110 American Fisheries Society 



that I have found there on different occasions millions of eels, 3 to 4 

 inches in length ; and millions of them dying on account of the barrier 

 being placed there ; and if it is possible to do so I would like to learn 

 of some model or plan of a fishway for that dam that would allow at 

 least the eels to ascend the river. 



Professor Dyche: My observations are confined to the kind of fish 

 we have, such as catfish, bass, German carp, buffalo and suckers. I 

 know nothing about shad or salmon, and our fishways are built for 

 such varieties of fish as we have in Kansas. The dams we have experi- 

 mented with are from 6 to 16 feet in height. It may be a more serious 

 thing to put a successful fishway over a dam from 20 to 40 feet in 

 height. 



Mr. Buller: This dam is 65 feet high. 



Professor Dyche: That is too much of a dam for inc. It might 

 discourage the most ambitious of Kansas fish. 



Mr. Cranston : The reading of the paper and subsequent discussion 

 has been very interesting to me, and has called to my mind a question 

 in a problem that I had to confront on which I think possibly I may 

 get some information here ; and in order to make this question clear I 

 will briefly state the particular instance that 1 have in mind. 



In the Clackamas River, a tributary of the Williamette, a large 

 power company has completed the construction of a dam, for the gen- 

 eration of power, which is 87 feet high. The Clackamas River is a 

 fine trout stream and is a highway for the ascension of all the native 

 salmon, particularly the chinook and steelhead. In compliance with the 

 law, we insisted on the construction of an adequate fishway over this 

 obstruction, and the company that erected it has placed there a concrete 

 fishway which has as many pools as there are feet of rise, that is, 87 

 pools, a foot of rise to each pool. It starts in a deep pool at the foot 

 and has a tortuous course passing under itself once; it is built entirely 

 of concrete; and I am told it has added to the cost of the structure 

 about $20,000. It has not been installed long enough so that I can 

 report as to its actual workings ; but the entrance of the last pool 

 into the upper pond is the one point of objection which I raised to it 

 on inspection. 



Now, my question is whether the salmon, trout and other fish that 

 inhabit this stream, of which most of you have some knowledge, would 

 be turned back by the fact that in passing from the last pool into the 

 upper waters of the pond, it will be necessary for the fish to pass 

 through a gate, and through a dark tunnel that is as long as the crest 

 of the dam is thick, some six or eight feet. The flow of the water 

 into the fishway is regulated by a large valve operated by a hand 

 wheel on the crest of the dam ; and in case of very high water, this 

 valve being operated to prevent the inrush of the water, would abso- 

 lutely stop the passage of any fish, the flow being regulated by the 

 manipulation of this valve. I haven't any doubt in my mind, from 

 observing the construction of the fishway, that it is practicable in all 



