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Home > Journals > Folia Zoologica > Volume 64 > Issue 2 > Article
1 August 2015 Fish community and fisheries management of Brno Reservoir following revitalisation measures
Pavel Jurajda, Zdeněk Adámek, Zdenka Valová, Michal Janáč, Kevin Roche
Pavel Jurajda,1 Zdeněk Adámek,1 Zdenka Valová,1 Michal Janáč,1 Kevin Roche1
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic; e-mail: jurajda@brno.cas.cz
Folia Zoologica, 64(2):112-122 (2015). https://doi.org/10.25225/fozo.v64.i2.a4.2015
Amelioration measures applied
Post-revitalisation fish sampling
Post-revitalisation fish assemblage
Fisheries management and effect of biomanipulation measures
Evaluation of biomanipulation measures
Brno Reservoir (259 ha) is one of the most intensively utilised waterbodies in the Czech Republic, being used simultaneously for recreation, sport, fisheries, boating and electric power production. Despite this, no consistent fish survey has yet been performed at the reservoir. Between 2009 and 2012, a number of measures, including fish biomanipulation, were applied to improve water quality. Large cyprinids (mainly common bream Abramis brama) were removed and predatory fish (e.g. pike Esox lucius, zander Sander lucioperca) stocked. In September 2012 and 2013, we carried out an extensive study of the fish community in order to describe the present fish assemblage and evaluate the success of biomanipulation. Fish were sampled at 11 locations using electrofishing (inlet zone) and beach seining (lake zone). Twenty-three species and one hybrid were recorded (inlet zone — 20, lake zone — 14), with roach Rutilus rutilus and bleak Alburnus alburnus (plus perch Perca fluviatilis) dominant in inlet samples, but carp Cyprinus carpio dominant by biomass; and white bream Blicca bjoerkna and roach dominant in the lake zone, both by abundance and biomass. Predatory species represented 14-17 % of biomass in both the inlet and lake zones in both years. The final results of biomanipulation were questionable. While a low proportion of adult bream suggests successful removal, populations of small cyprinids, such as roach and white bream, increased in compensation. There was little evidence for an increase in predatory fish following stocking, probably due to angling pressure. Our results indicate that biomanipulation to improve ecological water quality in reservoirs is unlikely to be successful when they are managed specifically for carp and predator angling.
Of the ca. 120 man-made reservoirs in the Czech Republic, few have described fish communities and their management in any detail (for exceptions see Římov — Vašek et al. 2006, Prchalová et al. 2009, Říha et al. 2009; Klíčava — Pivnička 1992; and Lipno — Vostradovský & Tichý 1999). Despite implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) in 2008 leading to a wider survey of Czech reservoirs and their ecological status (Blabolil et al. 2014), there is still limited information available on their fish communities. As an example, Brno Reservoir (259 ha) is one of the most intensively utilised waterbodies in the Czech Republic, being used simultaneously for recreation, sport, fisheries, boating and electric power production; yet there has been no study on the reservoir's fish community, despite its status as an important, large artificial lake on the outskirts of the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Only fragmentary information is available on species composition in the reservoir, based on earlier studies on specific aspects of the fish assemblage (Wohlgemuth 1979, Adámek & Jurajda 2011).
World-wide, many lakes and reservoirs in densely populated or intensively cultivated areas have become eutrophic and turbid (Søndergaad et al. 2008). This also applies to the Czech Republic, where decades of excessive loading with nitrogen and phosphorus have created ideal conditions for phytoplankton production, resulting in increased turbidity, decreased oxygen availability and decreased biological diversity. On average, 64 tonnes of phosphorus were transported into the Brno reservoir annually; making the water highly eutrophic (Adámek & Jurajda 2011). The cyanobacterial blooms arising from such eutrophication had become a serious problem in the reservoir from the 1990s on (Bláha et al. 2010). In 2009, the Morava River Basin Authority instigated a project to revitalise water quality in the reservoir and a comprehensive range of physical (aeration, destratification, partial reservoir emptying, bottom drying and liming), chemical (inflow phosphate precipitation) and biological (fish reduction, predatory fish stocking) measures were implemented in 2009 and 2010 (Moronga et al. 2012). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time biomanipulation has been attempted on a reservoir as heavily utilised as that at Brno, and in a reservoir so strongly focused on management for angling of carp Cyprinus carpio and predatory species.
