CHAPTER XXX 



THE SOUTH ESK 



With a drainage area of two hundred and forty-five square miles, 

 rises in the parish of Glen Doll, and is formed by two streams of 

 nearly equal size, and each about seven miles in length. One of 

 these, the Esk proper, rises below Cairn Bannoch, in Forfarshire, 

 near the border of Aberdeenshire, and flows through the Forest 

 of Bachnagairn, which is now part of Glenmuick ; the other stream, 

 the White Water, rising behind Tom Buidhe, and passing through 

 the deer lands of Glen Doll. Below the junction of these streams 

 at Braedounie it receives the waters of Loch Brandy and Loch 

 Wharrel, the burns of Kennet and Glenmarkie, and several other 

 smaller affluents, but it is not untU after it receives the Prosen 

 water a little below Cortachy, about twenty-two miles from the 

 Cairn Bannoch source, that it becomes a fairly large river. From 

 the junction with the Prosen (which, by the way, at times yields 

 an autumn fish or two, though they are hardly worth eating) to 

 Brechin is some fifteen miles, during which it receives the Noran 

 water, and from that city to the tidal estuary, termed the Basin 

 of Montrose, is about a further five miles, in which distance the Pow 

 Burn is the chief tributary, while from the Basin to the open sea is 

 another four miles ; therefore, without following very closely every 

 turn of the river, it can be roughly estimated that the South Esk has 

 a total run of fifty miles. The chief rod fishing is below Brechin, 

 and as the sea is neared both sea trout and finnocks become plentiful. 

 In 1870, when the late Mr. Frank Buckland visited Brechin, 

 he reported this river to be the worst treated, but the best in Scot- 

 land, having regard to its size, for breeding purposes ; for in those 

 days the numerous dams on the river nearly totaUy barred the 

 ascent of fish to the upper spawning grounds, so that it was only 

 in very high floods that they could pass up, while in periods of 

 low water they were forced to congregate in the pool below Brechin 

 dam, where they were poisoned by the refuse of the manufactories. 

 The Fishery Board of the district was, however, an active one, 

 and, urged by the representations of the Court of Session, it ordered 

 the manufacturers to form purifying tanks for their refuse. The 

 Town Council of Brechin established a farm for the purification 

 of the city sewage, and the Fishery Board placed effective goils 

 and ladders in the dams at Brechin Castle, East Mill, and Kinnaird, 

 up which fish were seen passing a few hours after they were opened. 



