CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 165 



" Immediately after my appointment, by your Excel- 

 lency, I consulted all the authorities on the subject within 

 my reach, and finally devised a plan which was in the form 

 of steps commencing at the comb of the dam, and falling 

 or stepping down, one after another, at the rate of six 

 inches per step ; each of these steps being also a trough 

 ten feet wide, to contain a constant supply of water two 

 feet deep for the fish to rest in during their ascent. 



" The width of the flight of steps was to be from two 

 hundred feet on the main stem of the Susquehanna to a 

 proportional width for its smaller tributaries, and the whole 

 was to be constructed of good substantial crib work, such 

 as is employed and approved in the construction of dams 

 in Pennsylvania. 



" I had this plan carefully draughted and specified, and 

 before the 1st of June I sent it in, plan and specification, 

 to the following corporations owning dams on the streams 

 mentioned, namely: The Susquehanna Canal Company; 

 The Pennsylvania Railroad Company; The West Branch 

 Canal Company; The Wyoming Valley Canal Company, 

 and The North Branch Canal Company. As these corpo- 

 rations owned all the lower dams on the river, and which, 

 if not altered for the passage of fish, there would be no 

 use in altering dams located above them, and as I knew 

 that they all, except the Susquehanna Canal Company, 

 held their property by purchase from the state, without 

 encumbrance, as alleged, and deemed themselves, there- 

 fore, exempt from the operation of the law, I did not 

 notify individuals or corporations owning dams above them ; 



