( 5 ) 
REPORT. 
I have the honour to report that, as directed by the Board, I went to 
Blairgowrie on the 29th of August last, accompanied by Mr Lumsden, 
Superintendent to the Tay District Board, in order to inspect the dams 
on the river Ericht above Blairgowrie Bridge, and especially those at 
Westfield and Ashbank where Macdonald Fishways have been put in, as I 
bad heard that these Fish ways were not acting properly in consequence 
of the liability of the tubes to become choked up by debris brought down 
by the river in floods. 
I first inspected the Weir immediately above Blairgowrie Bridge. This Obstructions 
presents no very formidable obstacle to the ascent of salmon as long as S^donald el ° W 
the cut in it is left clear and open. It is far otherwise with the dam Fishways. 
immediately above. Here, the pass is near the left bank, not far from 
a plantation. The dam is about 7 feet in perpendicular height, and I 
very much doubt the efficiency of the pass which has been placed upon 
it. There is too much white water and a great wave at the bottom of it. 
I recommended some years ago, that the beam which runs right along the 
crest of the dam should either have a cut made in it or should be bevelled 
on the lower face so as to be on a uniform slope with the pass. I also 
recommended that cross pieces should be put on the pass so as to break 
the force of the water. In the state of the river I could not see whether 
or not these recommendations had been given effect to; but I was 
informed that they had been carried out. The pass, however, is not 
satisfactory, and Mr Lumsden believes that not 1 salmon in 100 that 
attempts it, succeeds in getting over the dam. 
Some distance above this is the Keith, a rocky gorge of considerable The Keith, 
length, and from 5 to 7 feet in breadth in which the whole volume of the 
river is imprisoned and concentrated, and through which it frets and foams 
in a strong, deep, rapid stream ; w r hile, at the head of this stream, there is 
a broken fall from 7 to 8 feet high which salmon must take after swimming 
the long rushing torrent below. I do not believe that they can do so ; and 
none have ever been seen, either by Mr Lumsden or any of his men, in 
the river above. On the right side of the rapid, there is a sort of natural 
salmon-ladder in the rocks, extending from the corner of the pool just 
above the fall to the foot of the rapid, which by blasting and the use of 
the pickaxe might be made into an efficient fish way. It is a pity that 
Colonel Macdonald, when he inspected the obstructions on the Ericht, 
some years ago, did not make sure that salmon could pass the Keith and 
the dam immediately below it before he erected the Macdonald Fishways 
on the two dams higher up. At present, I very much doubt whether 
salmon ever succeed in reaching these fishways, though sea-trout, perhaps, 
may. 
