EFFECTS OF SAWDUST ON FISH LIFE 



51 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a i 



band as poisoned by sawdust. Each stream must be studied by itself, and the varying 

 conditions must be understood before a judgment can be pronounced. 



Of course, the peroentage of sawdust in the Bonnechere is a mere approximation, 

 but it points unmistakably to the conclusion that the sawdust poured into the Bonne- 

 chere river is not destroying its fish life. Moreover, in Golden lake, an expansion of 

 this same river, and ten miles above any saw-mill, lake trout used to be very abundant. 

 Every October large numbers were caught in nets along their spawning beds. Now 

 these spawning grounds are reported to be deserted by the fish, and certainly sawdust 



Fig. 6.— Slatos, edgings and sawdust, half-a-mile below the mill. 



cannot be blamed for their disappearance. Higher up the river, in Round lake, the 

 October fishing is still good, solely because there are fewer settlers and less fishing. 



ON THE OTONABEE RIVER. 



R. M. Dennistoun, Esq., K.C., of Peterborough, has finished the following in- 

 teresting account of his observations on the Otonabee river: — 



*When I was a boy I fished continuously in the river and caught small perches, 

 chub, suckers, &c. A few years later no fish were caught in the river at all, and there 

 were great beds of sawdust in all the slack water. About the year 1893, the Do- 

 minion Government absolutely prohibited the placing of sawdust in the river. At this 

 time the little lake at Peterborough was a horrible place. The sawdust lay upon the 

 bottom to the depth of 8 or 10 feet in some places, and the gases which were generated 

 would suddenly burst upwards with such force as to render canoeing unpleasant and 

 even dangerous. It took several years, after the placing of the sawdust in the river 

 had been stopped, to wash out the accumulated deposits, but successive spring freshets 

 accomplished this. 



In a very few years we began to notice that small fish were returning; then came 

 the large fish, and now we have excellent fishing for bass, in all parts of the river, 

 right through the centre of the town of Peterborough. We have good maskinonge 

 fishing in the little lake which is adjacent to the town, and which was formerly nearly 

 filled with sawdust. I can now go down on a June morning to the river just below 

 my house, and cast a fly with invariable success, and no amount of theory or argu- 



