Fishing on the Qualla Boundary

Fishing on the Qualla Boundary

Cherokee Indians

Communities

Fishing

Manners and customs

This photograph, made for the Smithsonian Institution's National Anthropological Archives around 1888, shows how Cherokee families caught fish in the region's fast-flowing rivers. Before the hunt could begin, the Cherokee first constructed a fish weir in the river. Walls of stone, built along the water's edge, were laid far apart. Farther downstream, they necked in, funneling fish into a smaller and smaller area as they moved with the current. At the lower end of the weir, entire families would stand in the river shouting and pounding the water to drive the fish ahead into the weir. Ready with baskets in hand, they scooped up fish as they became trapped at the mouth of the weir. In this picture, Cherokee men and women hold open flat baskets, but the Cherokee were also known to make a specifically shaped basket to catch fish. A fish basket had a rim that flared out, giving the prey an easy target for capture. Its shape was necked in to confine the fish once inside, while its weave was open enough to allow water to drain out.

National Anthropological Archives

Photograph Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

1887/1889

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg

photographs

StillImage

11093

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/11093

2009-03-17

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC 28719;

Qualla Boundary

Appalachian Region, Southern

8" x 10"(dimension)

Cherokee Traditions