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Appendices to Second Annual Report 



them 12 miles in circumference. Such are some of the obstacles 

 which might be overcome by the instrumentality of the Macdonald 

 Fishway, if what is stated of its cheapness and efficiency by its 

 promoters shall turn out to be correct.* 



There is a very injurious dam on the Scaur Water, one of the best 

 spawning tributaries of the Nith. Its face is perpendicular. It is 

 partly formed by impassable rocks, and partly constructed of wood, 

 and it is so steep and lofty that, even when the water is high, there 

 is only one place on the right bank where fish can get up, and that 

 with difficulty. This dam to a great extent blocks up 10 or 12 

 miles of water, much of which is eminently suitable for spawning 

 purposes. When the river is low, most of the water is carried off 

 by the lade which supplies the mill connected with this dam. I 

 was informed that one of the best angling years ever known on the 

 Nith occurred about ten years ago, when a great breach had been 

 made in it by floods. 



A mile farther up the Scaur, there are two waterfalls about 50 

 yards apart, the uppermost of which is 6 feet in height. These falls 

 detain, though they do not entirely arrest, ascending fish when 

 the water is high, and they offer great temptations and facilities 

 to poaching, as there are deep pools below the falls where the fish 

 lie, and where they can be easily taken out by ' sniggling ' with a 

 large treble hook. It would be easy, and would cost but little, 

 by means of a charge or two of dynamite, to make these two falls 

 easily accessible to fish ; and, in my opinion, -this ought to be done. 



At Shinnel Mill, there is a dam which forms a complete 

 obstruction. It is 6 feet high, and perpendicular ; there are no 

 hecks on the lade ; there are several miles of good spawning ground 

 above. Aird's Linn, about 2 miles above the junction of the 

 Shinnel with the Scaur, is impassable at present ; but the rocks 

 might be easily blasted so as to let fish up. At Closeburn Mill 

 there is a long lade without hecks. This mill is supplied with 

 water from Crichope Burn, a tributary of the Cample, and Cample 

 woollen mill is driven by the same lade that supplies Closeburn 

 Mill. At Closeburn Mill there are two wheels— one outside and one 

 inside the mill — and two tail-lades, one from each wheel. The 

 water is carried on wooden troughs down to Cample Mill, and from 

 these there is a wooden shoot which serves as a byewash, and by 

 which the whole water might be entirely turned off. The Scaur, 

 Shinnel, and Cample are all good trouting streams. But the 

 Carron is still better, consisting entirely of spring water ; the trout 

 in it are firm, well-shaped, and pink-fleshed, but they seldom 

 exceed a pound in weight. At Morton Mill, Carron Foot, near the 

 junction of the Carron and Nith, there is no heck at the tail-lade. 

 Most of the water in the stream is taken off by the lade. Not a 

 drop of water was coming over the crest of the dam above the 

 saw-mill on the Carron when I visited it ; and as the dam is 10 

 feet high, it is an absolute obstruction, blocking up about 8 miles of 



* A full account of the 'Macdonald Fishway,' illustrated by diagrams, will be 

 found in the well-known New York paper Forest and Stream, of 3d and 10th 

 January last. 



