XITI 



have tlie GunpoAvder River, wliicli is obstructed by a dam 

 of recent construction, a part of the system for supplying 

 the city of Baltimore with water. This and other minor 

 obstructions should be provided with hshways, and if 

 the shad, herring and rock were thus allowed free access 

 to the upper waters of the river, the fisheries below the 

 dam and at the mouth of this stream would soon be 

 vastly improved. 



The Patapsco River is also obstructed by many dams, 

 none of which have been provided with effective fish ways, 

 although they are especially required by law. 



In order to illustrate the practicability of restoring 

 the shad, herring and rock to waters in which they 

 were formerly abundant, but where they have since 

 become unknown, I requested Col. Marshall McDonald, 

 the Commissioner of Fisheries of the State of Virginia, 

 who had made the construction of iishways a specialty, 

 to examine the Patuxent River and advise me as to what 

 could be done on this stream. 



If the shad could be brought back in numbers to Lau- 

 rel, after having disappeared from the river for years, 

 the citizens of Maryland would be satisfied as to the good 

 that would be accomplished by the erection of fisliAvays 

 •over all of the artificial obstructions in the State. 



That many miles of the Patuxent River, at least, can 

 be opened to the migration of these valuable hshes, will 

 be seen by the following report made as the result of the 

 examinations of that river : 



Obstructions to the Ascent of Fish on the Patuxent. 



Major T. B. FERGUSON, 



Commissioner of Fisheries for Maryland. 



DeakSik: — Maj. O. C. Henderson, whom I sent to 

 ascertain the number and character of the obstructions 

 to the ascent of fish on the Patuxent, reports as follows : 



The hrst dam is at Jericho Mills, about three hundred 



