The evening times., 1895-09-13

The largest failure probably of the United
States Fish Commission is to be found In
the fishway at the grandly picturesque
Great Falls OF the Potomac, fourteen miles
above Washington. The government, upon
the Recommendation nf the Fish Commission
officials, has spent $74,0O0 there and the
people have never prOfited one cent as o
result of the work.
Whether the fishway will ever be COM
pleted is very problematic. The reason
given is that there has been lack of money,
but the gentlemen in charge OF the Commits
sion have found money for various other
projects begun long after the fisbway.
In the last edition of the British Encyclp-
pedia, published over ten years ago, Dr.
Brown GOode says of improving rivers as
habitations for fish: Constructions, such
as dams. may in nmostinstances be overcome
by the use OF fish ladders. The salmon has
profited much by those devices in Europe,
and the immense dams in American rivers
will doubtless be passabl e even for shad and
alewives u the new system OF fish way con-
struction now being beapplied IN the Savan-
nah, James, Potomac and other large
rivers fulfllls its present promise Of success"
That upon the P Potomac does not appearto
have been fulfilled.
| In the report from the commission in sS2,
the description of this new system is entered
| upon quite fully and illustrations are fur
| nished to show how the work is to be
accomplished. The plan is. in its general
outline, very simple. runway inclined
from the top of the dam like a huge cellar
door lies In the middle of the stream. Its
surface is divided into six channels by five
beams about a foot square. The length
OF the beams is the same as that of the
fishway or section. about forty feet
Down the channels flow the water al an
angle OF about fifteen degrees with the
horizon. In each channel is series of
distractions turning the current back
upon itself and by friction SO retarding
the swiftness OF the, flow as to make it
possible for the fish To dart up the way and
gain the comparatively quiet pool above.
OLD PLANS.
The old method OF construction had been
to build a winding way 500 feet long for
a dam ten feet high. The objection was
that the fish would lose their way in the
windings and the work involved was too
great. 1t was hoped that the new system
would permit the constr uction of light ways
OF boards which might be removed when !
the fish were not running and put under
shelter to preserve them.
1t was believed that by the use of these
wa VS. the extensive fisheries for white shad
might be re-establ6fed, which had in
early days Employed large numbers OF
persons on the streams empt ying into the
Chesapeakeb The building OF dams had
destroyed the business On July 10, 1882,
Congress made an appropriation OF $780,
900 for the construction OF six fishways.
or six sections OF a fishway, at Great
Falls A contract was let and several parts
of the work was completed, only to be
carried away later by an overflow.
Later the work was renewed under the
direction of the War Department. and
gain 1t was swept away. Another ap-
$24 900 this time, was Sc
cured, and in 1891 plans were drawn at
the War Department and a contract was
let to Isaac II Hathaway, OF Philadelphia,
to build the way. In the report of the
for 1892 he says that work
was begun in July, 1891. and sections 4,
5 and were completed within that year.
Subsequently two more sections were
built The sections are numbered from the
dam down, and ali were finished
Except the upper or first. which should
AIRY the fish over the main dam Ahuge |
wall of masonry runs out belnw the dam
showing where work was begun Then
operations were abandoned. Was 1t simply
or lack of money or had confidence in the
lew system run short?
sOLIDLY BUILT.
The five sections of the way or the five
are very solidly built and stood
here in the middle of the Potomac bed
when visited yesterday by a Times reporter
huge monument';o somebody's mistake or
incompetency. The bushes are
'eginning to reach out TO them from both
ides and the drift has collected on the
title dams that flank the largest and mos. q
bvious. WL~-her any fish have ever come S
p the ways already built could not be
earned. 1t is certain none have ever gone c
,ver the big dam in section of the way c
Fhich is as yet on paper in the chief I
ngineer's office in the War Department. 7
In answer to a Times reporters ques-
ions yesterday Acting Commissioner Gill I
aid that he did not know whether the Il
built according to tho new system e
n the James and on the Delaware had been n
uccessful or not. No effort had been T.
,adc to complete way at Great Falls for
,veral years because the appropriation had
OF been sufficient. Very little attention
ad been given to 1t because 1t was not a
lought to be possible to secure the money 9
eeded. Z,
AS TO recent statements that the Commits n
on is little more thanaa feeder to the Ma a,
onal Nuseum, he said no specimens were N
yer sent to the Museum till after they had h
cen used by the Commission for the pur- Z,
ose for which selected Some assistants 8,
the Commission were employed in the d.
useum. No specimens were sent to col m
ges. That was wholly the work of the d.
Iuseum though, of course, material gath il
red by the Commission agents still retained
le Commission's label when forwarded. q
The collections OF the Commission when
sed went to the e4useumaccording to a well
nown act of Congress-. He simply smiled II
the statement that over half the money of a,
C Commission wasspent in making scien- "
Tic collections, as being absurd. o.
Items OF Interest. q,
There are sixtyfour counties in Texas Il
ithout newspapers. ol
The largest pear raised in Missouri this II