Prince. — Irrigation Canals and Fisheries. 159 



tions, as a Fishery Officer, to secure the screening of ditches, and some 



men did it, but others refused. 



One complaint has been that dams erected for irrigation have 

 prevented fish from getting- up important creeks, which they had 

 been accustomed to ascend. At Maple Creek, in Southern Saskat- 

 chewan, about 200 miles east of the Rocky Mountains, the state- 

 ment, which I have before me, is that fish are held back below 

 the dam, and die in such numbers as to be a nuisance, and that 

 the Commissioner of Irrigation being asked to report, obtained 

 evidence from local parties asserting that before dams were 

 placed in the creek, fish ascended each season as far as they 

 could ; but now, since the cattle company had constructed irri- 

 gation dams, the fish were stopped, and died below. Thus fish 

 are either obstructed and held back when migrating and die, or 

 they are carried down the ditches, and along the laterals to be 

 scattered over the land where they perish. 



SCREENS ARE NECESSARY. 



Both the evil results mentioned can be avoided by providing 

 suitable screens. In general such screening is not difficult, 

 though trouble and expense cannot be entirely avoided. There 

 are cases, it must be admitted, where the difficulties cannot be 

 ignored, particularly in very large reservoirs and canals. As an 

 example I may mention the Bow River scheme in the Province 

 of Alberta. The maintenance of screens in canals of large capa- 

 city presents difficulty, but not insuperable difficulty. The gates 

 are four feet wide, with a ten-foot head of water, and no less 

 than 1,500 miles of ditches can be supplied, under this plan 

 operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. It should 

 be possible for a company of such importance, immense capital, 

 and enlightened enterprise, to devise and install screens, not at 

 the actual intake, but below the first water-gate. The placing 

 of the screens should be decided in all cases by competent engi- 

 neers furnished with discretionary power. The public and the 

 sporting section of the community have undeniable rights, and 

 estimates of the cost of effective screening, even on the largest 

 irrigation systems, can be shown to be a very insignificant item 

 annually, compared with the beneficial results to the general 

 public. 



