We have driven by the weir/fish ladder on the north side of Roseburg but had never stopped to actually look at it.   It isn’t a huge weir, but it does span the Umqua River and so they had to have a fish ladder in order for salmon to migrate upstream to spawn.

There were a LOT of steps down to the bottom, but Dave didn’t have much of a problem when there was a railing to steady him.  One of the downsides of diabetes is that eventually you get neuropathies in the feet, and when you add that to the lingering after effects of the stroke, you can get some balance problems going downstairs.   When we don’t have a railing, I am the substitute steadying influence!

The ‘halfway’ point going down.  I do love places that give you a reason to stop and ‘collect’ yourself as you either descent or ascend a large number of stairs.   You can begin to see the fish ladder facility.

The idea is to give the fish a route with ‘jumps’ over ‘waterfalls’ that they can make while swimming up against the current.  You can see the ‘outflow’ at the lower right and how the fish will work their way up the ladder until they are at the level of the river behind the weir.

Inside the viewing room where, if the fish were running, you can watch them swim by and make the jump.  Notice that the water is lower on the right side with the ‘waterfall’ turbulence at the point where the fish jump up to the next level.

And this is Dave learning how to take a ‘selfie’ on his phone.   Slowly but surely he is catching up to techology of a few years ago!