14 



Appendices to Twenty -fourth Annual Report 



A very deep pool exists immediately below the fall, and at the 

 time of my visit the actual rise from this pool to the sculptured 

 rocks above was barely three feet. These rocks extend for some 

 little distance, and the stream from above has worn a well-defined 

 S-shaped channel to the edge of the fall. It would not be difficult 

 to lower the crest of the fall and to improve the channel above for 

 some 30 to 40 feet, so as to secure a much easier ascent to the fish. 



The dam-dyke just above, I estimated as about 5 J feet high, 

 with a down-stream face of about 53 feet, constructed of irregular 

 stones. The length is about 75 feet, and the sill of smooth cement. 

 There is no gap or fish-pass of any kind. Neither in the matter of 

 the weir, therefore, nor of the lade, are the bye-laws of the Salmon 

 Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868, observed. 



At the Pot of Gartness the obstruction to the ascent of fish is, 

 as I have said, more serious. The pool immediately below is large 

 and deep, and at times, I am informed, holds a very large number 

 of fish waiting or trying to ascend. At the time of my visit the 

 minimum leap which it was necessary for any fish to take was 

 about 5i feet. In times of flood this will no doubt be sensibly 

 lessened, but the entire face of the rock is precipitous and difficult 

 of ascent. The natural lead up for fish is by the left bank, and on 

 this side of the river the rock has been worn away to a greater 

 extent than elsewhere, so that the actual barrier slants in a curving 

 outline across the river. Above the precipitous face of the barrier 

 the bed of the river is rocky and much broken into ledges for a 

 distance of about seventy yards, with an additional rise of about 

 7 feet. A wool mill, now apparently disused, is situated on the 

 left bank above The Pot, and is provided with a lade drawing water 

 from the upper extremity of the rocky area. The outlet of the 

 lade (which has a high bye-wash falling into The Pot) is at the 

 lower end of the pool, and is provided with a heck. An old 

 disused meal mill stands on the right bank. No attention seems 

 to be paid to the sluices at the intakes of both lades, and all water 

 entering is wasted in being carried beyond the fall. 



To make a suitable pass at this obstruction without very great 

 outlay it is necessary, in my opinion, to construct a channel in the 

 rocky ledges above the fall, and to concentrate and direct the 

 water-flow in a wide zig-zag direction, culminating at a cleft in 

 the main rock face near the centre of the river. Owing to the 

 lowness of the water I was able to walk all over the rocks from 

 bank to bank, and to take careful note of the possible line of ascent. 



The proposal to open up this obstruction to the passage of fish 

 has repeatedly been present to the minds of those interested in the 

 salmon fisheries of the district. The actual ownership of the fall 

 is shared between Col. Blackburn on the left bank, and the trustees 

 of the late Mr. Govane on the right bank. The fact that a body of 

 trustees rather than a responsible proprietor have to be consulted 

 seems the cause of the delay in opening up the fall. From corres- 

 pondence with the agents who act for Mr. Govane's Trust, I learn 

 that the trustees hesitate to take the responsibility of permitting 

 any alteration on the rocks because of the impossibility of saying 

 definitely what effect such an alteration would have upon the 

 fishing or the volume of water thrown upon the proprietors below, 



