114 American Fisheries Society 



agent just what this travel means, nor is any one more apt to be moved 

 by mercenary motives. Hence when I state that the railroads are fur- 

 nishing the state and national commissions with every facility needed 

 for their work of propagation and distribution it is not only a tribute 

 to the work of the state and national commissions, but a practical recog- 

 nition of angling as an unquestioned source of revenue as well. The 

 railroads in Colorado furnish the government with probably from 10 

 to 15 special cars a year for the transportation of government fish, he- 

 sides furnishing transportation for messengers in the baggage cars. 

 1 think you may safely say their contribution to the cause of fish cul- 

 ture is almost equal to that of the state and the nation for the work 

 in Colorado. This would not be the case excepting it had been proved 

 that it yields them immense returns. 



Now I brought this matter up largely that the Society might under- 

 stand the conditions, and possibly voice a note of warning to the states 

 and to the United States. 



I visited one of the United States reclamation projects out in 

 Nevada several years ago; it was on the Truckee River, one of the 

 finest fishing streams in the country. 1 found that, in connection with 

 the Carson-Truckee project, the river had been dammed, and with 

 absolutely no provision in the original construction for the passage of 

 fish. The investigations made at the time were brought about by tele- 

 graphic requests of the Nevada Fish and Game Protective Association 

 to their senators, asking that the Bureau investigate conditions. They 

 claimed that there were thousands of pounds of trout being taken daily 

 out of the Truckee River just below the dam. (3 wing to the execrable 

 fish laws of the state of Nevada, the pot fishermen were allowed to 

 fish right in the midst of the spawning season, and were taking out 

 10,000 or 12,000 pounds of trout a week. 



I investigated and found that one party of four on the first day the 

 season was open had taken from a small fishing area just below this 

 Truckee-Carson dam 1,060 pounds of fish ! I verified this statement by 

 going to the market man to whom they were shipped. This is a speci- 

 men of the abuses of irrigation. I wish to state that the government 

 promptly provided a lishway in this dam at Derby, Nev. It is my 

 understanding that in the later irrigation projects they have also pro- 

 vided fishways. 



