212 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



RIVER BLACKWATER 



This river is, in my opinion, the one which above all others 

 in the district must be looked to as likely to reap marked benefit 

 from a scheme for the improvement of the stock of fish. It rises 

 in three head streams, the furthest east from Glen Rannoch 

 and the two others converging from the sides of the Strath 

 Vaich deer forest. The chief line of water-flow is the Glascar- 

 noch river, which springs from high streams and hill loch on 

 the western side of the forest, and presently accompanies the 

 road from Loch Broom, from Ford to Alguish Inn and on to 

 the mouth of Strath Vaich and the mouth of Strath Rannoch, 

 and so southwards to Garve. The road and river are in 

 company for about 20 miles out of the total of 24, for the former 

 skirts Loch Garve, and, crossing the railway, passes down the 

 defile, where the Falls of Rogie are situated, and right on to the 

 junction with the Conon below Contin. 



It is only after the junction of the three head streams that 

 the river is called the Blackwater, and if the title represents 

 the natural character of the channel and the presence of deep 

 pools where the water looks black, it is barely applicable till 

 the outlet of Loch Garve is reached and the overhanging woods 

 entered. 



Ford is 760 feet above sea-level, the mouth of Strath Vaich 

 about 690, Strath Rannoch 559, and before the woods of Little 

 Garve are entered the elevation is barely 350. 



Loch Garve, the remnant of a once much larger lake, is 218 

 feet above sea-level, is fully 1| miles in length, with a maximum 

 breadth of half a mile. The loch drains an area of 114 square 

 miles, and is a simple basin with a maximum depth of 105 feet. 

 Through the defile where the Falls of Rogie delight so many 

 visitors, a run down of more than a hundred feet is soon 

 accomplished. 



One is loth to suggest the spoiling or reducing of such beauti- 

 ful falls as those of Rogie in order that salmon and salmon 

 fishers may be benefited, but the upper waters of the Blackwater, 

 as may be seen by any one who drives along the road already 

 referred to, are of a splendid character in many parts and deserve 

 more fish. The falls at the present time are only a partial 

 barrier to ascending fish. They are considerably cleft in part, 



