CHAPTER XI 



STORAGE AND PASSES 



Improving the Thurso Making a Lake Results of Agri- 

 cultural Drainage Too much Water,, and Too Little- 

 Misgivings about Storage Unfounded The Helmsdale 

 Remarkable Success of Storage Loch Lee and the 

 North Esk Other Rivers Conflicting Interests Root 

 of the Trouble Salmon Passes A Principle Discovered 

 by Chance From Despair to Hope A Bright Prospect 



THE Thurso, which rises amid the hills border- 

 ing Sutherland and Caithness, and, after a course 

 of about forty miles, falls into the North Sea, is 

 being made the subject of an important experiment. 

 In order that the water may never be too low for 

 salmon fishing, artificial storage is being arranged. 



At Dalnawillan, about thirty miles up the river, 

 there is a tract of flat land three miles long, about 

 half a mile broad, and narrow at the lower end. 

 Across that narrow part a wall fitted with a fish pass 

 is to be built. The lake thus formed on the Thurso 

 will contain 829 million gallons. Besides this, Loch 

 More is to be raised eight feet; which will add 

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