Spring 2003 Edition       

The Weir   It's a wonder that it's still around at all -- considering that it has barely changed since the first European explorers sailed up the Passaic River almost 400 years ago.   One of the few visible remnants of Native American civilization in the entire northeastern United States – is in Fair Lawn.   If you go to the Fair Lawn Avenue bridge and look to the right about 200 yards north, you can see a "V"-shaped wall of stones.  Native Americans set up these stones --  known as a fish weir -- to trap shad, striped bass, eel and other fish.  The stone spans about 290 feet (nearly a football field wide) across the entire width of the Passaic River.   The weir is in excellent shape, this part of the river never had heavy industry nor heavy river traffic.  Allen Lutins, an archeologist and former Fair Lawn resident, told Fair Lawn News he has always been amazed that the weir has survived through the centuries.  "It is one of the things that led to my becoming a professional archaeologist".      Lutins said the weir may have been built by the Lenape Indians, a group of Native Americans known to reside in the region at the time of initial European contact.  However, he said "the weir could conceivably date to thousands of years earlier."   The weir has had some minor changes, though.  Approximately 30 feet from the Fair Lawn bank, the narrow opening was widened a few feet in the 1930’s.  Also in the 1930's, some Paterson kids moved some stones to make a swimming hole on the Fair Lawn side.  (The Paterson side was more polluted from the textile dyes).    The weir has been able to remain relatively intact because the river has never gotten much traffic along Fair Lawn's border.  Most likely, nothing much bigger than a canoe has ever traveled this far north.  (Since the water is shallow and the Great Falls are only a few miles upstream, there has never been a lot of river traffic along this section of the river).    A steep embankment along side the Paterson border also helped protect the weir.    Fair Lawn's Borough Historian, Jane Diepeveen, told Fair Lawn News that the  weir was the source of the area's original name Slooterdam or Sluiterdam.  The weir reminded the Dutch of a dam and the opening was known as a ‘sluith’.      How It Was Used Fish were one of the best sources of food in the area  -- they were relatively easy to catch compared to land animals.   The Fair Lawn weir is at a spot on the river where water levels are relatively shallow, and the current is relatively slow.  The Native Americans probably used the weir the most when the water was low, below the level of the rocks.   When you look at the ‘V’ shaped weir from the Fair Lawn Avenue Bridge, you’ll notice the wider part is upstream (northwest); the pointed part of the 'V' is downstream.   According to Anthony DeCondo, a member of the Archeological Society of New Jersey, a 17th century European missionary wrote about how he saw Native Americans using weirs.  The point of the weir was opened up to allow fish through the weir on their way upstream to lay eggs.  After these sprawning fish went through the weir, the point would get blocked.  Meanwhile upstream, men and boys waited for the fish with their nets.  Slowly and methodically, the men and boys would walk, with the trapped fish, down towards the weir.   At the weir, using baskets and small nets the woman and boys would catch the small fish; the men using spears and harpoons would catch the larger ones.   Other methods can be seen at www.bergen.org/aast/projects/weir.   Nothing To Protect the Weir Lutins and DeCondo are now trying to get the Weir designated a State and National Historic Place.  Allen Lutins told Fair Lawn News, "Regrettably, there is nothing protecting the weir.”    DeCondo has spent a lot of time in the water, in the past few years, to help document the weir's structure.  He said the designation process requires more evidence to date the weir.  He has waded into the water to study every inch of the weir.  It brings back many fond childhood memories for DeCondo.  When he was growing up near the river he used to fish off the weir; DeCondo and his friends called it the 'Indian Bridge'.   So far, no native American arrowheads or tools have been found nearby that would help identify the weir's age.  DeCondo is heading over to the County offices in Hackensack to research documentation that may show that the deed was used as a landmark, hundreds of years ago, in original real estate deeds.     Where To Learn More About The Weir: - Bergen County Technical School Web Site - Article on the Weir by Lutins and DeCondo (including photo above) - DeCondo periodically gives tours of the weir.  You can call him at 201-703-3082 or  e- mail him at coboro@aol.com - You can see the tools Native Americans used to catch fish at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.     The Other Wonders of Fair Lawn     Recently, hundreds of Fair Lawn News readers voted for their 7 Wonders of Fair Lawn (See the article in the previous edition on the Kraft / Nabisco Bakery)   In future editions, Fair Lawn News will publish the other Five Wonders of Fair Lawn.    If you want to find out when our next edition is available, just type in your e-mail address in the box below and click Notify Me