelt; non-commercial gill netting for smelt; and cooking
smelt. Penobscot River Commercial Fisheries Project. Tape 1/2 hour:
T1965
