REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 161 
FISHING IN THE INTERIOR WATERS OF TEXAS. 
The investigations of the fisheries of Texas which have been made 
by this division have hitherto been limited to the coastal waters. 
Recent inquiries by Mr. Cobb respecting fishing in certain waters in 
the central and southeastern parts of the State show that an important 
amount of fresh-water fish is taken. In this inquiry the rivers were 
canvassed from the upper limits of tide water to as far as commercial 
fishing extended. The data related to the year 1900. Fishing was 
earried on in the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, Neches, Guadalupe, San 
Jacinto, and Rio Grande rivers, and in Caddo Lake, tributary to the 
Red River. The most important of these was the Colorado River. The 
inquiries on the Rio Grande were very limited. 
Commercial fishing in the interior waters of Texas is of compara- 
tively recent date in most of the sections of the State. In the western 
and northwestern portions, where the population is scattered and rail- 
road facilities are limited, very little fishing is done, while the lack 
of ice or its high price prevents the utilization of the fishery resources 
even in those sections where the shipping facilities are fairly good. 
It is only in the larger towns that ice is cheap. Fishermen at present 
depend upon the home market for the sale of their catch, and, as it is 
easily overstocked, fishing is frequently suspended. 
In all 188 persons were employed, and 169 boats, valued at $765, 
were in use. Set and hand lines, fyke nets and seines were used in 
fishing, and their value, together with that of the shore property 
necessary to the business, amounted to $1,831. By far the greater part 
of the catch consisted of cat-fish, of which there were taken 202,170 
pounds, valued at $11,961. bBuffalo-fish is the next in importanee, the 
quantity taken amounting to 28,295 pounds, worth $1,436. The total 
yield of all species in the waters named amounted to 266,871 pounds, 
valued at $16,153. 
The following tables show by waters the persons employed, capital 
invested, and the yield of these fisheries in 1900. 
Table showing the persons, boats, apparatus, and shore property employed in the 
jisheries of certain intertor waters of Texas in 1900. 
a Boats. Set lines. Hane Fyke nets.| Seines. | Shore 
2 oi and | Total 
ie acces- | ; 
Waters. on | sory invest- 
3a | No. |Value.| Yards. |Value. Value.| No. |Value.|No. Value.| prop- ment 
fall erty 
Colorado River -_- 65 | 63 | $254 | 15,567 $9872 see 90 | $3860 A $100 $812 
Brazos River --.... 18 | 18 86 | 2,117 SOHNE Sees 1 44 \ sa 52 202 
Trinity River__. _- 12) 12 65 | 3,200 Pa} eee se! =| 26 GH Ess 2/8 45 249 
Neches River _-__-- 4 4 20 | 1,600 Stlecs.s- 8 32 5 65 
Guadalupe River | 29 | 29 145 | 3,270 18 $8 | 11 55 |. 185 411 
RioGrande River} 18) 18 90 | 2,800 Pan Lege eee el Re ees 33 186 
San JacintoRiver | 15) 15 75 | 4,000 Pda area a 60 300 145 542 
Caddo Lake ......- 12 | 10 50 | 4,800 pa eae en ee .| ae eee | 75 | 149 
[eth | Res el SIE | as 
otal...) 13 | 169 785 | 37,354 | 236 § | 206 907 640 | 2,616 
F. C. 1901—11 