Biomanipulation as a tool for shifting eutrophic lakes from a turbid phytoplankton-dominated state to a clear-water macrophyte dominated state has been in use for decades (see Hansson 1998, Lammens et al. 2002). Roach and common bream are usually the main targets of biomanipulation in northern European shallow temperate lakes (Lathrop et al. 2002, Mehner et al. 2002, Van de Bund & Van Donk 2002, Søndergaad et al. 2008) as they not only feed on zooplankton but also disturb the sediment in their search for bottomdwelling invertebrates (Boll et al. 2012, Adámek & Maršálek 2013). In addition, the density and biomass of predators, such as pike Esox lucius, zander Sander lucioperca, European catfish Silurus glanis or asp Aspius aspius, is often artificially increased in order to reduce numbers of small planktivorous fish (Lathrop et al. 2002, Skov & Nilsson 2007, Vašek et al. 2013). Many previous biomanipulation studies (e.g. Hansson 1998, Mehner et al. 2002, Lammens et al. 2002, Søndergaard et al. 2008) have confirmed that large-scale removal of benthivorous species can have positive consequences for water quality in shallow eutrophic lakes. In all cases, however, the strength of effect depended on the efficiency of fish removal and its duration (see Van de Bund & Van Donk 2002 and Boll et al. 2012).
As part of the Morava River Authority's efforts to monitor the revitalisation process, we were asked to initiate a study to 1) provide baseline data on the current fish community composition, 2) to evaluate possible impacts of biomanipulation measures on the fish assemblage, and 3) to evaluate possible impacts of the current fish assemblage on reservoir water quality.
Constructed over 1936-1939 and filled in the early 1940s, Brno Reservoir remains an important artificial water storage body within the South Moravian water management system. Situated on the River Svratka (56 r. km), the reservoir is 10 km long, has a surface area of ca. 259 ha and a maximum depth of 19 m (Nehyba et al. 2011). It has a maximum retained water volume of 18.4 million m3, though constant storage volume is normally calculated at 7.6 million m3 (Vlček 1984). Mean hydraulic retention time is estimated at 21 days, ranging from 6 to 48 days during periods of high and low discharge (Duras et al. 2010). While the reservoir was originally constructed to stabilise river discharge and reduce flooding, it also serves as a source of electricity production, as a drinking water resource and for recreational and angling activities.
The reservoir has two distinct zones, a narrow canyonlike inlet zone (ca. 107 ha, 4 million m3) with steep rocky banks and a depth ranging between 2.1 m at the inflow to 4.7 m where it transitions to an extensive lower lake zone (ca. 152 ha, 22 million m3), which has a depth of 17.4 m near the dam (Fig. 1). The lake zone shoreline, which is widely used for recreation during the summer, comprises gravel beaches leading to grass meadows and forest.
Map of the Brno Reservoir study area showing sampling localities in the inlet zone sampled by electrofishing (----) and those in the lake zone sampled by beach seining (≡≡≡).
Total biomass of all fish (combined), carp and predators (combined) stocked in Brno Reservoir between 2003 and 2013 (data from the Moravian Anglers Union).
The annual angling yield from Brno Reservoir between 2003 and 2013 (data from the Moravian Anglers Union).
Brno Reservoir is managed as a fishing ground (Svratka 4, No. 461 141) by the Moravian Anglers Union (Local Anglers Club — Brno 2), who stock fish in the reservoir several times each year. As no fish survey had been undertaken prior to revitalisation, data for numbers and biomass of fish stocked, along with data on fish caught each year (the anglers must report all fish caught and removed to the angling authorities, who use the data to calculate angling performance and future stocking levels) were provided by the Moravian Anglers Union in order to determine angling effort targeted to individual fish species and the response of the fish community to angling pressure (see Figs. 2, 3). Using this data, fish assemblage composition and its development or impact on water quality can also be estimated (for further details see Adámek & Jurajda 2011).
