398 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
them myself in one of the ponds. I should say each weighed three-fourths of a pound. I sent them 
to Dr. Jordan, wrote to him my experience, and am now in receipt of his reply. I quote: 
“The three specimens mentioned in your letter have been received. They are, of course, the 
ordinary car]) ( Cyprians carpio). I will have them opened to see if, perchance, the contents of their 
stomachs may throw any light on the question at issue. I should think there would he little doubt 
that the carp might destroy the water celery and so interfere with the food of ducks.” 
What I have said, as the result of my own observation, is true from evidence, by way of corre- 
spondence, which has accumulated in my office, and applies to all the marshes on the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin rivers for a distance of quite 100 miles. The irrigating ditches throughout the San Joaquin 
Valley are full of these fish, and it is no “fish story” to say that they burrow into the banks and make 
breaks in the levees. 
The carp is very unpopular in the upper Columbia, at The Dalles and Celilo, on 
account of its supposed destructiveness to salmon spawn. It is used to some extent by 
the German families of that section and also in the fishing-camps, but the consumption 
is light. At Umatilla and Arlington complaints are also made of the carp. 
At Huntington, on the Snake River, Oregon, some carp are caught which find a 
sale among the farmers of the neighborhood. Along the same river, at Payette and 
Ontario, some favorable mention of the carp as a food-fish is made, but the sentiment 
of the people is generally against it and the fish has no economic value. 
At Spokane, carp are sold in limited quantities to German families at 3 to 3J cents 
a pound. 
Mr. Wilcox reports that carp are found constantly in the Portland market, although 
the abundance of the fish is such that at times it can not be sold at any price. 
Mr. James Crawford, fish commissioner of Washington, reports that carp and 
catfish have recently begun to be recognized as of some importance as food-fishes in 
that State, and that in 1892 at least $2,000 worth of these fish were disposed of in local 
markets and in inland towns along the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific railroads. 
Without desiring to ignore any injurious qualities the carp may possess, the opinion 
may be ventured that the fish is credited with doing much harm that it may not be 
responsible for, and that the evidence on which the carp is so severely condemned 
is, in the Western States, as elsewhere, wholly insufficient at present, whatever may be 
the result of an impartial investigation of the matter. 
In the November 5, 1891, issue of Forest and Stream is the following editorial 
reference to carp in California: 
Nearly two decades ago, and five years before the United States imported the fish from Germany, 
Mr. J. A. Poppe placed five small carp in one of his ponds at Sonoma, Cal. Nine months later (May, 
1873) his stock had grown to 16 inches in length, and 3,000 young fish were obtained from the first 
breeding. The fish were sold to farmers throughout the State, and some were shipped to Central 
America and the Sandwich Islands. The increase of the species, especially in the marsh or “tule” lands, 
was remarkable, and the demand continued steady. Now a reaction appears to have set in, and a most 
unjustifiable style and amount of abuse is being heaped upon a really valuable food-fish, which has 
also long held a worthy place among the anglers’ favorites in countries wherein it was best known. 
The qualities which led to the action of the Government in behalf of carp acclimation were the 
following : 
(1) Fecundity and adaptability to the processes of artificial propagation. 
(2) Living largely on a vegetable diet. 
(3) Hardiness in all stages of growth. 
(4) Adaptability to conditions unfavorable to any equally palatable American fish and to very 
varied climates. 
(5) Rapid growth. 
(6) Harmlessness in its relations to other fishes. 
