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1

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TIIK

SUPPRESSED

REPORT.

BY

W. II. ROGERS,

Lafe Inspector of Fisheries for Nova Scotia.

HALIFAX, N. S.:
rklNTEI) I!V WILLIAM MACNAB, No. 3 TRINCE STRKET,

1889.

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lI.wiNc, liad (Dnsidcrahlc oxpiriciicf in my yonn^cT d.iys in holli mill
wvj^ and rivrr fi^Iiiim, I was early in life nn|in.'ssed hy many facts ami
occunvncL's, which caniL' under my notice' Irom time to liim.', thai saw
dust caused no injury in any way to anadromous t'lsiies. I was ni'viM
able to discover that they inatle any elTorl to avoid il in any manner,
l)iU fin the contrary I usually tound the -greatest numl)er ot' i'lsh under llu'
mill and where the sawdust was the most ahunilant. I do not, howeser,
mean lo say that the fish were foimd in su<h jilaces because of the pre
sence of sawdust, but because of the run of water csca])in,t,' from the
mill wheels, fr(jm which neither the continual pouring of the dust from
the saws above nor the noise and clatter of the mill seemed to trii;hten
them away. In this statement I will be sustained by mill men, resident
river fishermen, as well, I think, by all havinu practical knowledue of the
subject, and particularly, could a statement of their experience be
obtained, by poachers. So well is this ktiown by men employed in saw
mills that duriiiL; the salmon season, so soon as the mill is slo])ped tor
any purpose, a man or two will be seen under it with dip-net or spear
endeavouring; to capture the I'isli which have .uathered there while the
mill was in operation.

Since 1 have bee'i coiinected with the I )epartment of i'isheries I have
hatl ample opportunity to obtain facts, and generally to pay closer atten-
tion to this subject. The rivers of this I'rovince bein^^ numerous and
small, and havini; been very generally utilized tor water power and
mainly for cuttini; lumber, mill dams and. as a conseciuence, sawdust
arc ])lentiful everywhere, and so are anadromous fishes. No coimtry
can therefore offer better opportunities for obtaining facts on this as well
as on other matters connected with the fisheries. Nor are we wantini;
in Nova Scotia in incentives to investigation. Sportsmen are numertMis
and generally believe in the injurious effects of sawdust. Whenever
any branch of the fisheries fails or the catch falls off for a year or two,
sawdust is the one prime cause given. Hence, for over twenty years,
the matter has been almost continuously pressed upon the attention of
your Department ; petitions and correspondence on the subject ha\e
multi])lied, and many reports may be found on tile in the Departmeiil
from myself and other otiicers.

I have never to my kiiowledge communicated an\ thing to your
I)epartment that I am not prepareil to verify upon fair investigation.
My statements are liable at all times to be looked into 1)\' the chief
officers of the hejiartment or by Parliament, and I therefore cannot
alTord to give misleading information, nor am I without ambition to be
right on all (juestions pertaining to llu: fishing interests of this I'rovince,
and in some sense to be the humble instrument in their permanent
irnprovoment. Realizing the responsibility of the position I have

'Vvsafo

2

occupied frt^in the time I entered the servi< e, I have not only supplied
myself with nuich of the existing literature on the subject of the fisheries,
but have had much correspondence with men accpiainted with the
subject, both scientifically and |)racticn]]y, in many parts of the world.
This, in connection with a personal experience of over twenty years in
this Province, ought to have given me at least some knowledge of a
subject of which so little is known l)v the general public, and upon
which knowledge is so desirable.

Jwidence to sustain the popular belief that sawdust is injurious to
fish I have been unable to find, notwithstanding plenty of effort in that
direction, — the advocates of that belief being driven to mere assertion
and fancy to sustain their faith, while facts press themselves into ])ublic
notice in abundance sustaining the op])osite view.

It has been stated that the falling off in the catch of Shad in the Uay
of Kimdy was caused by sawdust, that the fish swallowed it and died
in large numbers in consetjuencc. The fact that ideas of this kind
gained some credence led me to enfjuirc more carefully into the matter,
but not for my own satisfaction, as no such doctrine could be accepted
by any person with the most limited knowledge of the habits of fish or
the natural laws governing them. The same idea had been exploded
several times before in the case of other branches of the fisheries, nota-
bly the nigby Herring fishery. My views and reports on this fishery
will be found on file in the year 1879, and it will be seen that the slate
of that fishery since has fully sustained the position I maintained at that
time. The average annual catch from 1870 to 1879, ten years, was
22,300 boxes, and from 1880 to 1887, eight years, 55,200 boxes
During the years 1877 to 1879, when the annual catch fell to about
5,000 boxes, sawdust was pointed to as the cause, and numerously
signed petitions were sent to the Government pressing for the enforce-
ment of the law. My view was stated to be that the decrease was
merely owing to a periodical fluctuation, with which the sawdust had
nothing to do, and that the fish would return in as great abundance as
ever ; and I api)eal with full confidence to the facts as stated as sub-
stantiating my view after an cxjjerience of nine years has thrown its light
upon the subject. In 1887 the catch of Digby herring amounted to
74,135 boxes, the catch for 1888 is only 12,200. We may therefore
expect again that large numbers of petitions will be sent to the Govern-
ment, asking the enforcement of the sawdust law, so as to save the Digby
Herring fishery from destruction. The following from a letter lately re-
ceived from Overseer Hanley of Digby is in point. After stating that he
is of opinion that sawdust is injurious, particularly in large quantities, he
says : " Yet I am unable to point out any facts from my own knowledge
"to sustain that opinion. During the past time since I have been in
" office, when no herring came into the Basin, when there were liitle or
" no sawdust coming down Bear River, the cry was that sawdust was
"the cause. Again, when sawdust was coming down the river in large
"quantities, large schools of herring have come into the ]5asin. It is
" impossible to account for the erratic movements of herring and mac-
" kerel. Take for instance the ])ast season, when there was no sawdust
" at all worth speaking of, very few herring struck in, and of so poor a
"quality that they were not fit to smoke. Some struck in of a better

11

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ust had
ance as
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dust was
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"(jiiality in the lattrr part n( the season, but too late to smoke. I may
" be permitted to say here that at the head of St. Mary's Hay where
" no sawdust or other deleterious matter has been thrown into the water
" yet there were smaller quantities of fish there this season than ever
"before, here is a problem for scientists to solve!"

It is ([uite true *.liat sawdust is often found in the stomachs of fish,
as well as other indigestible substances, l)ut I have never seen a shad
or salmon nr any other fish that gave any evidence of having been killed
thereby, nor have 1 ever found a man except in one instance at Miiui-
dic, Cumberland County, who had seen a fish that he believed was so
killed Sometimes a shad or salmon is found on Hats in the vicinity of
stake nets at low water which has fallen out of the nets as the tide ebl)s
away, and this is the case as frecjuently in localities where there is
no sawdust as where there is, and there can be little doubt that if dead
fish are found on the Hats in the vicinity of nets, ihey have been killed
by them. If sawdust is found in the stomachs of the shad it has been
taken in by them along with their food, anadramous fishes it being well
understood feeding only in salt water, taking nothing in fresh water.
They do not masticate their food like animals, but the larger fish swal-
low the smaller, bones and all, and when the flesh is all digested, the
bones pass away without any injury, the structure of the digestive organs
being made to meet the conditions of fish life, just as birds are ])rovided
with digestive apparatus to meet the conditions of their life, and swallow
gravel and other mineral substances without risk.