As part of the revitalisation programme, three basic amelioration measures were applied: partial draining of the reservoir (PDoR), water aeration and destratification during the refilling process and fish biomanipulation through removal of overpopulated planktivorous cyprinids and increased stocking of predatory species.
PDoR was initiated in autumn 2008 and remained in place until spring 2010. The water level was decreased by around nine metres, resulting in a reduction of total water surface area by approx. 70 % (i.e. from 259 to 78 ha). During this period, airborne liming was applied at 800 kg of pulverised limestone per hectare of open dry bottom. During spring/summer 2009, most of the dry reservoir bottom was covered with a dense bed of terrestrial plants arising from the bottom seed bank. Before re-filling the reservoir, the majority of plant biomass was removed.
During refilling in 2011, the water in the lake zone was aerated and destratified using twenty aeration towers that pumped an air/water mixture into the hypoxic water layer on the lake bottom and/or repumped oxygenated water from the euphotic zone into the deeper hypolimnion (Palčík et al. 2011). Finally, phosphorus was precipitated out of the water through addition of ferrous sulphate via three jet pumps installed at the inflow. These pumps are still operating and have achieved 90 % efficiency levels (Moronga et al. 2012).
Fish removal was undertaken by the Morava River Authority and the Moravian Anglers Union at the onset of the spawning season from 2008 to 2012 (not 2010). In total, 11 tonnes of planktivorous cyprinids (mainly common bream Abramis brama) were removed from the inflow area by boat electrofishing (two hand-held anodes, EFKO FEG 13000, Honda 13 kW, ca. 300 V, 60 A, 50-80 Hz), resulting in an estimated reduction in fish density of around 50 kg/ha. Following re-filling of the reservoir in 2010, 76425 0+ to 2+ predatory fish (pike, zander, asp and catfish) were introduced into the reservoir in an effort to control numbers of small fish. In 2011, a further 55038 0+ to 2+ predatory fish were stocked.
Fish 1+ and older were caught at six localities along the inlet zone in September of 2012 and 2013 (Fig. 1) by boat electrofishing (see above). Sampling took place during the day along both banks while travelling upstream. The length of each stretch sampled (average 400 m) was noted and the number of individuals caught recalculated as density and presented as catch per unit effort (CPUE), i.e. individuals per 100 m stretch (see Kubečka et al. 2010).
From September to October 2012 and 2013, beach seine nets (100 m long, max. 7 m deep, 2 cm mesh) were used to sample fish at five localities during the night (Fig. 1, same sites both years). Beach seining could only be undertaken in the lake zone as the beaches elsewhere were obstructed with trees, fallen branches and other obstacles. As with electrofishing, the number of 1+ and older fish caught was recalculated as CPUE, i.e. individuals per hectare, (see Kubečka et al. 2010).
Dominant fish species (CPUE) in the inlet and lake zones of Brno Reservoir in 2012 and 2013.
Biomass of dominant fish species (BPUE) in the inlet and lake zones of Brno Reservoir in 2012 and 2013.
Fish density (CPUE) and biomass (BPUE) at sites along the longitudinal profile of the Brno Reservoir (inlet and lake zones) surveyed in 2012 and 2013.
Length-frequency distribution of dominant planktivorous and benthivorous species in Brno Reservoir in 2012 and 2013 (inlet and lake zones combined).
Length-frequency distribution of dominant predatory fish species in Brno Reservoir in 2012 and 2013 (inlet and lake zones combined).
All fish were determined to species, individually measured (standard length, SL) and weighed according to species and size cohort, then released back to the water. The F/C ratio (Holčík & Hensel 1971), was calculated as the relationship between biomass of non-predatory fish (i.e. planktivorous, benthivorous and herbivorous species; F) and that of predatory fish (C), calculated separately for electrofishing (day) and beach seining (night) samples. The F/C ratio is a simple expression of fish community balance in natural waterbodies. Values between 3.0 and 6.0 indicate an optimal ratio, while values > 10 demonstrate undesirable fish community conditions, with a strong prevalence of non-predatory fish (Holčík & Hensel 1971).
