By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher
OCT. 31, 2018 | Gwinnett’s western border, all the way from Lake Lanier to below Holcomb Bridge Road where Gwinnett meets DeKalb County, is the Chattahoochee River. That cold-water flowing river has been a major force for people in this area for years.
When the Indians inhabited this area, the river was essentially a border between the Creek and Cherokee nations. As such it was something of a barrier, being difficult to cross. At low points, such as at what is today Jones Bridge, the river is shallow and rocky, allowing people to ford it, jumping from rock to rock.
With the arrival of the white man came ferries to cross the river, and later, bridges. Today the river is still a barrier, but one with several bridges, with motorists giving it little thought as they drive across.
Particularly in earlier days, the river was a source of food, especially protein, from its plentiful fish. The Indians somewhat tamed the river, building fish weirs, or watery traps, to make gathering fish from the river easier. One source says that fish weirs were maintained well into the 1700s.
Hester
Mary Hester of Duluth, who is CEO of LAN Systems of Berkeley Lake, a high-tech computer services company, got interested in these fish weirs, and documented them on her Homeowners Association website. Throughout the state of Georgia, it’s documented that there were at least 128 fishing weirs.
You can check out one primitive weir for yourself. One such weir Mary located is between State Bridge and Medlock Bridge Road, alongside the golf links of the Atlanta Country Club. You can see the remnants of the weir, as the water flows in a downward “V”, outlining the area.
These weirs were built by the Indians, and are quite an engineering feat. Most started with large rocks making stone dams under the water level, carefully constructed so as to channel the fish into this V. Limbs and poles were laid across the top of the weir. It was a rather simple and economical way to catch fish!
Some maintain that it was the Indian women who tended the weir. You can imagine women in the river, herding the fish by stirring up the water and driving the fish together. Then they could collect them in primitive baskets. No doubt they worked with pleasure at this. After all, they recognized that the fish would provide for their table, not only for the immediate meals, but by smoking the fish, they could continue to eat the river’s bounty during the winter months. Essentially, the river could help keep them alive.
Years later, with the Indians gone from the area, the settlers would continue to enjoy the fruits of the river. There is some indication that Indians even leased weirs to early settlers.
Weirs are no longer a focus of fishing from the Chattahoochee. Today the river remains popular as a trout stream. The cold waters help the trout thrive, with the Chattahoochee in this area the most southern of trout streams in Georgia.
By the way, if you want to fish the Chattahoochee, be alert: special regulations apply. Only artificial lures are allowed in the stretch from Georgia Highway 20 to Highway 141 (Medlock Bridge Road). If you use other bait, you could be in trouble.
Enjoy your fishing. Thanks, Mary, for this insight.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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