In Prof (i. Ihown Coode's great work, "The Fisheries and Fishing
Industries of the United States," pp. 594 to 610, will be found a very
full account of the Shad and the causes of its migratory movements,
and so forth, but not one word as to sawdust. Or. page 610 the Mud
or (jizzard Shad is discussed, in reference to which is the following : —
" They breed in summer and are supposed to feed like the menhaden
" to a great extent upon the bottom mud, from which after swallowing
" they separate the organic contents." These are not our shad, though
a branch of the general family, and the fact stated is enough to show
that fish do swallow indigestible matter without injury.

The following from l)r, James S. Miller, Overseer of Fisheries at
Canning, Kings Co., will be of interest here: —

" In regard to the question of sawdust and its effects on fish, in my
"opinion it cannot be jjoisonous. If it was, the fish would be found in
" numbers, dead or dying, floating on the surface of the water in rivers
" where sawdust in large quantities is allowed to run. Hut I have never
"heard of any reliable person having seen such a state of things. I
" have seen shad on more than one occasion opened in which was
" found sawdust, but whether the shad swallowed the sawdust in the
" ordinary way as food, or whether it was swallowed in the death
" struggles, I am not prepared to say. This, however, I do know, that
" in no way did these fish appear different from their fellows. They
" were as fat, as large and as plump as any. Now if the sawdust was
" poisonous, one would expect to see some effect from it. Sawdust
" being wo' dy fibre could not become poisonous without decomposition
" or fermentation. The cool spring waters that form our rivers, as well

" as the motion ol tlic water, the currents, would prevent anything Hke
•' feriDcntation, as tlic water at any given place is constantly heing rc-
" newed. I take it, lliereforc, that decomposition would be about
" impossible under these circumstances, and I believe the idea of saw-
" dust poisoning fish will have to be abandoned wlien the (piestion is
" more fully underst(;od. Kroui what I have seen and read, I am
"satisfied that sawdust does not kill fish. I'ish swallow many substances
" that seem to be indigestible -anything bright or shiny, a piece of tin,
" for instance — yet i*. does not kill them. What use it is to die fish I
" cannot say. If not useful in the process of digestion, the fish must have
" some means of getting rid of it at least ; or it may be like the ostrich,
" have a use for stones and many other substances that are indigestible.
" In this country I cannot see how any person can hold the theory that
" sawdust has poisoned the fish or driven them away. Kish have come
" and gone : in all the past tliis has been the history of fishing in this
" country. When the lish fall off, people attribute it to almost as many
" causes as there are persons. When ships were first built on the shores
" of Scott's I'ay, the pounding was going to drive all the shad away.
" Then it was the sawdust ; and again the steam-mill would be sure to
" do it, and so on tui iiijinitiini : and all this time the shad came and
" went according to their natural laws. The great trouble with the
" fishery of this country, I am convinced, is the mill-dams and not the
"sawdust. I mean the river fishery, — for if there is any cause other
" than natural for the falling off in the shad fishery, I do not know
" what it is. If the mill-dams were all sujjplied with good and efficient
" fishways, I an) satisfied the river fishing would improve. Mill-dams
" have done more injury to fishing than anything else, not excepting
" the terrible sawdust. Whether the sawdust fills up the rivers to any
" extent, is in my ojjinion, or rather when the matter conies to be
" proi)erly understood, it will be the main (juestion. It must be remcm-
" i)ered that those who have had the most experience say it does not,
" that the S|)ring and I'all freshets in fact sweep the rivers out. No
" riglit-lhinking man would wish to injure the fishing interests of this
" Province, neither would it be right to injure so important an industry
" as the lumber trade, without very grave reasons ; but if this sawdust
" law is to be carried cut in its entirety, it will about ruin the lumber
" business in many places."

A very valuable paper by Prof S. A. I'orbes on the Food of Fishes
will be found in the Report of the Fishery Commissioners of Illinois for
the year 1.S84, p[). 90-127, in which he states what has been found in
the stomachs of various kinds of fish. There are many able papers by
scientists of distinction, as well as by practical men of every phase of the
fisheries, published in the Report of the United States National and
State Fisheries Commissions, and I have generally found the views
before stated corroborated. The following from a paper by Prof. H.
Rasch, of Norway, published in the United States Fishery Reports for
1880, page 517, gives an idea of how the sawdust question is viewed in
a country where they have had a much more extended exjierience than
we could have in a country so young : "That the rivers on which there
"is considerable cutting of timber gradually become more and more

■

"destitute of salmon is an iiiulcrii.ihlc fact, l)iit while it is asserted tliat
" the sawdust introduced into the river from the saw mills causes the
"salmon coming from the sea either to forsake its foster stream because
"of meeting the sawdust to seek another river not i)oIluted, or else
"when the fish attempt to pass through the areas ([uile filled with saw-
"(hist, then this by fixing itself into the gill openings or between the
"gills causes its death, yet later experience seems to entitle us to the
"assumption that sawdust neither causes the salmon to forsake its
'' native stream nor produce any great mortality among the ascending
"fishes."

" The river Dranuuen, below Hellefas, has for many years been greatly
" polluted by sawdust, and the abundance of salmon decreased con
" stantly until the lishermen at Hellefas adopted the so called artifi< ial
" method of hatching, whereby they sup|)lied the river eac h year with a
" cf)nsiderable number of fry, which, after wandering to sea, returned to
" the cataract, although the quantity of sawdust is the same as hereto-
" fore ; and one cannot see that the ascending fish is in any marked
" degree affected thereby. The case is different when it reaches a
"cataract where many saw-mills are situated, and there meets an insur-
" mountable obstacle to its further advancement. Its desperate leap is
" in vain ; and as it is driven down exhausted in the water filled up with
" sawdust, it will undeniably be liable to get scjine of it so tightly wedged
" in the gills that it cannot get rid of it, and death will then sooner or
" later be the result. To this danrcr the male salmon will be especially
" exposed near and at the sjjawning time, since the increased length of
" the so-called notches of the lower jaw prevent it from completely
" closing its mouth. The salmon,, which are not seldom found dead
"after the spawning time, are nearly all niale.s. That at the same time
" most of the deaths result from violent struggles between rivals is
" [)robable If one could secure for the ascending fishes an easy
" passage over the intercepting cataracts and dams, thi;n certainly very
•' few fish would die from getting sawdust in their gills.

" That young salmon bred from a race of salmon which has its own
" river, when they are set free in a strange river and one which is in
"an unusual degree polluted by sawdust, will not be prevented by this
"circumstance from returning to this last named stream after their
" wandering in the sea, one had a convincing illustration in the great
"experiment instituted last year by Director A. Hansen. In olden
" times the salmon shoal, which had its spawning-place in Sali River,
" could ascend to it through the then passable Sali cataract, but when they
"for the sake of the increased mill business erected above the cataract
" a dam so high that the salmon could not ascend^ to their spawning
"ground, this salmon shoal gradually died out entirely. With the con-
" sent of the mill-owners Mr. Hansen in 1868 constructed a hatching-
" apparatus, which in November of the same year was supplied with the
" pregnated salmon eggs, transi)orted from the fishery at Hellefas. On
" St. John's night, 1869, the young arising therefrcjm were liberated from
" the apparatus into the river, partly above and partly below the dam.
" Last summer a portion of the planting returned as young salmon, and
"according to experience gained elsewhere, we should await for the
" great body of them until the coming summer, because the greatest

6

" portiijii of tliLin appear to pass the first two years of tlicir lives in the
" rivers and two years in the sea.

