182 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



When the first pass was opened, and salmon admitted to 

 waters in Glenmoriston, which they previously could not 

 frequent, the Crown claimed the salmon fishing rights in virtue 

 of the fact that the fishings had never been alienated to any 

 subject, and would ipso facto have to be regarded as Crown 

 property. Subsequently, Mr. Grant of Glenmoriston obtained 

 a Crown charter, in fee, for the fishings above the fall. As 

 reported by the late Mr. Young, he was already in possession 

 of a barony title, fortified by prescription, to the salmon fishings 

 ex adverse his property below the fall. 



The new pass, on the right or south bank of the river, has 

 been carried upstream a considerable distance above the fall 

 in order to secure an easy gradient. The general arrangement 

 of the pass is shown in the plan here given. The surface of 

 the pool at the head of the pass is 24 feet above the surface of 

 the pool below the fall. The length of the pass, exclusive of 

 modifications in the upper pool for the purpose of directing 

 the water-flow, is 240 feet. The breadth is 10 feet, and the 

 gradient is 1 in 21-7 throughout. The entire excavation has 

 been in solid rock, as may be seen by reference to the photo- 

 graph given, and the cutting towards the lower end of the pass 

 is fully 35 feet deep. The mouth or entrance to the pass is 

 carried, at the gradient already mentioned, into the fall pool, 

 so that fish do not require to leap into the pass, as was the 

 case in their attempts to enter the old Invermoriston Ladder, 

 but may swim into and up the pass. The mouth is not 

 appreciably nearer the fall than is the mouth of the old ladder 

 on the opposite side, but a very considerable volume of water 

 can be brought down the pass to influence the fall pool, and a 

 ledge of rock above the mouth acts as a good guide. The 

 intake of the pass is provided with three substantial sluices 

 arranged originally to suit different levels of water, the middle 

 sluice being one foot higher in the sill than the sluice on one side, 

 and one foot lower than that on the other side. A short arch 

 of rock exists just below the sluices. For the purpose of 

 acting as breaks or stops to the force of descending water, 

 stones 36 inches long are sunk into the bed of the pass so as 

 to project 20 to 24 inches. These stones which may be 

 noticed in the photograph, taken from inside the dry pass 

 looking down through the mouth to the river below are 14 



