FISHERIES, BY STATES. 



185 



MISSOURI. 



The fishing grounds of Missouri are the Mississippi, 

 St. Francis, Missouri, Osage, and Gasconade Rivers 

 and the Little River Overflow, as well as minor waters. 

 They may be grouped in two districts, comprising, 

 respectively, the Mississippi River with its tributaries, 

 exclusive of the Missouri River, and the Missouri 

 River with its tributaries. The fisheries of the state 

 are all of the shore and boat class, no documented 

 vessels being employed. The following is a general 

 summary of the industry for 1908: 



Number of persons employed 906 



Capital: 



Boats §25, 000 



Apparatus of capture 39 000 



Shore and accessory property and cash 27, 000 



Value of products 271, 000 



Comparison with, previous canvasses. — A comparison 

 with the reports of the Bureau of Fisheries for former 

 years shows considerable fluctuation in the number 

 of persons employed, capital invested in equipment, 

 and products. The following tabular statement gives 

 such comparative figures for 1894, 1899, and 1908: 



Persons employed. — The distribution of the persons 

 engaged in fishing in 1908 is given in the following 

 tabular statement. Almost three-fourths of the total 

 number were employed in the fisheries of the Missis- 

 sippi River and its tributaries other than the Missouri 

 River. This district reported an even larger propor- 

 tion of the wage-earners: 



i Exclusive of seven proprietors not fishing. 



Equipment and other capital. — The following tabular 

 statement gives the value of the equipment and the 

 amount of other capital employed in the industry, 

 together with the distribution of the same between 

 the Mississippi River and the Missouri River districts : 



The number of boats reported was 785, which com- 

 prised 33 steam and motor and 526 row boats in the 

 Mississippi River district and 9 steam and motor and 

 217 row boats in the Missouri River district. 



The following tabular statement shows the number 

 of the more important kinds of apparatus of capture 

 used: 



Apparatus of capture represented a little more than 

 two-fifths of the capital invested, the balance being 

 about equally divided between boats on the one hand 

 and shore and accessory, property and cash capital on 

 the other. 



Products. — The products of all fisheries of the state, 

 distributed by species and apparatus of capture, are 

 given in Table 1 , on page 186. The German carp led in 

 quantity arid value, and was followed by catfish, bull- 

 heads, and buffalo fish, the catches of these four species 

 representing nearly three-fifths of the total value of 

 products. The frog catch was of considerable impor- 

 tance, while muskrat, mink, and otter skins contributed 

 nearly 6 per cent of the total value of products. 



In Tables 2 and 3, on page 187, the products are 

 distributed by species and apparatus of capture for 

 the two districts. The distribution of the principal 