"Incase one coiiltj aid the advance of the salmon around the Sarp
"cataract or Sali cataract - and |)erhaps in this way a few less ini|)ortant
" waterfalls - and in connection therewith furnish the (llonunen with
"artificially hatched young, one may now he fully assured that tlie
" abundance of sawdust which incumbers l)oth brandies of the (llommen,
"which again unite between Sarpsborg and i'redrikstad, will not prevent
"the salmon from going up to the falls, where they will then |)robably
" soon find access to a rightly constructed salmon ladder, which would
"help them up to a portion of the great river freer from sawdust."

This article is thus (]uotcd at length to show that the experience of
the old world corroborates that of the new in this matter, and that in
spite of sawdust, salmon as well as other fish will return to their native
rivers and thrive. The writer seems to retain the idea th:it sawdust in
some instances will kill fish, but there can be no doubt whatever and it
is pretty generally admitted that it does not. Male salmon are contin-
ually killing each (jther in their struggles as the writer has pointed out,
and it is cjuite natural to jump to the cont:lusion that when sawdust is
found in their gills it was the cause of death, whereas it is safe to say
that it has drifted there after the salmon has been killed.

Fish of all kinds are found in the foul and muddy waters of the IJay
of Fundy and the bays and estuaries of rivers around it, and notwith-
standing the abundance of all kinds of foreign and indigestible sub-
stances, as well as sawdust, they do not appear to mind it, but
become fat and are the best flavored fish in the world. While the
presence of sawdust and other foreign matter do not of course contribute
to this fatness and good flavor, it is certainly apparent that they do not
interfere with it. It is further clear that if sawdust killed shad or any
other fish at certain times and at many places, large numbers of dead
and decomjiosing fish would be found, in fact " winrows '" of them
would be blown upon shore, but no such thing has ever been heard of.

I am becoming more and more convinced as time passes that sawdust
is of little, if any, injury to fish of any kind, and the expressions of
oi)inion I have received in correspondence and personal interview with
others of experience, have confirmed me in the views I hold. In
December, 1880, Fishery Commissioner Stillwell of IJangor, Maine,
wrote me as follows :- -" In answer to your esteemed favor of the 28th
" ult., we have no reports or papers on the subject of sawdust. We
" have not succeeded in keeping it out of our rivers. It does not seem
" to seriously affeA the anadromous fishes where thrown out below their
" sjxiwning grounds : if thrown in above, I think it would. Our ana-
" dramous fish seem to make their way through it readily enough."

Henry O. Stanley, Esq., also one of the l''ishery Commissioners of
Maine, has written me lately: — "The Penobscot, which is the only
" salmon river, with the exce])tion (perhajxs) of the St. Croix, of any
" importance in our State that is now stocked with salmon, is full of
" sawdust at the lower end of the river, say for fifty miles up. I do not
" think that it injures them to any extent. They have free access to the
" head waters and can run up past the sawdust when they please. It

ncrs of

ic only

of any

full of

do not

ss to the

asc. It

I

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" docs not scctn to iroiiMc llicni imuli in tlicir way up, as they hnjicr
"along in the pools whore the sawdust abourds, and seem to take the
" lly readily. The famous pool at Bangor where most arc taken with
" the lly is full of sawdust."

He has had no experienre as to the effect of it if lodged on the u|)per
portions of rivers on the spawning heds, anil thinks that in such cases
it would injure the salmon fishery, and I am inclined to think so too,
l)iit I have never been able to find any lodged where salmon would
spawn, as there is too much force of water in such places to allow it to
remain, salmon always spawning in shallow, rapid running water. .Some
of our rivers have been receiving sawdust at their very head waters for
many years, and one looks in vain for sawdust where there is any likli-
hood of salmon spawning. Maine has much more sawd'ist in her
streams than we have and her officers are close and keen observers of
long experience.

It will not be denied that there is and has l)een for vei^ -Mny years
past more sawdust thrown into the St. John River than into.*' other in
the Lower Provinces. (Jibson's large mills and others on thj Nashwaak,
with numerous others all along the smaller streams whi 'i How into th'
St. John on both sides from the (!rand Falls down tl river ahiKv t lo
its mouth allow .»') their dust to pass into the water. All he other
large fish-proUiiciug rivers however are clean as to sawdust aiiJ yet thfi
shad and other fish on the St. John are incr, asing, an'' dcci easing on
other ..crs where there is little or no sawdust, i'he reports show the
catch of shad since 1878 to be as follows :

1878— 428 bbls 1883—1728 bbls.

1879- 521 " 1884-2439 "

1S80— 615 " 1885— 2189 "

1881-1885 •' 1886— 2716 "

1882 — 1883 " 1887—3793 "

This increase is in spite of the sawdust, and notwithstanding
e.vcessive fishing in the harbor and river, and that too while the
fish are full of spawn early in May, when the destruction of a
single fish is far more exli lusive to the fishery than that of fifty
in the bay where they arc not caught until midsummer, long after
they have spawned. The Uay fishery has fallen off, in all parts
of the bay alike, from 14,087 barrels in 1879 to 5,543 barrels
in 1S86. I)uring the six years from 1876 to 1881, the annual catch
of salmon in the St. John was 172,942 lbs., and the six years from
1882 to 1887 2io,o06, or an average annual increase during the latter
period of 37,424 ; and of alewives during the former period of 10,018
bbls. per annum, and the latter period of 16,622 bbls., an average annual
increase of 6,600 bbls. ; so that, notwithstanding sawdust, the fisheries
of this river seem to prosper. .\nd what is sHIl more remarkable, taking
the whole province, the catch of salmon was during the nine years 1869
to 1877 on an average per annum 1,787,930 lbs., and during the ten
years from 1878 to 1887 1,189,980, an average annual decrease of
597i95o; •'ind so in the case of alewives, the average annual catch dur-
ing the former period was 23,053 bbls., and during the latter 15, 339-

8

Surely these fii^ures do not show that New Brunswick has any advantage
over Nova Scotia in havi ^g rivers more free from sawdust.

I beg next to call attention to the state of the river fisheries in many
parts of Nova Scotia where there is abundance of sawdust, and also to
the river fisheries of Cape Breton where there is substantially no saw-
dust at all. 'I'he Margaree River in Inverness County, Cape Breton,
which has neither mill-dams nor sawdust to interfere with its fisheries,
and which used to be one of the most prolific fish-producing streams in
Nova Scotia, has given a yield of salmon during the ten years 1870-79
of 67,927 lbs. per annum, and for the eight years from 1880-87 of
36,991 lbs., an average yearly decline of nearly fifty per cent. The catch
of alewives on the same river during the former period was 1431 bbl.s.
per annum, and during the latter only 826 bbls., a decrease of 505 bbls.
])er annum. Should there have been a few saw-mills on this river, the
decline would have, of course, been attributed to sawdust, and demands
that the law be enforced would be made. The four counties of Cai)e
Breton, whose rivers are comparatively clear of .sawdust, produced of
salmon [ler annum, from 1870-79, 284,792 lbs., and from 1880-87 ^^^^
125,292 lbs , a decrease of 159,400 lbs. per annum. The following
table shows the catch of salmon in the rivers of Nova Scotia projier
where sawdust generally abounds, and also in the rivers of Cape Breton
where the opposite is the case : —

Vuar.

Catch of .Salmon in

Catch of Sahnon in ih

N. S. proper.

four C. U. Coinitits.

1880

232,890

lbs.

150,660 lbs.

I 881

196,313

(C

83,730 "

1882

468,956

(;

111,155 "

1885

469,900

u

106, ! 00 "

1884

601,850

it

146,100 "

1885

615,153

u

144,100 "

1886

499,574

u

109,600 "

1887

625,368

u

150,985 "

Tliis shows that while there has been an increase during this period
of nearly three hundred per cent, in Nova Scotia projier in the catch of
salmon, there has been none whatever in the comparatively clean rivers
of the Island of Cape Breton. The alewive fishery tells about the same
story : —

Year. Catch of Alewivo, in

N. S. proper.

4,354 bbls.

