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waters; therefore, the artificial ponds produced by the 
construction of dams will have the effect of improving 
the rivers, as to the production of these fish, once the 
dams are provided with good, passable fishways; and 
to overcome natural falls, is to allow all anadromous 
fishes to reach long stretches of inland waters, hereto- 
fore inaccessible—a matter of vast importance. 
Such considerations as these add immensely to the 
‘importance and value of fishways, especially when it 
is remembered that the improvement of the river fish- 
eries, which send out to the bays and harbors their 
annual supply of young fish, brings the coast and sea- 
fish near the shores, and into the estuaries and bays, 
where they can be more readily caught. 
Did the people generally more fully understand the 
facts in relation to this matter, and its inevitable effect 
upon food as well as game fish supply, I doubt if in 
five years there would be a dam or fall in this coun- 
try, unprovided with a proper fishway. 
Facts and statistics are at hand to clearly prove all I 
say here, but time forbids their reproduction. I may 
say, however, in a general way, that all the rivers in 
Canada that have been provided with good fishways 
for a number of years, are filling up with fish at a 
rapid rate—so much so that in many places the peo- 
ple living in the neighborhoods are surprised. 
A proper device to fully reconcile water power and 
the fisheries, has been long and industriously sought by 
parties and countries interested, but chiefly by those 
who have had little experience or practical knowledge 
of the nature of the many difficulties to be overcome. 
Many inducements have been held out with a view to 
calling out the inventive genius of mankind, and the 
accumulation of plans and models at the London Inter- 
national Fisheries Exposition, were numbered by scores; 
but two only of which received any notice at the hands 
of the judges whose duty it was to pass upon their merits. 
