82 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



of the river. Before Struan is reached (12 miles) one or two 

 abrupt little cascades have been passed, and in all this rocky 

 bed no great amount of gravel is allowed to settle, hence a 

 great part of the upper Garry is of little use as spawning ground. 

 At Struan a double fall occurs in the gorge immediately below 

 the railway station. This double obstruction has always been 

 regarded as a serious obstacle to ascending fish, but in 1907 

 the Duke of Atholl, who own almost all the Garry, agreed to 

 the modification of both falls, and operations were commenced 

 at the expense of the Tay District Board to facilitate the ascent 

 of fish. Owing to the scarcity of good spawning ground above 

 for beyond Loch Garry a comparatively short and small 

 stream exists no attempt was made to entirely open up the 

 falls, but rather, by gradual removal of certain pieces of rock, 

 to allow a limited number of fish to ascend. At the spawning 

 time now, as a result of this careful alteration, from 90 to 

 100 fish may be seen, a sufficient number to occupy all the 

 available spawning ground. The Errichdie, a small tributary 

 which enters on the right bank a short distance below the 

 falls, offers several miles of spawning ground to fish which are 

 unable to make the ascent, but since the blasting operations 

 referred to, it is reported that fewer spawnings are in the 

 Errichdie than formerly. 



Passing out of the gorge at Struan, the Garry assumes again 

 for a time an open and rather uniform character, and passes 

 round the wide haugh which has been used as the training 

 camp of the Scottish Horse ; all this water is, however, not of 

 very much account to the anglers either for trout or salmon. 

 At Blair Atholl, the Tilt enters on the left bank. This river 

 drains two of the Duke's deer forests to the north, and until 

 recently was much obstructed. The worst fall was about 2 

 miles above Blair Castle, but this has now been entirely removed 

 by blasting, so that fish have a long stretch of spawning ground 

 open to them. In view of the rocky nature of the Garry, the 

 opening of the Tilt cannot fail to be of great value, and from 

 reports as to the result it appears that a large number of fish 

 are already taking advantage of the river during the summer 

 months of the angling season and have been caught by rod. 

 The Tilt enters the Garry with a brisk-running stream which 

 offers a good lead for fish. 