1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887

0,1 10

13,546
19,636
20,035
16,845
17,887
14,271

'5,099
15,077

Catch of Alewives i

Cape li

reton.

1379

bbls.

3279

(1

2599

((

2837

((

I 62 I

i(

1503

u

2801

i(

2443

i(

1713

u

1513

ii

There is surely no evidence here of injury to the alewive fishery of

9

m

!
'J
!

^hery of

Nova Scotia from sawdust nor of benefit to that of Cape Breton from
its absence.

The Medway River in (Queens Co. has been aftlieted with sawdust for
a full century. The dams were ojjened for the ascend of fish in the
year 1873-4, with the following results and in spite of sawdust : — •

Your. Salmon. Trout. Aluwivus. Snioltsi.

1878 22.871 lbs. 70 lbs.

1874 11.896 " 262 " 2.000 lbs.

1880 5.323 " 725 " 4-000 "

1881 7-615 " 4.864 " 3.750 "

1882 8.388 " 2.747 " 7.400 "

1883 21.169 " 915 lbs. 3.262 " ^-550 "

1884 20.315 " 1.650 " 3-0'^2 " 15.200 "

1885 30-230 " 2.050 " 3.005 '' 16.000 "

1886 22.005 " 2.378 " 3505 " 18.250 "

1887 22.984 " 2.615 " 3-^37 " 21.500 "

1888 18.450 " 2.775 " 2.916 " 22.700 "

Overseer John Fitzgerald of Mill Village, Queens County, an officer
of eighteen years cxi)erience and an efficient and reliable one writes of
the Aledway : ''There is without doubt an increase in salmon, alewives
"and trout during the past eight years. This is a matter of notoriety,
" and I have no hesitation in saying that sawdust is no imijediment
" whatever to the ascent of fish of any kind. In rivers in which other
"mill rubbish, slats, edgings and bark are deposited, I firmly believe any
■decrease is due to the obstructions caused by these and the dams and
" not in the least degree by sawdust. Where sawdust is from any
"cause deposited on the spawning places and remains in such (piantities
" as to cover up the gravel in which the ova are de[)0sited, it might and
" probably would cause injury to the natural increase of the fish ; but I
" know of no case of this kind and can confidently assert that no sawdust
" deposited on the spawning ground in the Medway. I have spoken
" with a score or more of ])ersons all of whom have spent their lives on
"the Medway River, some of them old men, and all ])ast middle life,
"and they are unanimous in the opinion that sawdust in the Medway
"causes no damages to tish of any kind, nor does it affect the spawning
"grounds in the least."

The Clyde River in Shelburne County was fijr many years before and
since Confederation almost entirely barren of fish. We never received
an account of a pound of fish of any kind from it until after the dam
was opened by a patent fishway in 1879. Sawdust has continued to
run into it for many years, and it is still running : —

War. Salmon, Alewives,

1882. 5 bbls,

1883. 10 "

1884. 20 "

1885. 350 lbs. 35 "
i386. 2,480 " 120 "
1887. 3,570 " 90 "
1S88. 3,975 " 130 "

10

The natural and only rational deduction from this state of facts is,
that the best way to stop complaints as to sawdust is to open the dams
and make natural falls passable for all kinds of anadramous fishes.

The Liverpool River was also opened for the ascent of fish by a
fishway in the Fall of 1879. This river is also supplied yearly with an
abundance of sawdust, and such has been the case ever since the coun-
try was first settled. The river, too, has been much over-fished ; but
the table shows that notwithstanding both sawdust and exxessive fishing,
there has been a gradual and fairly satisfactory increase : —

Year.

Salmon.

Alewivcs.

1880.

2,800 lbs.

87 bbis

188 I.

4950 "

150 "

1882.

9980 "

15 "

1883.

i4,r2i "

70 "

1884.

13,269 "

333 "

1885.

7,730 "

126 "

1886.

11,449 "

46 "

1887.

9,210 "

125 "

1888.

12,615 "

140 •'

The Tusket River in Yarmouth County, when I first visited it 1869,
was nearly destitute of fish of all kinds. Its estuary was crowded with
brush weirs, each of which was sujjplied with a pound or trap and in
available places on the falls and in the runs and branches were stone
fences running diagonally across the river, thus allowing but a few feet
for the passage of fish, and here were located traps made with slats like
common laths, so that nearly every lish that came up the river was cap-
tured. The river fishermen below blamed the fence trap fishermen
above for the destruction of the (ish, while the up-river men blamed the
weirs. As all i)arties were fishing illegally I had all their obstructive
appliances removed, and a new set of regulations were made with a view
t<J keeping up the sujjply. The dams on the river were subsetjuently in
1 88 1 or 1882 supplied with the new fishways, but during the whole time
sawdust has been running into the river from several mills on different
branches of the river. The following statement would not, however,
seem to indicate that it has injured the river : The armual catch of
salmon for six years, from 1876 to 1881, was 7,442 lbs., and from 1882
to 1887, six years, it was 11,362, while that of alewives during tlie former
period was 2599 bbls. per annum, and during the latter vvas 3660 bbls.

The Salmon River, in the same County, which emjjties into the
estuary of the Tusket, and which also was cleared of obstructions in
1869, with the exception of mill dams, produced in spite of the |)resence
of sawdust from mills twelve to twenty miles ab(3ve its mouth from 1876
to 1881, 778 lbs of salmon ])er annum, and from 1882 to 1887 2440
lbs., and during the former period 826 bbls. of alewives annually, and
during the latter 1406 bbls.

The fias|)ereaax River, in Kings Co., in which sawdust has run plen-
tifully for many years, and the dam in which was opened by iishways
in 1883, gives the following results :

11

Year. Salmon. .\le\\ives, 'I'rout.

1883 300 lbs. 10 bbls. 600 lbs.

1884 1500 " 200 ',' 700 "

1885 2000 *' 350 " 1000 "

1886 300 " 450 " 1000 "

1887 2000 " 75 " 2000 "

1888 700 " 300 " 1000 "

The fluctuation in the catcli of fish on this river is much affected on
account of the modes of fishing by the height of the water in the stream
during the fishing seascJn, and hence the fact that the catch appears to
be unusually small in any one year should not be taken as evidence
of scarcity of fish. The best and most correct plan is in this as in all
cases to take a number of years together and average the catch.

