TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 701 



eo capacious as to carry their floods with an inclination of less than an inch a mile ; 

 third, their floods rise slowly, 4 in. to 8 in. in twenty-four hours, very rarely a foot 

 in twenty-four hours. The Shannon has a fourth feature very valuable. All the 

 mill weirs and fish weirs have been purchased and removed, and all the shoals have 

 been deepened at a cost of £557,050 7s. 6^d. (See Eleventh Report of Commissioners, 

 dated March, 1851.) Its rain basin contains 87,000 acres of lakes. 



In the length from Battle Bridge, above Carrick-on-Shannon, to Killaloe Bridge 

 of 118 miles, 



Miles. 



The lakes occupy 50f 



„ broad, deep channels extend for . . . 61 



„ confined portions of the channel occupy merely . 5 



The portions of the channel so confined as to be visibly obstructions are but two, 

 each half a mile long. Neither mill weir nor fish weir stands in the way of the cur- 

 rent. The floods scarcely ever rise a foot in twenty-four hours. The great floods 

 are but 3^ ft. where deepest on the land, and generally but 2 feet deep, and merely 

 18 inches deep over large areas. It is clearly the most easily regulated river in the 

 world. Surely less than £400,000 might do it. 



The Shannon river is accurately shown in plan on the Ordnance 1-inch map. It 

 rises in a rather desolate valley in the Leitrim Mountains, in latitude 54 deg 14 min. 

 3 sec, and longitude 7 deg. 55 min. 7 sec. Its source is a circular basin locally 

 called the " Shannon Pot," 55 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet deep. The water 

 is a fine clear bluish colour. "When I saw it, in 1875, its surface was 5 feet under 

 the land, and the stream from it was but 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. In wet 

 weather it rises over the surface of the land, its centre appears to be higher than its 

 circumference, and an immense quantity of water issues from it and rushes down 

 11£ miles to enter Lougb Allen, which is seven miles long. 



From Lough Allen to the tide of the Atlantic Ocean at Limerick, a length of 

 140 miles by the sinuosities of the river, the Shannon has been made navigable with 

 a depth of 6 feet of water. It lies naturally in eight separate levels ; but the lowest 

 at Limerick is very small and detached from the others by a length of five miles and 

 a fall of 90 feet. The upper level at the outlet from Lough Allen has a fall of 20 

 feet in six miles, and affords no matter for discussion here. Therefore, we will con- 

 sider only the six levels from Carrick-on-Shannon down to Castle Connel. 



The lowest of these levels between Castle Connel and Killaloe is but small, con- 

 taining only 641 acres of low land, liable to be flooded in summer or autumn, and 

 rarely covered with more than from 1 foot to 1| foot of water. In twenty years 

 they were flooded as follows : In the month of August once ; in September once ; in 

 October five times. The owners have not asked for any improvement of the Shannon 

 river, they have never joined any of the deputations, signed petitions, nor subscribed 

 money. Would it not be very wise to leave them out of consideration ? The works 

 proposed for the upper divisions will do them some good ; let them have it. The 

 exempting of this division from a general measure of improvement will appear the 

 more judicious when I tell you that the Government estimate for freeing the 641 

 acres of meadow from being flooded is £37,200, being at the rate of nearly £60 an 

 English, or £100 an Irish aore. This would reduce the Government estimate from 

 £300,000 to £263,000 for 16,700 acres, and reduces the cost on the lesser area from 

 £17 an acre to 15 guineas. 



The Shannon floods may be well studied in three classes — namely, small floods, 

 great autumn floods, and great winter floods. 



The small floods have occurred every year and in every month. They have kept 

 the land saturated and cold during March, April, and May, which has prevented the 

 growth of good grass, and promoted the growth of sedge and weeds. This herbage 

 grows only late in the season, and is late coming to maturity. The mowing of the 

 crop is thrown back into the rainy season, and the saving of it is laborious and ex- 

 pensive and often impossible. In the Shannon large flat meadows there are three 

 qualities of hay, viz. sedge mixed with tall soft weeds, varieties of carex, lets at £2 

 to £3 an acre Irish ; second, brown bent grass with some natural rye-grass, and great 

 quantities of meadow sweet, lets at £4 to £5 an Irish acre ; third, Timothy grass, 



