ANGLING IN THE IRWELL. 113 



caught a trout in the river myself. I knew by sight an 

 old man who got his living (according to his own account) 

 by fishing in the streams around Manchester, I once saw 

 him at Agecroft, fishing above the bridge, and he had two 

 or three eels. I had some confidential talk with him and 

 found that his basket was more frequently weighted with 

 hares and rabbits than with fish, and that fishing was with 

 him only a cloak for poaching. About the year 1840 a 

 salmon was caught, nearly dead, above Warrington ; it 

 was about eighteen pounds weight. The latest Irwell 

 fishing I have known was about 1850, when some people 

 used to fish in Peel Park. They caught some fish, but I 

 do not know the species. 



And now for the future of the Irwell. There have 

 been put into it, as refuse, several materials which, with 

 the progress of science and invention, have been found 

 capable of better uses, and of these I will name a few. 

 Gas-tar was put in ; it now sells for thousands of pounds 

 per annum, and forms the basis of many important trades. 

 Ammonia-water was so wasted, and it is now sold and used. 

 Gas lime was also freely put in the river before a better use 

 was found for it. Cotton waste was put in, I have seen 

 the river white with this material ; we have now a group 

 of traders called cotton waste dealers, who have an 

 Exchange of their own. Dye stuffs have been redeemed 

 from waste to a large extent, but they yet form a great 

 portion of the river's pollution. Soap has been very 

 largely put in, and in some cases profitably kept out and 

 converted into fine tallow candles and alkalies. Metallic 

 and chemical refuse, coal, ashes, and cinders are yet 