The rivers of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton together |)roduced ac-
cording to the returns the following (juantities of salmon in the years
indicated :

1880 383.550 IhS.

t88i 279,943 "

1882 580,661 "

1883 575.940 "

1884 747.950 "

1885 789,293 "

1886.. 600,184 "

1887 776.353 "

The catch of alewivcs during the eleven years from 1869 to 1879 was
10182 bbls. per aunum, and for the eight yt;ars from i88o to 1887
18350 bbls. per annum, a result attributable, I believe, to improved fish-
ways and better protection during the spawning season, and one which
the presence of sawdust has not prevented On receijit of Overseer
1 A. Torey's returns from Cniysboro' for the present year, I noticed an
unusual fall off in the catch of alewivcs in his district amounting to 12 17
bbls,, and encpiired of him the cause. In his letter in re])ly he states:
" As those fish resort in the spring of the year to fresh water to spawn,
" no doubt some persons will take advantage of the shortage as an
"argument against sawdust. Whether it is injurious or not, it does not
" apply nor is it the cause of the deficiency in this case or in this dis-
" trict, as we have no sawdu:!' of any importance tliat reaches the mouth
*' of the river in any part of the district, and where the princi|)al decrease
"has been is where there are no mills nor ever have been. The only
" way that I can account for the de» rease (which is very unusual with
"these fish) is owing to the dry weather which caused the streams to be
" nearly dry at the season in which these fish usually approach the
"shores, and in consetjuence of which they kept the deep water, or
"off the coast, as the most that were taken were in the mackerel nets,
"and a very few at the mouth or in the river as formerly "

'I'here are several other rivers in this province, the catch of fish in
which during a series of years would corroborate the results given as
al)()ve in the cases of those referred to, but I think enough of this sort
of testimony has been produced to satisfy anyone that sawdust cannot
be ruining our river fisheries. Nor am I all alone on the views I have

12

expressed. I liave in the foregoing report given the opinions of a number
of competent persons, and beg to add to them the testimony of others
who have given me an expresssion of their views on the subject : —

C. E. (lodard, Overseer of Fisheries, Bridgewater, writes : " I inter-
" viewed a number of ca|)tains of schooners who have navigated this
" river for many years, and found their opinions as contrary as i)ossible.
" While some will tell you that the navigation is nearly ruined, others
" will say they find no more difficulty now in sailing up or down than
" they did at any time before. Captain Cashen says he finds as much
" water now in the channel and as free from any obstructions as he did
" ten years ago when he first took charge of the tug-boat — that during
"the last summer he towed down a barque drawing 17 6-12 feet of
" water without her touching bottom He never towed one drawing as
" much water before. Receiving such contradictory reports from cap
" tains of vessels, as soon as the stormy and inclement weather would
" permit I gave the places complained of a personal ins[)ection There
" are two places, one opposite to the Chase mill, the other the ('oves
" at the I'lrick Kiln and Oaks' point below. At Chase's the river is
" narrow, but I could nou find any sawdust or other obstructions to
" navigation. At the Brick Kiln Cove, the water is as deej) as it was
" live years ago. The mud flats opi)osite Oaks' Pond extend from the
" eastern side of the river to about a hundred feet of the western shore,
" where the deep channel of the river is. I did not find any (piantity
" of sawdust in these fiats. The old inhabitants say the water on the
'' flats is not percejjtibly shallower than ten years ago, but of course the
" sediment washing down the river, spring and fall, would add some-
" thing were there no sawdust made.

" This has been an exccjitionally wet season, a continuous Hood run-
" ning down river during the whole summer, so that it has cleared to a
" very great extent the sawdust from ccves and channel. I lind where
" sawdust had accumulated for years now entirely free, and any jirevious
" season no doubt a much larger quantity of sawdust would have been
" found in the river. From my observation of the action of sawdust In
"this river (LaHave) I am of opinion it would take very many years
" before the navigation would be injured, and never in the channel,
" which has generally from sixteen to seventeen feet of water in it. I
" shipped deals from this place fifteen years ago, and the channel was
" then no deei)er, as sixteen feet was the deepest we could take down a
'• vessel at that time."

" I have watched the action of sawdust and found when it accumu-
" lated a few feet appear to generate gas, and, as it were, boil up and
" i)ass away. This has been frequently seen in the eddies formed by
" the abutments at the bridge.

" I cannot see that sawdust does in any way injuriously affect salmon,
" trout, alewives or shad in their passage to their spawning grounds on
" this river. Salmon spawn in running water, in brooks or side of the
" river, on sandy or gravelly bottoms, and any obstructions allowed to
"accumulate sawdust at any of these places is injurious and destructive
" to the spawn.

" The greatest injury to be avoided is from mills placed on the upper

13

" waters of a river, and in streams emptying into lakes, allowing the saw-
" dust to enter into the lake and drift into the coves and sink, destroy-
" ing the spawning grounds of all the other fish. The fishing in several
" lakes where a good mess of trout could be had a few years ago is com-
" pletely destroyed. That is the only injury that I can see that sawdust
" has done to the fisheries in this river."

Overseer Godard used to hold strongly to the popular belief that saw-
dust was under almost all circumstances injurious ano destructive of the
river fisheries.

Overseer Reuben V. Reid, of Wolfville, Kings Co., says : '' In
" respect to sawdust, I have no reason to think that it mjurcs the
" (laspereaux, for they appear to be increasing, the catch this year being
" the largest that 1 have known since I have had anything to do with
" the river. We often see them playing around the mill where the saw-
" dust is the most plentiful, when they might go nearer the ladder and
" escape it. I am sorry to say that the salmon are very scarce in the
" Oaspereaux River for the last two seasons. It is the general opinion
'' that sawdust is the cause, but I am not prepared to say, as there have
" been large quantities taken at the Bay Shore, these having spawned
" in the Cornwallis River near Cold Brook, where there are several
" saw-mills."

|med by

,almon,

inds on

of the

l)wed to

iructive

Ic upper

Overseer J. W. Davison, of Little Bass River, Colchester County,
writes : " You wish to know my views for the cause of the decline in
" the catch of sliad. I think that is a question hard to answer, and
" perhaps there may be different causes. As for the sawdust story there
" is nothing in it as far as this bay is concerned. There is no more
'• sawdust going into the bay here than formerly, and I do not think as
" much. The steam mill in Economy burns its sawdust and there is
" very little of the sawdust from the rotary mills that goes into the bay,
" while formerly we had several gaug mills driven by water-jiower whicii
" let all the sawdust go into the bay. I never have seen any sawdust of
"any amount about the flats where the fish feed.

" Now in regard to the great decline there always has been in our
" shad fishery, ever since I can remember, a continual fluctuation,
"seldom mo;t- than from two to five years at once did it pay, but the
" decline is greater now than it has been since 1846. y\t that time
" there were but few weirs set, and I am told by one of the old inhab-
" ilants that his weir which was one of the best only caught one barrel,
"and people sup])osed they had left the bay and did not put in their
"weirs for a few years. However, they came back again and I believe
"they will do so now." Mr. Davison writes again : "With reference
" to sawdust I immedintely sent out letters of enquiry to the leading
" fishermen in the extreme ends of my district, while I made en(]uiries
"of those whom I could see, so that I am now in a good |)osition to
" answer your questions. 'l"he answer has been the same all through :
" no fishermen here has ever seen sawdust in the stomachs of shad and
" I will be very much surprised if it ever has been seen. I think the
" shad are as well qualified to judge suitable food as other creatures. I

14

" enclose a card received from T. J. Brown, Little Dyke, as I know him
" to be a very observing man. I wrote him and I send you his answer.
" (As for seeing sawdust inside of a shad it is something I never reniem-
" ber seeing, and I have examined a good many in my time. I exam-
" ined some this summer)." Again Mr. Davison writes: "I have
"continued my en(|uiries as to whether fishermen had ever seen saw-
" dust in shad, and am unable to find the man who ever saw or heard
" of such a thing."

Overseer James A. Torcy, of Guysboro', says: — -'Respecting my
" personal experience of the effect of sawdust on fish in the rivers and
" streams, 1 nuist say it is very limited, as my district has not been
" overburdened with that commodity. Where the quantity is small, it
" has been invariably carried away by the stream or current, and no
" injurious effect has been seen ; but where the quantity is large and
" there is not a heavy current to sweep it off, it water'soaks and sinks
" to the bottom, upon which I think tish will not rest, as their nature
■'seems to be to search for clean gravelly bottom. Mills, generally
" speaking, are built upon branch streams, and in those branches or
" between the mill and the main stream fish are not generally found.
" Whether it is the sawdust or the dam is the cause I am at a loss to
" know, but I believe the latter is the principal cause. The old story
"about fish eating sawdust and thereby killing themselves, I don't believe
" a word of it, as their own instincts forbid such an idea. Where mills
" are erected on the main stream, with a flow of water sufficient to carry
"away the sawdust, I have found tish as plentiful at the tail of the mill
" as in any other part of the stream, and oftentimes more so. The dam
"is the 'stop])er,' not the dust. I am of opinion that, if danv" were
" made passable, and other obstructions cleared from the rivers, sawdust
" would not be so objectionable."

