15 



ginning of spawning season all the varieties of our native flsh, 

 unsuccessfully striving to get up the stream to their natural breed- 

 ing grounds, and these fish can be, and are, taken by the hun- 

 dreds at a single dip of the net. 



If these fish were allowed to go on unmolested up the stream, 

 deposit their spawn and harbor their young until they could care 

 for themselves, they would people not only the stream itself, but 

 every tributary, each with the kind best suited to the locality, 

 and the food supply found there. The legislature, appreciating 

 the situation and the necessities occasioned, gave us a law making 

 it obligatory on all owning such dams or obstructions to provide 

 means to allow fish to pass over them. Various plans were 

 examined, but many of them proved impracticable, in that they 

 either would not accomplish the purpose for which they were in- 

 tended, or were of such construction as to offer insufiicient resist- 

 ance to flood and ice, and so, of course, would not be permanent. 

 After carefully reviewing the work of other commissions, examin- 

 ing and proving the practicability of the different fishways used, 

 we found two which seemed to possess both requirements, viz.: 

 practical results and permanency. This much having been accom- 

 plished, we proceeded to give owners of dams the notice rec[uired 

 by the law, as indicated by section 3, viz.: 



Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of any person or persons who 

 now own or hereafter may erect any dam or other obstruction 

 across any of the rivers, creeks, streams, bayous or other water 

 courses within this State, to place therein suitable fish-ways, in 

 order that the free passage of fish up and down such waters may 

 not be obstructed; and in case the owners, operators, lessors, or 

 other i^ersons operating, using or controlling any dam or other 

 obstruction across any of the rivers, creeks, streams, bayous or 

 other water courses of the State, shall fail or refuse after ten days' 

 notice by the Fish Commissioners of this State, or any one of 

 them, to construct and maintain suitable fish-ways as provided in 

 this act, then the Fish Commissioners may construct or cause to be 

 constructed, suitable fishways, and recover in action of debt in 

 the name of the people of the State of Illinois, before any justice 

 of the peace or any court of competent jurisdiction, double the' 

 cost of constructing said fishway; said fund, in excess of the 

 actual cost, shall be paid to the county superintendent of schools. 



As will be seen by above section 3, after ten days' notice by 

 the commissioners, or any one of them, if owner fails to comply 

 with the law, the "commissioners may construct, or cause to be 

 constructed, suitable fishways," etc. To build fishways requires 

 money, and it must be paid for as the work progresses. After 

 fishway was completed, and after a due process of law, a lien 

 upon the property could be obtained, but in the meantime some 

 one must furnish means for the work. This the commissioners 

 could not do, as is evident to any one, when the cost of each 

 fishway and the number of dams to be provided, is considered. 



