CLEARFIELD – Museum volunteers installed a new informative sign along the walkway on the rear-side of the museum property located at 104 E. Pine St.
It contains photos and history of the eels and shad that once migrated up the Susquehanna River to the county. Pictured are Johnny and Justina Gaylor.
Every spring eels and shad would migrate through the Chesapeake Bay up the Susquehanna River over 200 miles to Clearfield County to spawn.
This journey would start in the Caribbean and the eels and shad were caught here and eaten or used as fertilizer.
Residents from New Millport, Coalport, Osceola and Rockton spoke of eating eels and pitchforking shad.
Traps were set in the river, constructed of stone in the form of a “V.” The tip of the “V” was upstream, causing the eels to become trapped by swimming into an inclined log or wooden box as they returned towards the sea.
One such trap was located on the bend south of town and is still present today. River mussels were another food source that disappeared due to lack of sea migration.
The building of the Holtwood Dam south of Harrisburg on the river in 1910 ended this annual journey.