Dee, a river of W Kirkcudbrightshire, issuing from Loch Dee, a lonely lake that lies among the heathery heights of Minnigaff - Lamachan Hill (2349 feet), Curleywee (2212), Craiglee (1741), and Cairngarroch (1800). Itself 750 feet above sea-level, Loch Dee is 7 furlongs long and from 11/3 to 4 furlongs wide; its waters are still well stocked with trout, which have, however, been sadly thinned by pike, and which average 1 lb. in weight,. though seven or eight years since a monster of 12 lbs. was taken here. Leaving this mountain lake, the Dee, or Black Water of Dee, winds 183/4 miles east-south-eastward till, after traversing Stroan Loch, it is joined, just opposite to Parton station, by the Water of Ken, a stream of much larger volume than its own. For the next 5 miles, on to Glenlochar Lodge, their united waters assume the aspect of a long narrow lake-called, indeed, sometime a second Loch Dee-that widens here to half a mile, and there contracts to barely a hundred yards. From Glenlochar, on past the islets of Threave Castle and Lodge, our river sweeps, through a rocky channel, 11¾ miles southward and south-south-westward to Kirkcudbright town, thence 3 miles southward through a broadening estuary to its mouth in Kirkcudbright Bay. It thus has a total course of 38½ miles, during which it traverses or bounds the parishes of Minnigaff, Kells, Girthon, Balmaghie, Parton, Crossmichael, Kelton, Tongueland, Kirkcudbright, Twynholm, and Borgue, and during which it receives Cooran Lane, the Ken, and Tarf Water, with a number of lesser tributaries. It is navigable to Tongueland, or about 7 miles from the Solway; and it sometimes rises in freshets to 8 feet above its ordinary level. Its waters, particularly before their confluence with the Ken, are so mossy and dark-hued as to render its name of Dee or ` dark stream, ' and specially its duplicate name of Black Dee, entirely appropriate. Its salmon, too, are of a darker colour and much fatter than those of most rivers in the S of Scotland, and are held in high estimation; its waters contain also sea-trout, river-trout, pike, perch, and large quantities of pearlmussels.—Ord. Sur., shs. 8,9,5,1863-54.
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