tion given of an ordinary fish ladder, it will be seen that they are easily 

 built and that the cost is but a trifle. The average cost of all fish lad- 

 ders in Maine, including permanent stone structures over manufacturing 

 dams, does not reach two hundred dollars. Many statistics have been 

 kept showing the increase of fish as a result from the construction of 

 fish ladders, especially in Great Britain. As an illustration, I quote 

 from the report of Charles CI. Atkins, Esq., Fish Commissioner of Maine. 

 In comparing the salmon fisheries of Europe with those of Maine, he 

 says: " Their fisheries were nearly exhausted through excessive fishing 

 and the erection of barriers, and by a careful management, including 

 the construction of fish ways, have been made to yield large returns. I 

 Avill instance the river Clalway in Ireland. The salmon fisheries of the 

 Galway are owned by Thomas Ash worth, who came into possession of 

 them in eighteen hundred and fifty-two. They were in an exhausted 

 condition. Mr. Ash worth had good fish ways built over the dams, of 

 which there was one at the head of the tide; had fishing restricted* and 

 jirotection given to the fish on their breeding grounds. What success 

 attended his ettbrts is shown by the annual catch as exhibited in the fol- 

 lowing table: 



YEAR. 



Salmon. 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-three 1,G03 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-four 3,158 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-five 5,540 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-six 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-seven 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-eight 



Eighteen hundred and fifty-nine 



Eighteen hundred and sixty 



Eighteen himdred and sixty-one 



Eighteen hundred and sixty-two 



Eighteen hundred and sixty-three 



Eighteen hundred and sixty-four 



5,371 



4,857 



9,639 



9,249 



3,177 



11,051 



15,431 



17,995 



20,512 



" Thus the produce of this fishery rose in twelve years from one 

 thousand six hundred and three to twenty thousand five hundred and 

 twelve, and this in spite of a dam at the head of the tide, where five 

 sixths of all the water is used by mills and canals, only the one hundred 

 and sixtieth part running through the fish way, where all the salmon 

 must pass; in spite of civilization, in spite of the disappearance of forests 

 and the cultivation of the land. The fish way through which pass all the 

 salmon that ascend this river is supplied with water by a gate two feet 

 square, and through this aperture forty thousand salmon are estimated 

 to have passed in one year." 



The law, so far as it relates to fish ladders, appears to operate. satis- 

 factorily. Thus far all mill owners on the Truck ee and its tributaries, 

 whose dams obstruct the passage of fish, have, with one exception, con- 

 structed fish w^ays. The Commissioners have furnished many mill 

 owners with plans for the construction of fish ways. From our 

 experience during the past two years, it would seem that as a rule the 

 mill owners, with but few exceptions, are a body of intelligent men, who 



