82 FISH-CULTURAL .ASSOCIATION. 
chusetts to re-establish a free passage for migratory sea fish 
through the dams on the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers. To 
the late Judge Henry A. Bellows, of New Hampshire, this coun- 
try owes the successful beginning of the undertaking. He was 
an advocate learned in the law and full of enthusiasm for the 
restoration of the former runs of salmon and shad in the cool 
waters of the Pemigewasset and the broad expanse of Lake 
Winnepiseogee. He appeared before a committee of the Massa- 
chusetts legislature, and by their recommendation two commis- 
sioners were appointed, of whom I had the honor to be one. 
This was in 1865. Within a year every New England State 
was represented by Fishery Commissioners. They were accus- 
tomed to assemble from time to time for the discussion of their 
mutual interests. These modest gatherings, whereat the assem- 
bled authorities failed not to test the excellence of their own fish, 
were the prototypes of the national gathering which we celebrate 
this evening. 
The opening of the great dams by fishways led to several im- 
portant results. In the first place the decision in the case of the 
Massachusetts Commissioners against the Holyoke Water Power 
Company, has settled the law in regard to the rights of migra- 
tory fishes in rivers. This decision, which was confirmed by the 
United States Supreme Court in 1872, sets forth that a river was 
a public way, and the passage of migratory fish in it a public 
right. Therefore,whoever builds a dam across a river must fur- 
nish a passage to its migratory fish unless expressly exempted 
by the legislature. 
It thus became easy to open the streams, and hundreds of own- 
ers of dams, who, by adverse possession had considered them- 
selves safe from intrusion, now found themselves obliged to con- 
struct fishways at their own expense. 
The second important step was also a legal one. It was the 
passage in 1869, by Massachusetts, of an act to encourage the 
cultivation of useful fishes, which was intended to embody in 
one law all necessary regulations. Before that time the fish- 
ery laws of that State, to the number of nearly four hundred, 
were for the most part special enactments. The new statute 
substituted general provisions. It established a board of fish- 