A total of 9222 fish (≥ 1+ year), comprising 23 species (plus one hybrid) from five families, were caught during surveying in 2012 and 2013, with 21 species caught in the inlet zone and 15 in the lake zone (Table 1). In both years, roach, perch and bleak dominated at the inlet zone by abundance, with carp dominant by biomass. White bream and roach were dominant in the lake zone in terms of both abundance and biomass (Table 2, Figs. 4, 5). Predatory species comprised 14–17 % of biomass in both the inlet and lake zones in both years, with abundance reaching 2-3 % in the lake zone but 8-17 % in the inlet zone (Table 2, Figs. 4, 5). During sampling in 2012, the F/C ratio was 6.1 in the inlet zone and 6.3 in the lake zone. While the F/C ratio remained at 6.2 in the lake zone over 2013, values at the inlet dropped to 4.8. These values were all close to or within the optimal ratio of 3-6 (Holčík & Hensel 1971).
No gradient in fish density or biomass was observed in electrofishing samples from the inlet zone (Fig. 6). Beach seine catches from the lake zone, however, showed a decrease in density and biomass towards the dam in both years (Fig. 6).
Histograms of relative length-frequency distribution all show multiple year-classes for common bream, roach and bleak (cumulative data from the inlet and lake zones). The distribution of white bream, however, was restricted to a narrow size range between 100 and 150 mm SL (Fig. 7). Pike and zander were mainly represented by younger fishes of < 500 and 400 mm SL, respectively (Fig. 8).
The total biomass of fish stocked in the reservoir each year remained similar before and after PDoR in 2008 and 2009, when no stocking took place (Fig. 2). Common carp were by far the most intensively released fish species, both before and after PDoR (Fig. 2). Predatory species were usually the second largest group released, with other fish species released only occasionally. The annual angling yield of carp and predatory fish tended to reflect stocking effort (e.g. compare Figs. 2 and 3). During PDoR (2008–2009), the angling yield dropped to ca. 50 % of that in previous years, with only a slow increase over 2010 and 2011. In 2012 and 2013, however, the angling yield again reached values similar to those prior to PDoR. Common bream angling yield decreased from 2005 onwards, with the decline continuing over the 2008-2011 "bream removal" period, reflecting either continuation of the original downward trend or the success of the removal campaign. In 2012 and 2013, however, angling yields increased again to values approaching those prior to PDoR. The yield of small cyprinids and percids, including roach, rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Prussian carp Carassius gibelio and bleak (summarised as "small cyprinids" by angling clubs; usually taken for live/dead bait), had declined greatly even before PDoR, and remained relatively low until 2012 (Fig. 3). Catches of other coarse fish (including tench Tinca tinca, chub Leuciscus cephalus and nase Chondrostoma nasus) rarely, if ever, exceeded 50 individuals per year.
List of fish species recorded in the inlet and lake zones of Brno Reservoir during surveys in 2012 and 2013, with classification into ecological and reproductive guilds according to Schiemer & Waidbacher (1992) and Balon (1975).
This study recorded 23 fish species, with cyprinids dominating the assemblage. Even after biomanipulation, the reservoir fish assemblage corresponded with the "stable cyprinid stage" typical of Central European reservoirs, as defined by Kubečka (1993), with roach, common bream and white bream contributing > 50 % of fish stock biomass. In the lake zone, roach and white bream were the most abundant species, occasionally contributing > 85 % of biomass. At the inlet zone, roach were most abundant in 2012 and bleak in 2013. In both years, however, carp dominated by biomass. Carp were mainly recorded at sites with fallen trees and steep valley banks, sites that offer minimal access to anglers. In the lake zone, a correspondingly low occurrence of carp corresponded with increased angling effort associated with ease of access.
Relative density (CPUE) and relative biomass (BPUE) of fish species recorded in the Brno Reservoir inlet (CPUE = inds/100 m of shoreline, BPUE = kg/100 m shoreline) and lake (CPUE = inds/ha, BPUE = kg/ha) zones in 2012 and 2013.
