174 THE SHAD STREAMS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

were caught in seines for the first time that year since the construction 
of the dam, forty years previous. Breaks occurring in the dam in the 
two following years, the appearance of shad in the upper river was very 
noticeable. 
From all of the evidence gleaned from various sources it 1s very evi- 
dent that from 1870 to 1875 shad annually appeared in greater or less 
numbers in the stretches above the obstruction at Columbia, but as to 
how they made the passage of the dam there exists a difference of 
opinion. 
The question of removing the dam at Columbia was carefully consid- 
ered and reported on to the legislature by a joint special committee in 
1877. At that time it seemed manifest to the committee'that there was 
very little if any hope for the improvement of the fisheries through the 
medium of fishways. It occurred to them, however, that the dam might 
be completely removed without proving detrimental to the adjoining 
canal. It was claimed this could be done by extending the canal one 
and three-fourths miles up the York county shore to Chiques falls; that 
by the construction of a small wing dam, and possibly without it, a 
suflicient force and head of water could at all times be secured to feed 
the canal. Scientific and practical men looked upon the scheme as 
feasible, and so deeply was the committee impressed with the value of 
the arguments advanced in its support that they at once secured the 
services of a civil engineer of much experience, who was directed to pro- 
ceed to make the necessary surveys and measurements of the ground 
for the proposed extension of the canal as well as the depth of water in 
the river at the point indicated for a new feeder. The report of the 
engineer, with an accompanying plot of the survey, recommended the 
construction of a dam at Chiques falls. This report was submitted by 
the committee of the legislature, without approval. Able professional ~ 
men claimed that the necessity for a dam at Chiques falls would be 
obviated by increasing the depth of the canal, which, with other matters 
advanced by practical, men so strongly impressed the committee that, 
notwithstanding the report, they still regarded the removal of the Colum- 
bia dam and feeding the adjoining canal without erecting obstructions 
in the river as entirely feasible and practicable, meriting careful consid- 
eration by the legislature. 
On the 14th day of May, 1874, the legislature appropriated $22,000 to 
be expended by the Board of State Fish Commissioners in having con- 
structed during the year 1874, by contract with the lowest and best bid- 
der, after due and public notice, fishways or ladders for the passage of 
anadromous or migratory fishes, as follows: The three fishways that 
they were required to construct during the year 1873, but which they 
did not construct, were as follows: One in Clark’s Ferry dam; one in 
the Shamokin dam, and one in the first dam in the Juniata river above its 
confluence with the Susquehanna river. 
