2 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



always eat down into the old channels or keep to more than 

 parts of the old channels. Ice carried great masses of boulders 

 and debris, made huge banks here and overturned obstacles 

 there. Those causes are responsible for the fact that the main 

 watershed of the country frequently shows no connection with 

 the geological structure, wanders about, as it were, in total 

 disregard of it. 



A glance at a map of a watershed shows how near to the 

 Atlantic seaboard the line keeps in the north of Scotland, and 

 how impossible it is therefore that the rivers in the north-west 

 can be of any great size. With the first sweep eastwards of 

 the line we have the presence of the largest rivers of the Western 

 Central Highlands, the Lochy, the Spean, and the Awe. With 

 the passage of the line into the Lowlands we have the large 

 river Clyde, still, alas, barred to salmon by the pollutions of 

 Glasgow, pollutions which, under the enlightened modern 

 treatment now in course of development, are steadily 

 diminishing. 



The eastern side of the watershed line contains the great 

 majority of the leading salmon rivers of the country, since the 

 courses of the rivers are longer, and in great measure free from 

 natural obstructions in the shape of waterfalls. The Spey and 

 the Tay are each a hundred miles long. The Dee and Tweed 

 are almost that length, while the Findhorn, Deveron, Don, and 

 Forth follow closely. In the last mentioned the requirements 

 of man have to a considerable extent interfered with the 

 arrangements of nature, for Glasgow has carried off an enormous 

 quantity of water which under normal conditions should have 

 found its way to the eastern seaboard. A proposal for a similar 

 transference of water to the west coast, in the interests of a 

 commercial undertaking, was frustrated by the salmon fishing 

 interests of the Tay. 



This question of water supply, either for domestic and 

 industrial purposes or for power, is one which is bound to bulk 

 more largely as our population increases and our enterprise 

 extends. Projects of considerable magnitude are constantly 

 being laid in the industrial incubator. The huge operations at 

 Kinlochleven have been established for years and other schemes 

 are taking shape in other parts of the country. The very high 

 value of salmon fisheries is often growled against by angling 



