By Dr. Jason Chambers
This past winter I had the pleasure of mentoring a group of students at Tri-County Early College (TCEC) in Murphy, North Carolina as they studied the history of the local fishing culture. It was part of a larger school-wide project that connected students with their Appalachian heritage. With help from local residents, students in small groups each chose a different aspect of Appalachian culture to study. Some of the topics included hide tanning, medicine, spinning, basket weaving, blacksmithing, food preservation, music, and more. My group of students decided they wanted to look at how the fishing culture in their region has changed and evolved over time, and how the different events in history (Trail of Tears, the Great Depression, the New Deal, Industrial Age, etc.) have had an effect on how we fish, why we fish, the technology we use, and even the species we catch.
First, a little about the school. Located on the campus of Tri-County Community College, TCEC is an innovative public high school where students begin in the 9th grade and graduate in four years with a high school diploma and an opportunity to earn a two-year college degree. Students can choose a two-year university transfer degree or a career-based technical degree like Welding or Auto Mechanics. Project-based, hands-on learning is the norm and students get a say in which local or world problem they want to tackle. Check out the student-made website â www.tricountyearlycollege.org.
The âfishing groupâ as it came to be known, divided their project into four phases based on the acronym FISH: Finding information, Interviewing local residents, Securing artifacts, and the Heritage Hoedown presentation.
In phase one the students used the internet and the college library resources to research the history, stories, and ancient fishing techniques used in the area. One thing they learned was how the native Cherokee Indians would use something called a fish weir to catch large numbers of fish. A fish weir is a large stack of rocks, up to 60 feet in length or longer, arranged in a v-formation, and often built strategically on the downstream side of a bend in the river. Several people would wait at the apex of the funnel with fish baskets while others would line up across the river a hundred yards or so upstream. They would make noise and beat the water as they drove the fish into the trap and down into the baskets, which would fill up quickly with hundreds of fish. Sometimes they would ground up buckeye nuts and spread the powder into the water, stunning the fish and causing them to float to the top. Each spring the Cherokee Indians would hold a festival in what is now Murphy, NC when the Sicklefin Redhorse fish was spawning. This fish was known to the Cherokee as âJunghitlaâ which means âwearing a red feather.â Growing up to two feet long and weighing 8 pounds, they would catch hundreds of them right where the Hiwassee and Valley Rivers come together.
In phase two the students interviewed local residents to record their fish stories, the techniques they used, and how the fish species they catch have changed over the years. Some of the techniques they learned about would not be considered sporting or even legal today. There were stories of men using half-sticks of dynamite to stun and gather fish. âPeople thought differently back thenâ said one person. âNobody really thought of it as a sport. It was simply a way to feed your families.â A few recalled how the introduction of fishing licenses back in North Carolina 1927 was not well received in these mountain communities. âMy grandfather refused to ever buy a license saying he didnât need a permit to put food on his tableâ said one long-time resident. Some of the stories were more light-hearted and funny. One person recalled how their great uncle was picked up by the game warden for having a fish that was an inch and a half too short. He was put in the back of the truck with the fish and hauled to town. However, on the way there he pulled and stretched the fish so much that it was legal by the time they got to the ranger station!
The students came to learn that after the great depression, fishing began to evolve into more of a sporting activity than simply a way to just gather food. The Hiwassee Dam was completed in 1940 and brought jobs, electricity, and more leisure time to the mountain residents. The dam also produced a new lake to the area, and with it came different species, fishing methods, and technology. Unfortunately, the dam also interrupted the spawning cycle of several native fish. One student interviewed Powell Wheeler, the local district fisheries biologist who explained how the local fish populations have fluctuated over time and how the introduction of the invasive Blueback herring only a few years ago has dramatically affected the local lakes and necessitated the introduction of the striped bass.
For phase three, âsecuring artifactsâ at TCEC simply means preparing evidence in the form of pictures, citations, or physical items that display how learning has taken place. For this phase the students continued to record and transcribe their interviews, as well as gather items like fishing poles and old lures to display for their final presentation. David Wood, a local trout fishing guide and former Cherokee county commissioner, came to the school one day and gave a mini-lecture, complete with some antique rods and reels, on how fishing technology has evolved. He gave a demonstration of fly casting and ended the day with a field trip to the Nottely River to see ancient fish weirs build by the Cherokee. Along the way the students saw some pretty cool historical items like an old forgotten train trestle and an abandoned talc mine. A few weeks later, David took some students on a trout fishing trip in the Nantahala National forest where they learned about natural fish barriers, fly tying, and how the now-closed Tellico four wheel drive trails nearly destroyed the native brook trout population, there.
Phase four was the Heritage Hoedown, the culminating event of the school-wide project held at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. Over 400 local residents turned up for the event to watch the students display what theyâd learned. The fishing group set up a table with a timeline of historic events and their effects on the local fishing culture. They had old lures and fishing poles, and gave out samples of trout they smoked that morning over chips of apple wood.
The project was a huge success! Some of the students in the fishing group had never been fishing, much less caught, cleaned, and cooked fish all in one day. The group was able to demonstrate how they had applied concepts from all the core subjects â English, Math, History, and Science â to help them learn about the history and evolution of their own local Appalachian fish culture.
Dr. Jason Chambers is a Dean at Tri-County Community College in Murphy, NC and the Instructor/Liaison for Tri-County Early College. When heâs not in the office or the classroom, Dr. Chambers can be found on his family cattle farm or (most likely) out fishing on Hiwassee Lake. You can email him at Unaka@yahoo.com.