Dychc. — Fishways and Dams 305 



DISCUSSION 



Mr. G. H. Graham, Springfield, Mass. : I am very much interested 

 in fishways, and I would like to ask Mr. Meehan or Professor Dyche, 

 or anybody else, if there are any fishways which will permit of the fish 

 going up, and in that respect are they a success? 



Mr. Meehan: I can speak of the matter so far as a fishway that is 

 in operation by the state of Pennsylvania is concerned. It is a fishway 

 designed in the first place, I believe, by some one connected with the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, at Washington, and adopted by the United States 

 Government, also adopted by Pennsylvania ; a device known as the Cail 

 fishway. It has been very effective in the waters of Pennsylvania. 

 I.asl summer, while inspecting one of these fishways, I drew the water 

 off. This fishway was 300 feet in length, and the character of the dam 

 was such that it was impracticable to follow the specifications exactly 

 in its construction. This dam was one of the largest in the world, 60 

 feet high and about 50 feet thick at the base. The consequence was 

 that the outlet of the fishway had to be something like 200 feet away 

 from the toe of the dam in order that it might be submerged at low 

 water. It was a double fishway, too, and with double width to every 

 compartment. From the bottom to the top it was simply packed with 

 eels, thousands upon thousands of them. There were also thousands 

 of yearling and larger sized sunfish. Several bass were found in the 

 compartments and one or two pike-perch, showing that the fish would 

 go up those fishways. 



The same fishway was placed in a large trout stream in Tioga 

 County, where the dam prevented the fish that had gone down in the 

 spring from going up above again along about September. The pool 

 below the dam prior to the erection of the fishway was always packed 

 with trout and very few large trout were ever caught in the water 

 immediately above the dam. But after the building of the fishway 

 many large trout were caught, and trout were seen, according to 

 reports to the office, going through the fishway. 



We found, however, that shad would not go through such fishways 

 unless they were very low. In one dam on the Susquehanna River, at 

 Clarks berry, we had four of those fishways and, prior to that time 

 no traces of shad were found above the dam; but the following year 

 some dead spent shad were found in the west branch of the Susque- 

 hanna near Williamsport. Also in some nets that we found on the 

 north branch of the Susquehanna about 50 miles above there were a 

 number of young shad. But we must say that our experience with 

 fishways and shad has been rather disappointing. Shad apparently are 

 afraid to go through them. 



The fishway itself consists of a series of compartments or boxes: 

 the bulkheads forming the compartments are provided with openings 

 on alternate sides, and only of sufficient size so as to cause some of the 

 water to flow over the bulkheads, thus allowing the fish to either pass 

 through said openings or over the top of the bulkheads. So far as 



