6 



lars WHS but $S. Mr. Agassiz requested me to send liim the bill for 

 payment, but it seemed to me so becoming a service for the associa- 

 tion to bear the expense, aaid so creditable to its record to be iden- 

 tified at this stagp in its history witli so good a work, that I witheld 

 the })ill from tlie professor, and beg permission to recommend to the 

 association to ])ay it from their own funds. 



St. Lawkence Cokrespondence, 

 During tlie session of the "High Joint Commission" at Washing- 

 ton, last spring, I i-eceived a letter from Hon. Stephen H. Ainsworth, 

 asking me, as secretary of the association, to request onr State con- 

 gressional delegation to use their influence with the Commission to 

 adopt some measures towards removing the obstructions in the river 

 St. Lawrence which prevent the sahnon from ascending its tributaries. 

 I accordingly wrote to our New Hampshire senators and representa- 

 tives, and the following is the correspondence which was elicited : 



Chaklestown, N. H., J^ebruary 2Y, 1871. 

 Hon. Samuel M. Bell : 



Dear Sir. — I beg leave to call your attention to a matter of very 

 considerable magnitude, and one which the circumstance of the con- 

 vening of the High Joint Commission, now in session at Washington, 

 renders of urgent importance at the present time, I refer to the 

 opening of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence river to the entrance 

 and yearly migration of salmon, which are now prevented from reach- 

 ing these streams by the obstructions and implements for their capture 

 in the main river. 



These tributaries form the natural routes of these valuable fish, and 

 also contain their natural spawning grounds ; and covering, as they 

 do, thousands of miles of river channel, their fisheries would furnish 

 annually, if the salmon were allowed to traverse these streams, returns 

 compared with which the number now canght in the main river are 

 very insignificant. Furthermore, the salmon of these upper streams, 

 in many instances running through a populous country, would, from 

 their local demand and proximity to a market, represent a money value 

 many fold greater than the same fish caught in the uninhabited regions 

 near the mouth of the river. 



This is a matter largely aftecting the interests of the communities 

 inhabiting the basins of the tributaries in question, and it calls for 

 especial attention at this juncture, from the fact that an opportunity 

 is afforded by the meeting of the commission referred to for reaching 

 a satisfactory adjustment of the difficulties — an opportunity which 

 may not return for a long term of years. 



It should be remembered that, in pressing this matter, we are not 

 asking favors from Canada, as the Canadians on either side of the St. 



