THE FRESH- WATER LOCHS OF _SCOTLAND. 19; 
LOCHS OF THE THURSO BASIN. 
Towards the headwaters of the river Thurso there _are several small 
lochs, the most important being Loch More, which was the only one 
sounded by the Lake Survey. This loch, which must not be confounded 
with the larger Loch More in Sutherlandshire, is famous for its salmon 
and trout fishing ; the large area of country draining into it is a striking 
characteristic. 
Loch More (see Plate YI.). — Loch More lies about 13 miles to the 
south of Thurso, the overflow from the loch being carried by the river 
Thurso, after a long and devious course, into Thurso bay. The loch is 
irregularly subcircular in outline, with a maximum diameter in a north 
and south direction of less than a mile, the mean breadth being one-third 
of a mile. The superficial area is about 177 acres, or a quarter of a square 
mile, and the area draining into it is about 67^ square miles — an area 
240 times greater than that of the loch. The maximum depth of 7 feet 
was observed near the eastern shore, off the mouth of the outflowing river. 
The volume of water is estimated at 32 million cubic feet, and the mean 
depth at 4 feet. The loch was surveyed on October 9, 1902, when the 
elevation of the lake-surface above the sea was found by levelling from 
bench-mark to be 381 ’4 feet ; when levelled by the officers of the Ordnance 
Survey in July, 1870, the elevation was 381*0 feet above sea-level. 
Like most of the Caithness lochs, Loch More is a shallow, flat-bottomed 
basin. Most of the soundings were taken in depths of 5 and 6 feet ; the 
deepest cast in 7 feet was taken, about 100 yards from the eastern shore 
where the river Thurso flows out, while along the. southern and northern 
shores the bottom is being silted up by the deposition of material laid 
down by the Strathmore water and the Sleach water. The area of the 
lake-floor covered by less than 5 feet of water is about 92 acres, or 52 
per cent, of the total area of the loch. On the date of the survey, tem- 
perature observations gave 46°*0 Fahr. at the surface and at a depth of 
3 feet, while a reading at 6 feet gave 45°*8. 
