of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



109 



APPENDIX VII. 



NEW SALMON PASS AT INVERMORISTON FALL — 

 DISTRICT OF THE RIVER NESS. 



Perhaps no salmon pass in Scotland is better known than that con- 

 structed at Invermoriston in 1880. It was described briefly in the 

 First Annual Report, p. 33, and a sketch plan was afterwards given in 

 the Sixth Annual Report (1887). From time to time this pass has 

 required modification ; sluices had to be erected at the intake to prevent 

 overflooding — the Moriston River is peculiarly subject to very sudden 

 changes of level — the mouth, or lower opening of the pass, was brought 

 nearer the foot of the fall, masses of rock were carried or slid into the 

 pass and had either to be circumvented or removed. The gradient of 

 this pass was, or is, one in ten ; it is cut out of the solid rock, and cost, 

 I believe, about ,£2000. Reports as to its efficiency have, however, 

 always been reserved in tone. It has never been described as an 

 unqualified success, as, for instance, the Ballisodare Pass in Ireland is 

 said to be. A certain number of fish have always managed to ascend, 

 but the pass has never been the means of raising a good stock of salmon 

 in the upper river. In the autumn of 1902 it was decided to proceed 

 with the construction of a second pass on the south or right bank of 

 the river. Mr. P. D. Malloch selected the site, and determined the 

 features and general plan of the pass. Mr. H. J. Bell, O.E., Perth, was 

 the engineer, and Mr. R. Fraser, Inverness, the contractor. It happens 

 that as far back as 1870, when Buckland and Young inspected the fall, 

 a pass was recommended very much in the position now opened up, but 

 the suggestion was then departed from on the ground of expense, it 

 being believed that an efficient pass could be constructed on the left 

 bank. 



When the first pass was opened, and salmon admitted to waters in 

 Glenmoristpn which they previously could not frequent, the Crown 

 claimed the salmon fishing rights in virtue of the fact that the fishings 

 had never been alienated to any subject, and would ipso facto have to be 

 regarded as Crown property. Subsequently, Mr. Grant of Glenmoriston 

 obtained a Crown Charter, in fee, for the fishings above the fall. As 

 reported by the late Mr. Young, he was already in possession of a 

 Barony title, fortified by prescription, to the salmon fishings ex adverso 

 his property below the fall. 



The new pass, on the right or south bank of the river, has been 

 carried up stream a considerable distance above the fall in order to 

 secure an easy gradient. The general arrangement of the pass is shown 

 in the plan opposite. The surface of the pool at the head of the pass 

 is 24 feet above the surface of the pool below the fall. The length of 

 the pass, exclusive of modifications in the upper pool for the purpose of 

 directing the water-flow, is 240 feet. The breadth is 10 feet, and the 

 gradient is 1 in 21 "7 throughout. The entire excavation has been in 

 solid rock, as may be seen by reference to the three photographs given, 

 and the cutting towards the lower end of the pass is fully 35 feet deep. 



