498 Clinton's letter on the fishes of new-yorr. 



liarity of impregnation of the waters." And in a note annexed, he says, 

 " Some persons with whom I have conversed on the subject, have as- 

 sured me that the salmon has never been seen or caught in any part of 

 the Niagara river ; but this, I believe, is not a correct statement." 

 Upon the whole, he thinks it most probable, that it is the noise of the 

 cataract of Niagara which deters them from passing up the river as far 

 as that bound, beyond which they could not pass. 



Although I entertain the utmost confidence in Dr. Barton's accuracy, 

 yet as the remoteness of his residence might have exposed him to impo- 

 sition, I thought it advisable to ascertain the fact before I speculated on 

 its causes. I accordingly addressed a letter to an intelligent friend, who 

 has resided a long time near the Niagara river, and who now lives at 

 Buffalo ; and in his answer, dated 17th January, 1815, he says, " Salmon, 

 from what I can learn, have not been known to ascend Niagara river, or 

 even to appear at its mouth. There is no evidence of their having been 

 caught nearer than the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, on the American 

 side, about thirty-five miles from fort Niagara, and Stoney and Forty- 

 mile creeks, in upper Canada, a distance of about forty miles from said 

 fort ; but the principal place of taking them is at the head of lake Onta-? 

 rio. A number of people, before the war, followed it as a livelihood. 

 They became an article of exportation." 



It is not probable that the salmon would be terrified by the noise of 

 the cataract, from ascending the river. We know that the falls of Os- 

 wego, and the salmon-leaps of Europe, have no such effect; and, indeed, 

 if it be true that they keep at the distance of thirty or forty miles from 

 the mouth of the river, this supposed cause must be entirely inoperative : 

 Besides, it is about fifteen miles from the cataract to the place where 

 ♦he river discharges itself into the lake, and therefore it cannot be sup- 

 posed that the noise would have any terrifying effect at such a distance. 



At Lewiston the Niagara is about a quarter of a mile wide ; from 



