Souvenirs of Yesteryear: Eel weir in the Unadilla River
A large V-shaped, man-made, stone structure lies on the bottom of the Unadilla River about a quarter-mile north of Batterson Bridge. One of the photos shows it from a high bank in the Town of Unadilla, Otsego County. In the background is the Town of Guilford in Chenango County.
The structure points downstream with uneven arms. The east arm spans 280 feet on the bank and the west arm spans 150 feet on the bank. The river is about 260 feet wide here.
The other photo shows the owners of the east side of it, George and Polly Stafford. The structure was there when they moved here in 1961. It is normally not visible because the water covers it. It can be seen only on dry years.
When George first described it to me over the phone I immediately thought it might be an eel weir. Back when eels were common here, the Native Americans, and later the Euro-Americans, built V-shaped stone structures, almost like this one, to catch eels and other fish. The V pointed downstream.
However, eel weirs have an opening in the point of the V, where two men held a submerged, porous, woven basket in a horizontal position, one man on each side. Their collaborators upstream stomped in the water moving toward the point, thereby driving the fish into the basket. When the basket contained a sufficient mass of fish, the two men heaved it upright and hauled their catch to shore.
This structure has no apparent opening in the V, so it would not be an weir. A good illustrated article on eel weirs appears in the August 1995 issue of “The Conservationist” on pages 16-19. Our native eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea, southeast of Bermuda, and the females migrate up here while maturing. The males tend to remain coastal. The adults migrate back to the Sargasso to reproduce, and then perish.
Wing dams were also V-shaped stone structures which were used to elevate the water levels in shallow places so that canoes and bateaux could float over. Without such structures, the boats would have to be dragged. An 1810 engraving of a boat passing through a wing dam appears on the cover of the 2003 book by Philip Lord, “The Navigators. A Journal of Passage on the Inland Waterways of New York 1793.” But, like eel weirs, the wing dams had openings at the point of the V.
Consequently, I was puzzled by this specimen. Perhaps it was used to corral or pen fish, which would then be netted. Perhaps it once had an opening and someone, or rapid stream flow, could have plugged it later. Then too, perhaps it was used to hold bateaux. The term “bateau” (”bateaux” is plural) is French for boat, but it was used locally as the name for large dug-out logs, sometimes two or more stapled together for stability. The name had several phonetic spellings, such as “battoo.”
A photo of a two-logger appears in Mert Brownell’s 1976 book, “Unadilla Valley 1788-1976”, opposite page 1. On pages 84-85, he tells about Ezekiel Wheeler’s bateau in 1794. It was made of two gigantic, hollowed-out, pine logs and was eight feet wide. Wheeler’s bateau was discovered in 1871 in the benthic mud at Rockwells Mills. A flood washed it down to Mount Upton. A later flood carried it down to below Rockdale, where it sank into muck.
Fortunately, George and Polly directed me to Rodney Schultes. Rodney’s grandfather, George Medbury, used to fish here for eels, around 1920 or so. Rodney says the point was open at the time. It was filled in later. So the V-shaped structure really was an eel weir. George Medbury called it an eel rack. Sure enough, so does “The Conservationist” article.
Batterson Bridge was more than just a bridge. It was a hamlet, complete with inn, school, church, creamery, sawmill, and a cemetery. Brownell devotes a chapter to it (pages 98-101). The namesake of this place was Caleb Batterson, who built his bridge and his inn around 1819. Apparently there were three bridges here sequentially, two wooden ones, and the iron one that was removed in 1988 or so. Perhaps some old writings may have survived and might mention this eel weir. A similar structure lies in the Chenango River behind the Norwich High School, although it is not as well built.
These V-shaped structures are very endangered because of the onslaught of bulldozers clearing streams. I know of only two weirs in Chenango County, so I would like to learn about any others, while they are still present.
The structure points downstream with uneven arms. The east arm spans 280 feet on the bank and the west arm spans 150 feet on the bank. The river is about 260 feet wide here.
The other photo shows the owners of the east side of it, George and Polly Stafford. The structure was there when they moved here in 1961. It is normally not visible because the water covers it. It can be seen only on dry years.
When George first described it to me over the phone I immediately thought it might be an eel weir. Back when eels were common here, the Native Americans, and later the Euro-Americans, built V-shaped stone structures, almost like this one, to catch eels and other fish. The V pointed downstream.
However, eel weirs have an opening in the point of the V, where two men held a submerged, porous, woven basket in a horizontal position, one man on each side. Their collaborators upstream stomped in the water moving toward the point, thereby driving the fish into the basket. When the basket contained a sufficient mass of fish, the two men heaved it upright and hauled their catch to shore.
This structure has no apparent opening in the V, so it would not be an weir. A good illustrated article on eel weirs appears in the August 1995 issue of “The Conservationist” on pages 16-19. Our native eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea, southeast of Bermuda, and the females migrate up here while maturing. The males tend to remain coastal. The adults migrate back to the Sargasso to reproduce, and then perish.
Wing dams were also V-shaped stone structures which were used to elevate the water levels in shallow places so that canoes and bateaux could float over. Without such structures, the boats would have to be dragged. An 1810 engraving of a boat passing through a wing dam appears on the cover of the 2003 book by Philip Lord, “The Navigators. A Journal of Passage on the Inland Waterways of New York 1793.” But, like eel weirs, the wing dams had openings at the point of the V.
Consequently, I was puzzled by this specimen. Perhaps it was used to corral or pen fish, which would then be netted. Perhaps it once had an opening and someone, or rapid stream flow, could have plugged it later. Then too, perhaps it was used to hold bateaux. The term “bateau” (”bateaux” is plural) is French for boat, but it was used locally as the name for large dug-out logs, sometimes two or more stapled together for stability. The name had several phonetic spellings, such as “battoo.”
A photo of a two-logger appears in Mert Brownell’s 1976 book, “Unadilla Valley 1788-1976”, opposite page 1. On pages 84-85, he tells about Ezekiel Wheeler’s bateau in 1794. It was made of two gigantic, hollowed-out, pine logs and was eight feet wide. Wheeler’s bateau was discovered in 1871 in the benthic mud at Rockwells Mills. A flood washed it down to Mount Upton. A later flood carried it down to below Rockdale, where it sank into muck.
Fortunately, George and Polly directed me to Rodney Schultes. Rodney’s grandfather, George Medbury, used to fish here for eels, around 1920 or so. Rodney says the point was open at the time. It was filled in later. So the V-shaped structure really was an eel weir. George Medbury called it an eel rack. Sure enough, so does “The Conservationist” article.
Batterson Bridge was more than just a bridge. It was a hamlet, complete with inn, school, church, creamery, sawmill, and a cemetery. Brownell devotes a chapter to it (pages 98-101). The namesake of this place was Caleb Batterson, who built his bridge and his inn around 1819. Apparently there were three bridges here sequentially, two wooden ones, and the iron one that was removed in 1988 or so. Perhaps some old writings may have survived and might mention this eel weir. A similar structure lies in the Chenango River behind the Norwich High School, although it is not as well built.
These V-shaped structures are very endangered because of the onslaught of bulldozers clearing streams. I know of only two weirs in Chenango County, so I would like to learn about any others, while they are still present.
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