Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. lOS 



OHAPTEE XVIII. 



The Kogebs Fishway. 



The fishway question is one of such magnitude in the wbrk of pres- 

 ervation and propagation of the fisheries to-day, that no history would 

 be complete without showing the advancement made in this branch of 

 the art. 



Rivers may be stocked each year with millions of infant fish by arti- 

 ficial process, but being obstructed by dams and falls, the young life is 

 cut off and destroyed before maturity. Provide a free and easy passage 

 over these obstructions, and the result will be a marvelous increase of 

 fish. Nature, with little artificial assistance, will then stock the rivers, 

 which will become a source of great revenue as well as of noble sport. 



The fishway which, after severe and most satisfactory tests, was 

 adopted by the State Board of Fish Commissioners, is the invention of 

 William H. Eogers, of Nova Scotia, for many years identified with the 

 Canadian fisheries department as commissioner for that province. Mr. 

 Rogers, being a thoroughly practical man, took advantage of the 

 splendid opportunities there presented for research and experiment in 

 this branch, which terminated in a perfect solution of the troublesome 

 problem of the reconciliation of water power and the fisheries, the 

 value of which can be only understood by a knowledge of the interests 

 involved. It is not, however, the purpose of this sketch to discuss the 

 many phases of this question, but simply to give a brief description of 

 the invention, and together with illustrations (see engravings) to convey 

 a comprehensive idea of the general principles of its construction; and 

 to show that beside embodying all the requirements for the ascent of 

 fish over dams and falls, it also overcomes a most fatal objection com- 

 mon to other devices of this nature, namely, the liability to destruction 

 by freshets and ice, so common to the rivers of this state, which, during 

 the early spring, are filled with immense quantities of broken ice, 

 gorging and tearing onward with the swollen tide, leaving behind vast 

 trails of destruction. 



In the application here shown the fishway is so closely connected with 

 the obstruction and has so small a portion projecting above, that the 

 ice can find no hold upon it. Being on longitudinal lines with the dam, 

 it simply takes the place of a portion of the apron in shedding the 

 water and ice. This, however, is but one form of the many applica- 

 tions, all of which are equally staunch and effective. 



As the construction of a dam is guided by the formation and condi- 

 tions of a rivei', so must a fishway be located and built to meet the ex- 