Overseer (Jeorge W. Gilroy, of Oxford, Cumberland County, writes :
" In my o[)inion the sawdust does little or no damage to salmon or
" other fish, es[)ecially in the time of the spawning season, as at such
" times fish are found in the streams in running shallow water where
" the sawdust is carried in the eddies away from such places where the
" fish deposit their spawn. I have paid very close attention for the i)ast
" twenty years to the River Philip, and I believe the fish are as plentiful
" now as they were twenty years ago ; and if good tishways were kept in
"the mill-dams, and all rubbish such as edgings, bark, etc., were kept
" out of the streams, I do not think there would be much complaint
" about sawdust going- into the streams, or any reason for such com-
"plaints."

George Rawlings, Overseer of Fisheries, East Halifax, writes : " My
" opinion is that if the mill-tiams had good iishways and the v.'ater ke])t
" in them properly, it would be a greater benefit to the fish than keep-
" ing the wdust out of the water. The principal reason I see for
" keeping che sawdust out is where it fills up shallow harbors and pre-
" vents small vessels from lying close to the shore. I have enquired of
" several persons here who catch salmon with nets, and they object to

16

is: "My
:iter kept
an kecp-
scc for
and pre-
juired of
bject to

' the sawdust hecausc they say the fish will not net so easily, as they
" see the net plainer. The mill at the head of the tide at Mustiuodo-
" boit Harbor has been running sonic twelve years, and the salmon and
" trout are still plentiful. Of course the dam has injured the fishery,
" and I think most all will admit it has been the dam and not the saw-
" dust. I think Mr. VVilmot could say that if the fishway here (Mus-
"()uodol)oit Harbor) had been kept closed while the salmon were run-
" ning, he would have taken as many this fall as in any previous years,
" imless it was some extraordinary one. All the sawdust from Mart's
" mill goes into the water, and I have not heard any person complain
" of it doing any injury to fish more than filling up the harbor, and the
" salmon have been very plentiful at West River during the last ten
" years where his mill is."

Many other references to the subject will be found in the Overseer's
Rei)orts accompanying the returns, both /;v) and con.

I would not pretend to say that sawdust may not, under some circum-
stances, injure a harbor or river for the purposes of navigation, though
such circumstances are rare in this Province. Some years ago it was
repeatedly and publicly asserted that the Davison mills at liridgewater
were filling up and ruining the harbor at the mouth of the La Have
river. Under instructions from the late Mr. Whitcher, then ('ommis-
sioner of Fisheries, I made a careful jjersonal examination of the river,
and rejjorted Oct. i, 1876. The subject was again renewed by the
report of Mr. Veith, and I was again directed to make an examination
and report. This was done, and a rejwrt was forwarded to the Depart-
ment May 14, 188 1. The river was found just about the same as at
the time of my first report, and I have no doubt that an examination at
the present time would reveal about the same state of facts, and that
the clamor as to the sawdust tilling up the I, a Have is misleading.

In conclusion I may say that those who affirm that sawdust injures
the fisheries to the extent claimed by them should be in a position to
show facts and [)roduce instances clearly [)roving their assertions. This
should, of course, hiive been done before their, in my opinion, nntenii-
ble views were placed in the form of law ; but even now that the l.iw
has to a l:irge e\tent been allowed to fall into desuetude, and when the
important milling interests of the country are likely to be so seriously
affected, there should, I think, be a careful examination or encjuiries
into the whole subject.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,

Vour obedient servant,

W. H. ROOKRS,

Inspector oj Fisheries.

16

ADDENDUM.

A CENTURY OF SAWDUST

Julilor lioicst (111(1 S/irain :

I was (Icli^liled wiih lliu inlolli(^L'nt way in which your corrcspDivlLMit " I'iscaior"
handk-d the Sawdust (|iiesiion in your issue of Dec. 27lh. It is a coinfor! ti> li>ten
when a wellinfornied person speaks, hut in those ilays of callow pretension experience
is usually elbowed liack fioni the front.

In my opinion, the famous .Mill ilrooU, of I'lainfield, Mass., uliich has a recor<l of
a century as the finest trout-water in the Hampshire Hills, supplies those very con-
ditions and corrohorative data which " I'iscator " declares arc essential to determine
what pernicious effects the presence of sawdust has upon the denizens of mill streams.
Here is a walerpower which carried no less than thirteen manufactories fifty years
ago. These included a tannery, a sawmill, and factories for making brush and hroon)
handles, whipstocks and cheese and butter bo.xes, all of which discharged more or
less sawdust and shavings into the stream ; to say nothing of three satinet ffictories
ami a felt hat factory whose waste must have been deleterious to fish life. Most of
the buildings have since been destroyed by fire or tumbled into pieces by decay, but
the old foundation w;ills and dams remain, and untold tons of tanbark and sawdust
still cover the beds of the abandoned mill jionds knee deep, all of it in a perfect state
of preservation, as I happen to know from wading the stream last summer. Never-
theless the brook 'ontinues fairly slocked with small tri)ut, des)iite the supplementary
fact that it has been uiimercifully fished ever since the memorial days ol the " Moun-
tain Miller," fifty fingerlings per rod being not unusual now for a day's catch. He-
sides, at no time within my recollection have there been less than three sawdust-
producing mills on this stream at once, so that it may he asserted that its waters have
not been normally clear for a century.

When the current is rapid and the water bioken by ledges or boulders, the pre-
sence of the sawdust is scarcely perceptible, but at mill-lails, and in the basins above
the (lams, it accumulates in (pianliiy and remains, becoming water-soaked and sinking
to the bot'oni. Obviously, in localities where the entire botton) is embedded by
sawdust, fish can neither spawn nor feed ; but it happens that such deposits do not
form on their breeding jilaces, nor is the area of their foraging ground ajipreciably
diminished by their presence. Kven in the half-emptied and now useless ponds, the
current constantly scours out a central channel through the sawdust, leaving the
bottom clean and pebbly: so that in fact these local beds arc of no more detriment to
the fish than so many submerged logs. The trout can range far and wide without
encountering them at all. \'et strange to say — that is, it must seem strange to those
jiersons who take it for granted that sawdust kills lish— the most likely jilaces for the
larger trout are these selfsame pebbly channels in the old ponds, along whose edges,
despite a hundred freshets and iceshoves, the persistent sawdust and tanbark lie in
windrows so deep that the wader feels as if he were going to sink out of sight when-
ever he puts his foot into the yielding mass, every uKjvement of which stirs up a
broadening etllorescence which spreads for rods away, distributing itself throughout
the stream, j-'rom these sawdust beds I can always iish out three or four good trout
with a cautious lly, and at certain times the surface is fairly dimpled with breaking
fish which jiresumably are after larva and insects which the sawdust has harbored,
though careful investigation might discover other inducements for their congregating
there.

