130 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



District Board had repeatedly in autumn hired the Aberdeen 

 water carts, driven them to Mugiemoss, filled them with water, 

 and then with salmon, and given the fish a drive beyond these 

 dangers. Now, this condition of things is completely altered. 



As one of the results of a famous law case (The Earl of Kintore 

 and others i). Messrs. Alex. Pirie & Sons, Ltd., which went 

 through the Scottish Courts in 1901 and was eventually referred 

 back from the House of Lords) it was decided that 36,000 cubic 

 feet of water were abstracted at Stoneywood, above Mugiemoss, 

 and that this substantially injured the salmon fisheries. At 

 the same time it was decided that certain alterations should be 

 made upon the intake to the lade at Stoneywood, to the dam 

 dyke at both Stoneywood and Mugiemoss, and that a breach 

 down to the bed of the river should be made in the dyke 

 between these two, viz. Waterton dyke. An agreement was 

 come to, and a Provisional Order, the River Don (Salmon 

 Fisheries) Provisional Order 1910 was passed providing for 

 the various works. As a result new salmon passes have been 

 provided both at Stoneywood and Mugiemoss. 



The new Mugiemoss Pass has been formed by the construc- 

 tion of a subsidiary dyke at the foot of the flat area so as to 

 raise the level of the water on this flat apron and check its 

 flow ; next by creating a wide passage through the old dyke 

 at the left bank instead of in the middle as formerly ; and 

 then by throwing the water which descends through this 

 passage across the flat apron, and directing it in a wide sweep 

 before it finds its way through the central gap in the subsidiary 

 dyke already referred to. 1 The gap in both the main and the 

 subsidiary dyke is 1 foot 8 inches deep and 12 feet wide, and 

 the former in its curved line through the upper dyke forms a 

 pass 75 feet in length. The pool on the flat apron is 4 feet 

 deep, and the rise from this central pool up the 75 feet of the 

 upper pass is 3 feet. The gap in the subsidiary dyke forms a 

 pass 22 feet long, and the rise from the Saugh Pool below the 

 whole obstruction to the central pool is 2| feet. The whole 

 makes a notable improvement on the old obstruction, and, 

 in experience, a cure of the old cause of complaint. 



The Pass at Stoneywood has been constructed close to the 



1 A plan of the arrangement is published in the 31st Annual Report 

 of the Fishery Board for Scotland, Part II, Appendix O, p.- 242. 



