CHAPTER V THE LAWS » "Ah! who can tell how a THE ladder which gives fish a es to the rive above the Fos was costed about Fos was thirty years ago by an Irish ge man, who and made.ontracts r interested, which a long term of st important. owned the proper of Osen, ending for about two miles upw Is from the mouth of the river on the left ba.. with the other proprietor gave him the fishing rights years. It was probably the fish-pass in existence at that per. has since been surpassed by the ladder, and possibly by others. way been most successfil. g though it + Velsen It ha : every Not only created a salinor. fishing river ten or t miles in length, but by opening up exe spawning grounds it has vastly improved rice of fish which had previo the water below the great Fos. s it e CHAPTER V THE LADDER "Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb?" --BEATTIE, The Minstrel. THE ladder which gives fish access to the river above the great Fos was constructed about thirty years ago by an Irish gentleman, who owned the property of Osen, extending for about two miles upwards from the mouth of the river on the left bank, and made contracts with the other proprietors interested, which gave him the fishing rights for a long term of years. It was probably the most important fish-pass in existence at that period, though it has since been surpassed by the great Vefsen ladder, and possibly by others. It has in every way been most successful. Not only has it created a salmon fishing river ten or twelve miles in length, but by opening up excellent spawning grounds it has vastly improved the race of fish which had previously frequented the water below the great Fos. This process, if one may believe the evidence of the oldest inhabitant, is still continuing. The obstacle to be circumvented is an almost sheer fall of fifty or fifty-five feet in height. To mitigate the steepness of the ascent the ladder takes a zig-zag course. The entrance to it is directly from a natural shelf at the bottom of the Fos, the water on which is at high-tide level with the pool below. There are in all sixteen steps, the leaps from one to the other varying from three to four feet in height. A few are rather rapids, up which fish easily swim, than leaps. The little pools are of different size and shape; for the most part the water in them is rough and foaming, but some have more or less quiet backwaters in which fish may rest awhile. At the top is a strongly-built wall running upwards from the head of the fall and high enough to keep the river at highest flood out of the ladder; and through this fish-pass by one or other of two hatches, used respectively in big and small water, into the quiet and deep pool above. The greater part of the ladder is blasted out of the rock, the steps being built up with stonework and baulks of timber; the whole presenting |