622 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



B— OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE TRIBUTAKIES OF LAKE CHAM 



PLAIN. 



By M. C. Edmuxds. 



Weston, Yt., Kovemher 22, 1872. 



Dear Sir : In accordauce with instructions from you under date of 

 July 26, 1872, I proceeded to make examinations of the rivers in Lake 

 Champlain Valley and the south shore of Lake Ontario. In proceed- 

 ing to the work, I took up first in order Lake George. This lake is 

 situated to the west of Lake Champlain, and in an obtuse angle to its 

 flow northward. It is thirty-six miles long, and from one to three miles 

 wide. It is principally made up of large springs at the bottom of the 

 lake ; some of the springs are very large, covering an area of one-half 

 acre or more. High mountain-ranges extend on either side, from which 

 issue small brooks and rivulets from three to five miles long, only 

 one of which is sufficiently large for manufacturing-purposes. The 

 water-shed of this lake is quite limited in extent, as the mountains shut 

 in close npon the water's edge, and the streams are consequently rapid 

 and precipitous. The lake debouches into Lake Champlain at a point 

 near the village of Ticonderoga,* N. Y., and descends over high, per- 

 pendicular falls and roaring cataracts, 250 feet, in a distance less than 

 two miles. No salmon or migratory fish was ever known to be in this 

 lake, and the reasons are quite obvious, in the presence of the falls 

 mentioned above. 



I gave but little notice to the streams emptying into this lake in view 

 of the foregoing facts, and can say only this in conclusion, that there 

 would be little feasibility in introducing the migratory fishes. The prob - 

 abilities are that it never could be stocked with these fishes without an 

 enormous outlay for fish-ways. It is, however, one of the finest inland 

 waters of America for the breeding of fish, because of the purity of 

 its water. For all of the fresh- water Salmonidce it is especially adapted, 

 and is now, as formerly, largely inhabited by them. 



I took up next in order the inspection of Lake Champlain and its 

 tributaries, not visiting, however, any localities south of the junction 

 of Lake George witli this lake, owing to my previous knowledge of the 

 marshy condition of the country surrounding the immediate portion of 

 that part of the lake. 



No rivers of any importance debouch into this lake between Ticon- 

 deroga and the mouth of Otter Creek in Yermont. The latter river is 

 the longest in Yermont, and rises in the southwestern portion of the 

 State, flowing northwesterly, and empties into the lake at about 44'^ 20' 

 north latitude. Eight miles from its mouth, at or near the city of Yer- 

 gennes, is situated a natural fall 35 feet in height, over which no salmon 

 was ever known to pass. I found that salmon frequented the river at 



* See map. 



