Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
SCOTLAND SALMON FISHING
Reservoir for the Thurso Riyer-Need
for Artificial Storage.
From the London Times.

N''' '"c ieiuoh LINES
The Thurso river. which rises amid the
NILS bordering sutherland and Caithness,
anu after course of about forty miles
iaiis INTO the North sea, Is being made the
subject of an important experiment. In
order that the water may never be too low
1or salmon fishing. reservoir is to be
formed In the upper reaches. Sir Tole-
mache Sinclair. owner Of the river and the
lands adjoining. has intrusted the task to
Mr. r. ID. Malloch, Perth, skillful natur-
aiist under whose supervision successful
salmon passes have been built at Loeb
'ennachar and elsewhere. The new lake
Will be two miles long by half a mile in
oIeadth, and Will have general depth of
eignt Feet There will be sluices at the
outflow. and by means Of these it will at
all times be possible to have the height
OF the river at whatever level may be de-
sired. Need for artificial storage such as
that which is being arranged on the
fhurso. has gradually arisen all over Scot
land 1t seems to have begun about 100
years ago.
At that time landowners and farmers
awoke to the fact that the hills would
carry more sheep which would produce
better mutton and richer wool, il the
lanos were not DOGGY in so many places.
That was the origin of movement which
has changed the nature of the highlands
and in particular the nature of the rivers
Here and there drain was made that the
wafer might De Spee0e0 on. and at
length practically all the mountains and
the hills are scanned with channels from
the submits. The end which was in view
has been attained. Many thousands of
acres originally swamp now bear heather
or good grass. and the sheep-carrying ca
pacity of the hills has been greatly ex-
tended Grouse also. and even the red deer
have prospered through the reform These
game birds and beasts require water and
plenty of it; but. as far as can be made
out, they had rather too much in the orig
inal state of nature. and they do not, as a
rule, seem to have too little now. On the
other hand, the fish of the rivers in the
valleys have Jared otherwise. The waters
are very unstable in volume They rise to
levels much higher, and fall to levels much
lower. than they ever reached in the days
when Iain over the vast watersheds had to
find it's own way toward them In the
old times each storm of rain. the water fill
tering slowly, kept the rivers in fair flow
until the next; nowadays, through the
drains, the water is carried off almost as
quickly it falls, and there is no reserve
for the periods of fair weather.
On the salmon rivers, as on the trout
streams, the results have been rather Sc
rious The commercial fisheries have not
suffered much, If at all; but that is prob
ably because these are in the estuaries.
which. at least when the tide Is not at full
ebb, are kept in normal volume by the sea.
Sportsmen are not so well off as the pro-
fessional fishers. They may become ten
ants of well-reputed stretches for month
or TWO months, or even three, eltner IN
spring or in autumn; but they cannot be
sure that salmon will be in the waters, or
that if the fish there the waters will
be of the proper which is the natural.
height. Even in the British Islands, the
meteorological influences over which are
peculiarly complex. weather has certain
periodicity and we have phrases. such as
1.-The Lammas Flood, which indicate that
transforms at stated times are as much to
be expected frosts at others, but the
periodicity is subject to frequent excep-
tions. Last year. for example, saving over
a part of Argyllshire. Scotland had no con-
sidera BILE rain after the beginning of Au-
gust The result was disappointment on all
the salmon rivers. Some held a few fish,
but these had been so long in the water that
they would not look at flies. and were
chary even of prawns.