68 
“ The River Irwell, after having by its tributaries afforded 
drainage and sewerage to the towns of Bolton, Hey wood, Bury, 
Rochdale, Radcliffe, and numerous other places, and having 
been pent up in countless reservoirs and dams for manufac- 
turing purposes, approaches Salford by the Adelphi in a pretty 
tolerable condition as to purity, inasmuch as small fish live 
in its waters — a very rare circumstance in any other of the 
streams hereinafter mentioned. At the Adelphi is a high weir 
built quite across the river. After passing this impediment 
the stream is polluted by numerous works upon its banks 
and the contents of the sewers of the eastern and south- 
eastern parts of Salford, until it receives the waters of the 
Irk at Hunt’s Bank in a much worse condition than its own- 
in fact, as filthy as water can well be ; thence the river flows 
sluggishly along the western part of Manchester to Hulme, 
where it receives a portion of the waters of the Medlock and 
Shooter’s Brook (a part of this being kept in the Bridgewater 
Canal) charged with the contents of the sewers of the eastern 
and southern parts of Manchester; it is then stopped at 
Throstle Nest by a dam across its stream. For many miles 
in its course towards Runcorn it emits offensive smells, and 
bubbles of light carburretted hydrogen gas rise to its sur- 
face. 
“ The Irk approaches Manchester from Blackley. It, like 
the Irwell, is anything but a pure stream to begin with. 
After being dammed up at Messrs. Appleton’s paper mills, 
Mr. Hartley’s dyeworks, Mrs. Crompton’s paper mill, and 
Messrs. Appleton’s upper logwood mills, it joins the Moston 
Brook at Collyhurst. This last-named brook is impeded in 
its course within a quarter of a mile of its junction by 
three weirs, namely, at Messrs. Appleton’s St. George’s log- 
wood mills, Messrs. Dentith & Co.’s chemical works, and a 
weir not far from the old Rochdale Road at Collyhurst. 
Proceeding with the Irk : — This river after its junction with 
the Moston Brook is dammed up at Messrs. Appleton’s lower 
