THE ISLA 73 



Aberfeldy and Grandtully Bridge during recent years are : 



1911 .... 199 



1912 .... 153 



1913 .... 196 



1914 .... 253 



1915 241 



1916 .... 212 



1917 .... 156 



1918 .... 183 



1919 .... 188 



1920 . 245 



RIVER ISLA 



The Isla tributary enters immediately below Meikleour on 

 the left bank, a short distance below the handsome new road 

 bridge which now crosses the Tay to Kinclaven, Murthly, and 

 Stanley. The mouth of the Isla is peculiarly sluggish, and 

 since the Tay sweeps round the bend below the bridge with a 

 merry current, the water of the Isla seems to produce little or 

 no effect upon it, and the lead in for fish is poor in consequence. 

 Plans for improving the mouth of the river have been suggested 

 more than once, but so far nothing has been done. For some 

 miles the Isla is deep and sluggish and infested by pike and 

 grayling, though a finer character is found in the Ericht which 

 flows into it from the north through Blairgowrie, where, at 

 the Keith, serious obstructions exist in the form of cascades, 

 and eventually a perpendicular weir of great height. An 

 attempt was made here many years ago to allow salmon to 

 ascend by the erection of an American fish-way of the Mac- 

 donald type. The floods, however, soon choked up the side 

 channels of the pass with gravel, so that the steep descent of 

 water was practically unchecked. I believe no salmon ever 

 negotiated the difficulty. 



The Isla is a long stream, its source being actually only 

 a little over 6 miles south-west of Lochnagar and 1 

 miles north-east of the point where the shires of Aberdeen, 

 Forfar, and Perth meet. The source is at an altitude of 3,100 

 feet, in the Canlochan and the Cannes glens, two steep comes 

 south of Carn-na-Glasha. The length of the river is about 46 

 miles. The scenery of the upper part is remarkably fine. 

 At the Reekie Linn, 3 miles west of Alyth, the river has cut 

 a gorge fully 100 feet deep, and descends by two falls of 60 

 feet and 20 feet, presenting during times of flood a beautiful 

 spectacle. Salmon do not reach as far as this, however, being 

 stopped by a double cascade in another deep and narrow defile 