In passing, I would remark, that this Mill ISrook is fed by seven lateral brooklets
which tumble into it from the adjacent hillsides at intervales between dams, and are
so effectively protected by overgrowth that they must always serve as prolif.c breeding

17

lull

places, secure from predatory birds and small boys, as well as places of refiiijc to trout
which wish to escape the sawdust of the main stream. I have seen trout streams,
especially in the pine barrens of northern Wisconsin and Michigan, which were by no
means as favored as this Mill Hrook, the current being comparatively sluggish, anil
not so capable of purging itself of sawtlust; yet I know of few trout streams in any
lumber region where its denizens cannot avoid the sawdust if they will, by with-
drawing to the headwaters of or lateral tributaries, provided tishways are supplied
to enable them to surmount the dams where the accumulatiims chiefly occur. What
I remark as most singular in the Mill Iknok is, that the trout gather most where the
saw(!ust is thickest, both on old mill sites and on sites where njills are running now.
I take my best trout right from under the flume of a whipstock factory anci saw mill,
where the refuse is dumped as fast as it forms.

Hut I recall to mintl a still more striking example of the innocuousness of sawdust.
There is in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, a series of three large natural reservoirs,
varying from half a mile to two miles in length, which for fifty years have abounded
in pickerel, perch, eels and bullheads. It is said that they originally contained trout,
but (he water is dark and discolored by the drainage of spruce and cedar swamps.
At the outlet of the lowest pond once stood a village called Hallockville, which
operated a grist mill, sundry sawmills, and what was then the largest tannery in
^iassachuselts. It was l)urned in 1846 and never rebuilt, and the dams and (oundation
v\alls are now almost destroyed and buried by a new growth of forest. Hut the sluice
and flood stream below are still clogged with the sawdust and tan bark deposited a
half a century ago, and the water is black and forbidding, though much brf>ken into
swirls and rapids by boulders and ledges. But for the color ol the water, it is a most
likely-looking place for trout, though it has been tested time and time again without
successful results. It has always been maintained, from the date of the building of
the tannery, that there were no trout in it. I used to fish it myself when I was a boy.
Last summer I took therefrom five small trout with a worm. They had doubtless
worked their way up from the lUickland streams below, for they never came through
the dam from the pickerel ponds above. Nevertheless the lower streams are occupied
by many sawmills and carry their proportion of sawdust, that substance which some
of your correspondents maintain is fatal to fish life. I leave your readers to draw
their inferences, and trust that Mr. Fred. Mather will feel himself sustained by this
tesiimony of the streams. That gentleman is not apt to make mistakes. He is gray
with the experience of years, and that is better than guesswork.

CHARLES HALLOCK.

Washington, December 29.

the pre-
is above
sinking
Idcd by
do not
reciably
lids, the
iiig tbc
iment to
without
to those
es for the
se edges,
ark be in
rlu when-
Virs up a
irougbout
ood trout
breaking
harbored,
jgregating

THE SAWDUST QUESTION.

Editor Forest and Stream :

I have read with interest the various communications upon the above named
subject, and with special interest that of Chas. Hallock, in this week's issue, because
he refers to streams and conditions with which I am familiar, and I write from an
invalid's room to briefly corroborate the facts stated by him. The adjoining township
west of Plainfield is Windsor, a irnich larger township and containing many more
streams and trout streams too. Adjoining Windsor on the south is the township of
Peru, where first I saw daylight. This tow^nship also abounds in trout streams known
as the Hoosac Tunnel Range or Spur of the Green Mountain which cross the western
end of the state of Massachusetts. A large portion of these streams have driven saw-
mills for a century past, and several of them had tanneries on their banks, and the
same state of things, practically, as enumerated by Mr. Hallock, has existed there
for one-third to one-half a century past to my personal knowledce.

MILTON P. f'EIRCE,

Columbia, Ohio.

[Mr. Pierce is editor of "Journal of Fish Culture," Philadelphia, a gentleman of
much experience, and has been connected with the National Fish Commission for
some time.]

18

From the foregoing survey it will be evident thnt there nre two sides to the question
as to the influence ot sawdust in streams and latces, and it may be possible that some
of the Stales which have legislated against the deposit of this sulistance in certain
waters have |ilaced unnecessary restrictions upon an important industry. Unless
spawning grounds are actually covered and feeding grounds destroyed, there would
seem to he no case against the sawdust. At all events, the instigators of this legisla-
tion should produce evidence of deleterious effects to be remedied by legal enactments,
and show that such pollution is necessarily and always fatal and cannot be mitigated
by measures to aid the scent to the spawning beds. — Ed. l-'oicst and Si'cam.

Edi/or I'orcst and Stream :

Let me thank Mr. Hallock and Mr. I'eirce for their cool-headed utterances on this
sawdust cpiestion. I have been for many years investigating this subject, and have
under my hand many such facts as I published in my former letter, and it is cheering
to have them so effectively buttressed as they have been by similar experiences and
facts. That laws have found their way upon the statute books of the country pro-
hiiiiting the jiassing of sawdust into the streams is not |)rof)f that to do so is an evil.
Many other laws have found their way there as well only to be repealed after more
was known upon the subject, and I feel quite sure that the law against sawdust
ought to and will share the same fate, and because it never shouki have been enacted,
as the necessity for it does not really exist.

At the risk of wearying you on the subject, I add a few more facts, which to me
are fpiite significant. The River St. John, in New Hrunswick, is only to a limited
extent on its branches encumbered with mill dams, but it is anil has been for nearly a
century abundantly supplied with sawdust, still it produced during the six years from
1876 to iSSi, of salmon, an annual average of 172,942 lbs., and during the six years
from 18S4 to 1S87 210,366 lbs., an excess during the latter over the former [leriod of
224,544, lbs. Its product of alewives during the former period was 10,018 bbls. per
annum, and during the latter period 16,622 bbls., an increase (hiring the latter period
of 39,624 bills. The fish killing projierties of sawdust do not seem to be very formi-
dable on the river, though much of it is of that horrid pine which ".Sportsman"
seems to think is so deadly in- its results. The following catch of shad on the river
during the years indicated also tells its own story in the same direction : 187S, 429
bbls.; 1S79, 521 bi)l.; 18S0, 613 bbls.; 1881, 1,885 •''>'«•; '^82, 1,882 bills.; 1883,
1,728 libls. ; 1884, 2,420 bbls.; 18S5, 2,189 bbls.; 1886, 2,716 bbls.; 1887, 3,950 bbls.
Tlie>e fish were mostly caught tluring the month of May while full of spawn.

The whole Province of New Hrunswick with her large lish jiroducing rivers, except
the St. lohn, clear and clean of inill dams and sawdust, produceil of salmon per
annum during the nine years from 186910 1877 1,789,930 lbs., and during the ten
years from 187810 1887 but 1,189,180 lbs., a decrease of 599,950 lbs. per annum,
and alewives during the former period 23,053 bbls, and the latter 17,714 bbls. |)er
annum, a decrease of 5,339 bbls. per annum. Those tigures of course include the St.
John, so that while anadromous tish of all kinds are increasing on the sawdust-cursed
St. lohn by including the produce of her clean rivers, we see there must be something
at work much worse than either dams or dust. Had the reverse of these figures been
the result he would be a much bolder man than I who undertook to prove that saw-
dust did no harm ; but as it is I claim that I have made a strong point in favor of the
innocence of sawdust. If the deadly dust is as ruinous to tlsh as some suppose, it
should produce results in a series of years which could leave no doubt upon the mind
of any person.

The very best thing to be done for anadromous fish in your country as well as ours
is to put good fishways in the dams at any cost and add to the fish year by year by
artificial culture, and the imaginary sawdust evil will soon vanish and the lumbering
interests will be saved a needless expense.

