DANVILLE, Pa. — Skycam 16 and a high school teacher helped us peer into the history of the 'V-shaped structure at the Susquehanna River in Danville.
The structure is said to date back centuries and is believed to have been created by Native Americans to catch eels.
According to Danville High School environmental science teacher Van Wagner, eels would get funneled into the inner point of the 'V' where a trap would be held.
Towns from Bloomsburg up to Berwick had eel fisheries up until world war I.
"Ten miles down, there was the town of Shamokin, which is now Sunbury. Shamokin [is] a Native American name that means 'where we fish for eels.' It's a defining feature to our region," says Wagner.
But when modern dams were built downriver, eel migrations from the Atlantic Ocean stopped, and the underwater formations became relics.
Wagner and his students are part of an effort to bring eels back to the Susquehanna River, raising them in class.
"It's really cool to see that such a small creature could grow to such a big thing that was so important to the Native Americans' diet," says one of his students.
Wagner and his students often go to the river to further understand the history of the Native American fishing technique.
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