The pyramids of Egypt were built about 4,500 years ago. Native Americans built giant stone structures in our area as long as 6,000 years ago...and they can still be seen! I grew up on Bald Top Mountain and had a great view of the Susquehanna River below. As a child I noticed a giant “V” in the River that was clearly visible from our home. Dad explained to me this was an “eel dam” that was used by Indians to catch Eels. American Eels are fish that live in freshwater streams like our river. Each fall they swim downstream and head to the Sargasso Sea (off the coast of the Carolinas). Here they lay their eggs. Eventually these eggs hatch and the baby Eels, known as elvers, make the 23 year journey back to the waters where their parents lived. They ascend the rivers and can live over 50 years.

Native Americans constructed Eel weirs to trap them in the fall as the adults swam to the ocean. This consisted of a stone dam of rocks that would funnel the eels to a wooden trap or weir. Hundreds of pounds of Eels could be caught each day during the peak weeks of the migration. They would then smoke and dry the Eel meat to be used all winter. This was likely the most important source of protein and calories for local people for several thousand years. The oldest known site is in Maine and has been radiocarbon dated to 6,000 years ago. The DanvilleRiverside site could easily be just as old. Once this technology was developed it spread all over the continent.

People still used this Eel dam into the early 1900’s. Even in a poor eel year like 1912, the eel take was staggering; 50,000 eels, weighing more than 44,000 pounds, were caught in PA. In Danville, in September 1914, three tons of eels were taken in
10 days. Some were 3’ or longer and were sold for 18 cents per pound if cleaned or 15 cents per pound if uncleaned. The word would spread quickly when the eels were starting downstream and men would leave their jobs to man their eel nets. Boys could be seen walking the streets of Danville with a stringer of eels thrown over their backs. They would stop at restaurants, bars, and family homes to sell the delicacy to anxiously waiting purchasers. Most folks agreed that eel was especially goodeating when smoked. By the 1920’s giant cement dams blocked the Susquehanna River and migratory fish like Eels and Shad declined in great numbers. My students at Lewisburg High School have partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to raise Eels in our classroom. We then release them in local streams. This will not fix the problem of dams blocking migration but considering they can live 50+ years, it will at least put some Eel back in local streams for now.

Enjoy this drone footage taken yesterday by Luke Wagner. You are looking at a stone dam built by highly advanced people several thousand years ago...and it’s right in our backyard.