THE GIRVAN 397 



minute were left to get to the last of the water, and so end the 

 pollution. Next year (1903) 22 salmon were caught in the 

 river, and in autumn a fair stock of spawning fish were reported. 



I understand that the pit referred to has since ceased working. 

 It is to be devoutly hoped that it will not be re-opened. 



In 1904 only 14 to 16 salmon were reported as having been 

 captured. In 1905 only 1 salmon and about 300 sea-trout 

 were taken, so far as known. In 1906 not a single fish was 

 reported. In 1907 a recovery was made to some extent, 30 

 salmon and 400 sea-trout being recorded. An important 

 factor in this last year was the copious supply of water. The 

 river ran high for several months. Most of the fish were 

 caught in the upper waters. In 1916 it was estimated that 

 60 salmon were taken in spring and early summer. 



This introduces the subject of the obstructive dam-dykes of 

 the river which, under normal conditions of water -flow, act as 

 serious hindrances to the proper recovery of this river. In 

 passing, I may say that the river nets have been removed under 

 lease. The dam-dykes are five in number, and only one of 

 them has a fish-pass. The lowest on the river is not very far 

 out of the town of Girvan. At what are known as the Bridge 

 Mills two dams occur, but the lower one is a subsidiary structure 

 erected for the benefit of the fish, on the advice of Buckland 

 and Young. It forms a good pool below the main weir, but 

 none the less the two dykes form a material obstacle to ascend- 

 ing fish, for, contrary to the requirements of the Salmon Acts, 

 no fish-pass is on either. A revolving heck exists on the lade 

 of the Bridge Mills, a structure devised to clear itself of leaves. 



At Dailly, about 5 miles farther up, the next weir occurs. 

 The water below this is fished in part from Killochan Castle 

 and in part by an Angling Club in Girvan who have about a 

 mile and a half of water from Killochan. Much of the club 

 water is rather still and canal-like, but nine good casts are 

 reckoned. Dailly Dam is 4 feet high, and formed, like all the 

 dams above it, of boulders. It is, as a result, both irregular 

 in form and leaky in structure. When dam-dykes leak, much 

 valuable water percolates away under the stones, and so reduces 

 the flow for ascending fish, which have necessarily to go over 

 the sill of each weir. 



The one pass of the river, if it may be dignified by this name, 



