1897

A visit to the College in early. December gave me several interesting items that will be worth a few lines in the class notes. On the train I had a seat-mate who gave me some good news. The Connecticut River Water Shed Council, recently organized, is already planning on a broad scale many needed changes to develop values that are dormant in the whole area of the Connecticut River Water Shed.

This is formed along the line which carried out the very successful development on the Brandywine River Valley and change this whole area from very bad to very good. The organized effort is now at work on the Connecticut River with office at 359 Mam St., Greenfield, Mass., with Elmer R. Foster m charge.

The program as outlined is to include all of the 27 tributaries of the river and the main river for full length from the Sound to Connecticut Lakes.

The Westfield Valley Association and the Farmington River Water Shed Association have been completed and the Ashelot River in New Hampshire is about to organize, and they will soon be dealing with all the natural resources and all problems through organizations of watershed areas on each of the 27 tributaries. The reduction of stream pollution is one of the important elements of the planning. I feel sure that we will all want to follow these activities as they progress.

Another bit of good news is the report I received from Holyoke last evening about the shad going over the dam by the improved fish ladder and having spawned this season in the waters above the Holyoke Dam. Both small fry and large size shad have been caught above the dam - the first in over 150 years.

These three fish ladders have failed on this dam since 1870. Now the migratory shad have started again to go toward Hanover. There is only one other dam in the U. S., the Grand Coulee, I think, that has been able to provide proper facilities for the shad to pass over the dam, and Holyoke is the second.

You may ask why I get excited about a pair of shad climbing a ladder. It's just this. The Connecticut River formerly had the Atlantic salmon and can again, but there are four big ifs - ifs - ifs - ifs. First if is, if we plant small salmon the right age at the right time at the right place. Second if is, if we build proper fish ways at Turners Falls, Mass., and Vernon, Vt., and Bellows Falls and Wilder in the New Hampshire-Vermont Area. The other important if is, if we eliminate pollution in the small streams where salmon spawn in the gravel beds. .

Many other important activities will be gone over with organized study like the reforestation, improvement of native products of wood, farm and manufacturing, especially in the small shop activities. This will be improved by the thorough know-how being developed. I hope soon to have a picture of the first shad caught north of the Holyoke Dam.

I have about five pounds of reports on the activities by Congress and other investigations by the States concerning the development of the Connecticut River, and of course I am concerned with the long delay brought about by efforts to develop a Connecticut River Authority. This delay has retarded the activities on the river, especially for the migratory fish introduction in the river, and the delay in building the fish ways.

I hope the log jam has broken and we will proceed on the whole line of river valley improvement, under private and State auspices and not Government authority.

Secretary., Treasurer and Bequest 114 State St., Bridgeport 3, Conn.