Your New Brunswick correspondent "Fisher" seems to think that I am not
informed as to the enormous size of the New Brunswick trout, which he seeks to make
one think are very whales as compared with the troutlings of Nova Scotia, which he
intimates are too small to be killed by sawdust! When he takes this singular position,
he proves nothing so much as that he and his companions — in the contention that
sawdust kills tish — are advocating error and wrong, because no two of them can agree

If)

as to hi)w or why it is so tlestructive ; sec Livingston Stone's view as comparetl with
" Fishtrs " and " Anglers." There are as many theories as writers: l)Ut all are provok-
ingly economical of facts, and it is lacts we want : we have been familiar with the
groundless theories from childhocxl, and it is ahout tinie the theories were siip|)ortcd,
to some extent at least, so give us data and don't ask us to take fancy for fact.

As to the size of trout in Nova Scotia, I have seen thousands that weigheil frcnn
I lb. to 4 and 5 lbs., and one to a half dozen may be seen in the museum at Halifax
weighing from 5 to 7 lbs. They catch double the (|uaiitity every year taken in New
Brunswick. It is (|uite evident "Fisher" should t)e more sure of his facts. His
Province produced of trout in the year 1886, 65,650 lbs., and Nova Scotia the same
year, 131,562 lbs., double the New lUunswick catch; and in 18S7 the former I'rovince
caught but 71.765 lbs. in her clean rivers, while the latter I'rovince in her sawdust

fioisoned waters caught 155,469 lbs., being 11,939 lbs. more than double that of New
Brunswick, the increase in Nova .Scotia in a single year being nearly 20 per cent, as
compared with less than 10 per cent, in New lirunswick. Had the result been the
reverse of this the facts would at once be accepted as conclusive against the deadly
dust; as it is I claim them as being overwhelmingly in the opjiosite direction.

He fliscourses on the poisonous gases from rotting sawdust, and I will not waste
space in refuting this idea, so flippantly put forth from time to time, but demand that
the tlead llsh from such causes be produced in some single river or stream in America.
It cannot be done, hence full-grown men should discard such transparent nonsense.
His closing remarks are fully answered by the facts and figures given above. I am
prepared to figure on either single rivers, whole Provinces or districts, on single or
periods of years, and the facts in all cases will be overwhelmingly against his conten-
tions. This is too important a matter to be settled either one way or the other without
conclusive facts, antl if sawdust so kills fish as to deplete <ntr streams, facts in the
form of dead and dying tish should be at hand in all directions, and by hundreds and
thousands on certain streams anil at certain seasons, but nothing of the sort is ever
seen, except in the imagination of the disappointed sportsman.

PlSCATOR.

EFFECT OF SAWDUST ON FISH.

except
mon per
the ten
annum,
l)ls. per
the St.
•cursed
imeihing
ires been
hat saw-
or of the
)pose, it

am not

10 make

which he

position,

tion

that

can agree

Editor F 01 est and Stream :

Your correspondent " S|)ortsman," who writes on the evils of sawdust, seems to me
like most others who hold the same views, to take for granted the thing to be |)roven.
The o/nis pro/'aiidi ht'mg whb him who alTirms, I .:te the statement that "saw-

dust kills tish" by fastening itself in their gills. " .ti .. man" says : " After saw ing
\nne in a mill I have gone along the stream and picked up dead trout, and upon ex-
amination found their gills to be full of pine sawdust, which, without a doubt, kills
them. I can name several persons who have witnessed the same thing." But find-
ing a dead trout or two with sawdust in their gills is no proof that the sawdust did
the killing. Those who are familiar with rivers and river fish know that when a fish
dies, from whatever cause, its gills will open, and if sawdust is running plentiful in
the water some of it is likely to lodge in the gill openings of a dead fish. I have seen
one or two such cases, but evidence was there also, plain and clear to an experienced
eye, that the fish had died from other causes. Moreover fish don't allow anything
to get into its gills which is likely to kill it, except by accident. It is provided with
the necessary instincts and means for protecting them from all or any such foreign
substances as sawdust ; if not, we should long since have lost about all the anadrom-
ous fishes in our streams, and at certain seasons, and in certain places, large numbers
of dead, struggling and dying fish would be seen in, upon and aliout the surface and
shores of rivers. But such is not the case ; no such sights are seen.

In order to sustain his views " .Sportsman " should produce some stream where the
fish have either been wholly destroyed or largely decreased, where plenty of sawdust
exists, while dams have been opened so that the fish have had ready access to their
spawning beds above. Such a case, I think, cannot be found on this continent,
unless indiscriminate fishing has been allowed at all seasons of the year. I herewith
produce tables showing the catch offish on two, out of a dozen or more, similar cases

20

in Canada. Sawdust has l)con running; into these two small streams for six to nine
months of the years for over half a century. Impassable mill dams at the head of salt
water had completely <lepopulated the Clyde, and nearly did so on the Nfedway,
which fared better because the tlams were further up the river. The dams on the
former were opened in i879i and on the latter a few years earlier, but in both cases
the sawdust continued to run freely, as it docs still.

CLYDE RIVER, NOVA SCOIIA.

balmun, \hn. A!ewive«, bhU.

1879. Uams opened

1S80

1S81 ..

1882

1883

1884

18S5

1886

1887

1S88

MEUWAY RIVER,

Salmon.

lbs.

1878 22,871

1879 11,896

i88o 5,313

1881 7,615

1882 8,388

1883 21,169

1884 20,315

1885 30,230

1886 22,005

1887 22,984

1888 18,450

. . *~^

5

10

•

to

100

35

ISO

... 2 480

. . . "i.fiJO

9»
130

. . . X.QTi

NOVA

SCOTIA.

Trout.

Alewives.

SmeltK

lbs.

bbl*.

Ibi.

—

70

—

—

a6»

2,000

—

725

4,000

—

4,864

3.750

—

3.747

7,400

915

3,262

8.550

1,650

3,082

15,200

2,050

3,005

i6,coo

2,375

3.505

'8,250

2,615

3.837

21,500

2,775

2,966

22,700

.Sawdust in large quantities has not killed the fish here.

I have never yet been able to obtain any such facts to sustain the opposite view.
This is an ago of investigation, and few things are taken for granted in the absence of
facts or evidence to sustain them ; and we have a right to ask of those who claim
that sawdust is ruinous to fish to produce their proof.

" Sportsman" is also in error when he says that sawdust covers up the spawning
beds. I have never been able to discover such, and I have examined many rivers for
that purpose. The fact is, the current is too strong where a salmon or trout would
spawn to allow it to remain, hence such spawning beds are as clean to-day as ever
they were, no matter how much sawdust has been coming down the river. But even
if it should lodge in such places, he must prove by actual facts how and why it would
injure them.

Sawdust does not rot under water, nor does wood of any sort, where it mingles
with sand or mud in coves along the shores or about the heads of euuaries where the
water settles away from it by the ebbing of the tide, or in fresh water. When it is
left dry in summer, it will of course rot and soon disappear, and l;iy far the greater
portion of what falls into the streams f/om mills driven by water power disappears in
that way. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the fish-killing effects of sawdust
in any way or place has yet to be proven, and until such indubitable proof is produced,
I, for one, shall continue to disbelieve it. I have had considerable experience in this
matter, but am always willing to bow to well-authenticated facts. The matter is an
important one and calls for intelligent settlement, and, in my humble opinion, it is
not difificult to settle right. Piscator.

to nine
1 of salt
(edway,
on the
:h cases

bhls.

e view,
sence of
o claim

)awning
.vers for
t would
as ever
kit even
t would

mingles
lere the
en it is
greater
jears in
sawdust
oduced,
e in this
er is an
an, it is

VTOR.