108 ORTMANN— THE DESTRUCTION OF [April 23, 



Wills Creek, in southern Bedford County, flowing to the Potomac 

 is clear, but it becomes polluted by mine water farther down, at Mt. 

 Savage Junction in Maryland. ^^ Several of the headwaters of the 

 Juniata River, in Blair County, chiefly in the region of Altoona and 

 Tyrone, are polluted by industrial establishments.^- The headwaters 

 of the West Branch of the Susquehanna and Clearfield Creek, in 

 Cambria and Clearfield Counties, are generally polluted by mine 

 water,^^ but there are some clear tributaries. A rather good one is 

 Cush-Cushion Creek, in Indiana County. The latter fact is very 

 important, for it is the point of the Susquehanna system which is 

 most advanced in a westerly direction, and marks the most western 

 extension of the Atlantic fresh-water fauna in our state, and it may 

 be said here that Cush-Cushion Creek indeed contains a pure At- 

 lantic fauna, which is in sharp contrast to the western fauna present 

 in some of the tributaries of the Allegheny in the same (Indiana) 

 county, Little Mahoning, Crooked, Two Lick and Yellow Creeks. 



Conclusions. 



The sketch given above of the present condition of our streams 

 and their fauna is sufficient to give an idea of the tremendous damage 

 done in recent times to our fresh-water fauna. Considering the 

 fact that most of this destruction has been accomplished during the 

 last twenty years ; that it is going on continually, and that every year 

 new stretches of the rivers, new creeks are added to the list of the 

 polluted waters, conditions are indeed alarming. I think a glance 

 upon the map accompanying this paper will tell more than any 

 words possibly could. 



It is not for the writer to suggest remedies, yet two conclusions 

 are forced upon him. The first is, that with regard to the improve- 

 ment of the fish- fauna, which is attempted by the State Fish Commis- 



" See Parker, H. N., Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 192, 1907, 

 p. 219. 



" The quality of the water was poor already in 1904, see Leighton, M. O., 

 in Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 108, 1904, p. 65. 



" Leighton (ibid., pp. 56 and 57) gives in 1904 a rather favorable report 

 on the quality of the headwaters of the W^est Branch of the Susquehanna 

 (chiefly with regard to drinking purposes). Apparently this has changed 

 to the worse during the last four years. 



