384 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
home in lakes on the mountains and in artificial reservoirs in the valleys. Many farmers who have 
natural ponds on their farms, or who have surplus water from windmills and have made artificial 
ponds, have stocked them with this excellent fish. The produce of the few fish of this species, 
imported in 1874, now annually furnishes a large aud valuable supply of fish food to people in the 
interior of the State. The value of all the fish of this species now caught annually and consumed as 
food would more than equal the annual appropriation made by the State and placed at the disposal 
of the fish commissioners. This variety of catfish has valuable characteristics which admirably fit 
it for wide distribution and for self-preservation in the struggle for existence. 
The report of the California Fish Commission for 18S0, from which the following- 
extract is made, shows that over 24,000 catfish were distributed in the State waters, 
and that the fish had become so numerous and widely scattered that further attention 
from the commission was hardly demanded : 
The 74 catfish imported from the Raritan River in 1874 have increased and multiplied, and this 
increase distributed, until now we believe there is no county in the State, from Del Norte to San 
Diego, that has not been supplied with a greater or less number of these fish. They are regularly 
sold in all the markets at the same prices as our most abundant fish. They are admirably adapted to 
the sloughs and warm waters of the great valley, and in them have so multiplied as to furnish a 
large supply of food. The aggregate value of this fish alone, sold in the markets of San Francisco and 
Sacramento annually, would more than equal the appropriation annually made by the State for fish- 
culture. How constant has been the demand made upon us for the wide distribution of this fish 
may be seen in our report of expenditures, which shows quite a large amount paid for their capture 
and in sending them by express to different parts of the State. These fish are now so numerous and 
widely distributed that probably the time has arrived when their further distribution should be left 
to private enterprise, and the money of the State heretofore used for this purpose be employed in 
importing some other equally valuable fish. 
In considering the question of the economic value of the cattish and of the 
effects of its introduction on the native fishes, the fish commissioners make the fol- 
lowing- comment in their reports for 1883-84 and 1885-86: 
It has been stated by fishermen that they would destroy all the native fish. It is our opinion 
that it was a timely act on the part of the former State commissioners to plant them just when they 
did, as our native fish were giving out. * * * They are coming more into favor with our citizens 
every year. The prejudice that existed at the time of their introduction is fast dying out, and the 
majority of our people claim that they are a better food-fish than the carp. Whether such be the 
fact is a matter of taste. The idea that they would destroy our native fish is a fallacy, as in the last 
two years statistics tend to show that such is not the fact. 
Catfish are coming more into favor with citizens as food, and by a large class of consumers are 
preferred to carp. The planting of these fish was regretted by many and approved by more. 
Catfish have been successfully introduced into the Columbia River and its tribu- 
tary, the Willamette, but the full history of the planting is not recorded. Mr. F. C. 
Reed, of Astoria, contributes the following note on the origin of the catfish in the 
Columbia: 
The extent of my knowledge of the history of this fish is as follows : About eight years ago [1888], 
when I was fish commissioner for Oregon, these fish were reported to be in Silver Lake, Washington. 
How they came there, I never was able to find out. When I heard they were in the lake, I was told 
they could not get out of the lake into the Columbia River ; this was in reply to a request I made on 
the Washington authorities that I be allowed to go over to the lake and kill the catfish for fear they 
would get in the river and be another enemy to our salmon. It was only a year or two after this that 
during an unusual rise in the lake the fish were sent into the Cowlitz River, and from there to the 
Columbia. I thought at the time they were the real catfish, and would grow large enough to eat a 
20-pound salmon, but now I do not think they will injure our salmon very much, as I have never seen 
them near the spawning-grounds, and think they prefer still and warmer water. 
