TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 61 
such moderate velocity, that the weakest and least adventurous 
fish could readily swim against it, we would practically destroy 
the obstruction, and would establish for the migratory species a 
passage up to their spawning grounds as free and unrestrained 
as if no obstruction existed. 
In practice, of course, this ideal can be realized only in 
exceptional cases, for industrial necessities or consideration of 
cost will necessarily limit the dimensions of the fish-way, and 
the amount of water that may be discharged through it, but just 
in proportion as we approximate this ideal in our fish-way con- 
structions, do we approach more nearly the solution of the 
problem of free circulation of the anadromous fishes in contin- 
ental waters. 
When the Commission of Fisheries was inaugurated in the 
State of Virginia, in 1875, one of the most important questions 
presented to it was, how to make adequate provision to get the 
anadromous fish over the innumerable dams that obstruct the 
main water courses of the state, and all their tributaries. 
The white shad (AJ/osa sapidissima) is one of the most important 
food fishes in all the tributaries of the Chesapeake, and .in times 
past has furnished the motive of immense and profitable fisheries. 
The restoration and maintenance of this valuable fishery was 
one of the most serious questions presenting itself to the con- 
sideration of the Commission. The James and the Rappahan- 
nock Rivers were obstructed at the head of the tide by insuper- 
able dams, interposing effectual obstructions to the further 
upward migration of the anadromous species. 
Years ago, before obstructions existed, the migration of the 
shad in James River extended into the heart of the Alleghaneys 
two hundred and fifty miles above tide water, and in the Rap- 
pannock to the very base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The 
curtailment of the breeding area by the erection of dams on 
both rivers, had determined a corresponding reduction in the 
productive capacity of the streams, and in concurrence with the 
irrational and unrestrained methods of fishing pursued, had 
rendered franchises, once valuable, worthless; industrious, once 
profitable, precarious and unproductive. A fish-way that would 
freely pass shad up over these obstructions, and recover to pro- 
