A low velocity fish passageway was designed and built by Friends of Beckman Mill to provide fish access around Beckman millpond at a dam on the west branch of Raccoon Creek watershed about one mile north of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line in Rock County, Wisconsin. The unimpeded movement of fish in Wisconsin's rivers and streams had historically been a significant issue, and Wisconsin's earliest natural resource law, enacted by the territorial legislature in 1839, required the construction of fish passage structures on navigable waterways. In keeping with a pledge to protect the environment while preserving a piece of rural Wisconsin history, Friends of Beckman Mill created the first natural low velocity fishway around a dam in Wisconsin. Its pool and riffle design allows even the smallest minnows to rest in the pools as they move up the fishway and around the dam, especially aiding the Redfin Shiner, which has threatened status, and the Starhead Top Minnow, which has endangered status.