20 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



end of the dam where the artificial embankment meets the 

 solid earth. (See figures 3 and 4.) If the overflow water 

 comes from heavy rainstorms, and occurs only a few times 

 during the year, the natural ground near the end of the dam 

 at one side of the pond may be made to answer the purpose. 

 If such an arrangement is adopted, strong meshed wire fences 

 fastened to heavy posts well set in the ground should be 

 built to prevent the fish from escaping, and as the floating 

 trash would soon choke up a small-meshed wire gate or fence, 

 it will be necessary to build two or three wire fences with 

 different sized meshes. The strong "hog wire" fence should 

 be up stream ; following this, there should be a three-inch 

 mesh fence that would catch the stuff that slipped through the 

 coarser fence ; and beyond this, a quarter-inch mesh fence that 

 would keep the small fish from escaping. In actual practice, 

 I placed an inch-mesh wire screen between the three-inch mesh 

 and the quarter-inch mesh screens. It helped very materially 

 to prevent trash from stopping up the quarter-inch mesh 

 screen. (See arrangement for cement spillway in figure 4.) 

 These' overflow places should be watched during periods of 

 high water, and any accumulating material removed with 

 pitchforks and rakes. 



It may cost a little more to make it, but there is nothing 

 safer and better (and perhaps cheaper in the long run) than 

 a reenforced cement spillway or overflow varying in width 

 from 5 to 50 feet and in height from 1 to 4 feet and large 

 enough to accommodate the overflow that must be cared for 

 in times of high water. The spillway should vary in length 

 from a few feet to several rods, depending upon the lay of the 

 ground at the end of the dam and along the side of the pond. 

 If there is plenty of stone in the neighborhood, stone or a 

 combination of stone and cement might be used to construct 

 the spillway and retaining walls. 



To Protect Ponds and Embankments. 



In building ponds it is always advisable, when it is possible 

 to do so, to have them so arranged that at times of inundation 

 the flood waters will go around or be directed alongside and 

 not through the ponds themselves. In many cases side ditches 

 or spillways may be so constructed as to carry away the flood 

 waters, and they work very well where the overflow is not 

 too great and where the grade makes it possible to carry away 

 the water in this manner. Water should always be carried 

 far enough below the dam to prevent any running back or 

 eddying that might do damage. 



Protecting the Neiv-made Dam. 



For a few years, at least until the banks have become well 

 settled and are covered with sod and bushes, it is frequently 

 accessary to give some immediate special protection to the new- 



