Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-11-03
FISH OR LUMBER"
Plea for the Further Protection OF our
specified Bonuties

as above, which, IN TIE opening, says
| Among tho bills introduced in the Lsgis-
lature at the present session is one by Mr.
! Chaplin Of Jericho--to keep sawduac out of
| the streams that are infested by fish; ospec-
! ialy those of tho trout persuasion" Mr..
/ johnson OF Essex has also bill to tho same
| effect
| am not much OF fisherman, but the
| law proposed is so important, l would
! like to say word in its favor.
In tho first place, it is not question OF
! ''11ish or Lumber ut all I have cut and
manufactured several million foot Of lumber
| within 10 years, and | know whereof /
speak.
In the second place, where docs tho lum-
| herman get hts right TO dump his otrll
into stream which invariably flnds its
way through our villages, contaminatcs the
wator drifts on the iutervales and fills up
tho mill ponds and bulkhends situated below?
Most OF our streams are used for drink
! ing PURPOSES and who has given the lum-
| herman the right to convert n pure noun
thin stream into soup filled with floating,
rotting sawdust, shaviugs AMI bark? Tho
additional expense, necessarily borne by
owners OF mill privileges in this State, sit
uatel below these ofYal dumping lumber
mills, in consequence of the blocking up of
| bulkheads ard fumes running al sorts
of debris through tho wheels, filing
up the mill ponds AMI decrease in
continuous power, would mora than pay for
taking caro- of tho surplus mill oiral from
every mill dumping into the stream in the
! State. What right, because moro conveu-
iont for HIM, has a lumber mnn more than
any other man, to dump his otfal on his
noichbor What right has he to pos on
any land with drifts Of snwdust and shaw
ings that will nIways breed brakes aud
, weods, but rcvor timothy clover or corn q:
" hat right has lie to I'll up the bed OF the
stream on my land, so 1t shall go wander
| ing over nv interval meadow or water soak
it? Moreover, what right has he to iii my
mill pond with his rubbish so | must spend
days, with many men each season, TO empty
1T for his convenience Or, what right has
he to ask to spend from one to several
hours each morning clearing my hukheed
| of his rubbish which has hJAted down
through the night? II he should dump
stone into it with the same result, the law
would protect me-even though he left the
stream pure and did no injury below.
The same question has been ono Of fierce
contest IN California. The hydraulic miners
insisted on running; their washings or Slick
ing into the stream, to be carried below,
thus filling up the river beds and colorinE
their drinking water tho same as the soil
above until it was prohibited by rigorous
laws.
How much wore, if, instead of soil they
had run into tie streams bark, shavings,
wood turnirgs ana sawdust TO fill up the bed
and fermens and rot IN drifts along its
shores
Let any who doubt the effect of this kind
OF rubbish on drinking water, take a pail of
pure water from an unpoluted mountain
stream and add e pint o: ordinarily resin Gus
BARK or sawdust and try it for few days.
But who ever heard OF e trout 'nlesting'
n stream, unless 1t be in the recent article
in the Earth : The whole State are looking
with longing eyes for summer boardorg.
The lumbernen are stripping our mountains
and hills which is proper, Tor now growth
will take tho place of the old But why
should thoy be allowed to destroy this great
est Incentive We have in this State, next 10
our scenery, to induce the summer boarder
to take up his abode with u.s. e., trouting
Have you good trouting is ons OF the most
common questions asked OF the summer
hotel proprietor by strangers. Good trout
ing, with hunting, has made the Adirondacks
OF national removal aud env, ched the north orn
part OF the state OF New York by many
millions. With tho advantage of the mod
est appropriation, made two years ago, CON
tinued and the other laws for the pro;e =
ton OF trout enforced, Danish this curs,
OF the whole State aHd We can have al our
natural trout streams teemlny with thu
spscklei beauties and draw tourists from all
over New EGG and, to eaten them, while
the whole State would be enriched by their
so doing.
1t Is mistaken notion that trout eat saw
dust; they are far too wise for that; they
breathe it in with the water. through their
gins, where it becomes entangleI, and they
die just man would If compe.lsd TO
breathe sawdust into and out of his lungs.
| have seen trout dead, myself beside q
sawdust "infested' stream, with gils swol-
len, where the sawdrst mad lodged.
Although the article above indicate
Claims that it is a mcoted question whether
sawdust is really injurious to fish, and al-c
that 'Some authorities assert that fresh
sa wdust-tlken in modration-is benefic-
ial, - yot | have st!!l to learn OF any such
authorities in existence, and it is the UNI
versal experience of all fishermen that the
putting into the stream OF mill ofTal to any
largo amount-tor any extended time-wil
drive trout entirely from the stream We
are told to "Stock and protect the water:
that are not mill streams, and not modest
the mill stream and tho owners along It:
course.
From the nature OF things, lumber mill:
are not built on tho little brooks, but on thC
larger brooks and small rivers, the very
places tho legal trout ''infest' and in 4
portion of each yenr the trout largely leav,
the little brooks for tho larger ones HnC
rivers. Thus in giving up tbs main stream
to one man you denude ;ha whole and rol
the taxpayers and reel estate owners o.
their rights, as you ask them to support
your fish hatchery and all other expense,
10 propagate fish, but decline to give hin
advantages arising from 1t.
Most Of tho mill men can dispose OF
large part Of their oliGl if they will lot it be
so understood, among their reighhors. In,
custom largely is, to sell it hy tho cord oil
load whom wanted, for ice houses, b0dding
or packing and when demand feiis at any
price run the balance into the stream ~
there shall he no surplus or accumulation.
The Legislature Of 1890 did a spentil
thing for Vermont when tEoy msIo an AZ.
ptolriat7u for the propagation Of fish. Tit
national government also ia extending