The fish assemblage in the reservoir corresponds with that observed in most European lowland lakes and reservoirs, being dominated by roach, bream and perch (Lewin et al. 2004, Järvalt et al. 2005, Brosse et al. 2007, Říha et al. 2009). Some authors also include rudd in the list of abundant littoral fish in lowland European lentic systems (e.g. Irz et al. 2002, Jeppesen et al. 2006). In Brno Reservoir, however, rudd were almost absent, presumably due to a lack of aquatic macrophytes, which are required for successful breeding by rudd. Other species (e.g. ruffe Gymnocephalus cernuus) tend to be rather uncommon in reservoirs, their distribution and numbers depending on local geography or the physical characteristics of the system (Jeppesen et al. 2006).
Overall, the proportion of predatory fish in the reservoir did not reflect the level of eutrophication (Jeppesen et al. 2000, Søndergaard et al. 2005) but corresponded with the level of fisheries management (see below). In highly productive (eutrophic) reservoirs, the proportion of piscivorous fish is generally low (Jeppesen et al. 2000, Søndergaard et al. 2005); hence, enhancement and maintenance of these species at levels suitable for angling requires intense stocking and fishing restrictions (Vašek et al. 2013). Larger/older predatory fish are rare in the reservoir (Fig. 5), a situation typical of most other reservoirs in the Czech Republic (Vašek et al. 2013). Such fish are usually removed by anglers in recreational reservoirs (to eat or as trophy fish), or poached in reservoirs managed for drinking water, despite angling being prohibited. Despite this, the F/C biomass ratio between nonpredatory and predatory fish in the reservoir indicates that the two categories occur at a close-to-optimal ratio (see Holčík & Hensel 1971).
The spatial distribution of fish within a waterbody is not random and in large lakes and reservoirs, fish distribution patterns can have important ecological consequences (Vašek et al. 2006, Prchalová et al. 2009). Longitudinal gradients in fish abundance and biomass have been observed in many reservoirs (e.g. Vašek et al. 2003, Mathews et al. 2004, Draštík et al. 2008, Prchalová et al. 2009) and often represent decreasing trophic levels from the tributary to the dam (Vašek et al. 2004, Prchalová et al. 2009). In this study, longitudinal patterns in abundance and biomass were only partially observed, mainly in the lake area (Fig. 6). At the inlet zone, all sites were electrofished along the bankside; meaning that differences in bank structure were decisive in dictating species presence, despite the length of bank sampled (average 400 m). For example, sites with a higher percentage of fallen trees (e.g. sites 5 and 6, Fig. 6) had higher species abundance and biomass as the woody debris provided a greater degree of refuge compared to less structured sites.
While water quality in Brno Reservoir improved after the amelioration measures applied (Moronga et al. 2012), it appears that the biomanipulation measures only played a minor role in the process. Both bream and small cyprinids are not a preferred species for anglers; hence, the Anglers Union does not object to their removal from the reservoir during the spawning period. Biomanipulation of bream (and small cyprinids), therefore, appeared to be an ideal measure for addressing the reservoir's water quality issues, especially as the reservoir is multi-functional, i.e. the interests of both the Anglers Union and the water management authorities having to be taken into account. Such measures, however, appear to have had only limited success. Angling yield data (Fig. 3) suggest that the bream population recovered immediately after removal stopped (note that angling yield statistics can suffer from relatively high bias). Surveys of 0+ fish, for example, demonstrate a large decrease in bream reproduction (Jurajda, unpublished data) and our seine sampling also showed a marked drop in adult bream caught. Whether bream removal was successful or not, it appears to have had limited impact on overall water quality as small cyprinid species (roach, silver bream) are still abundant and now dominate the fish assemblage in some parts of the reservoir. Dominance of small cyprinid species may be even worse for water quality as they are of no interest to anglers except as bait. Removal of such small cyprinids through a massive sampling campaign would be much less efficient than removal of adult bream as, rather than spawning in the littoral zone of the whole reservoir, adult bream form spawning shoals in the tributary zone, hence they are easily targeted for large-scale removal. Adult bream were also targeted as they burrow in sediment to obtain their food, thereby mobilising nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous that contribute to eutrophication (bioturbation). From a water quality perspective, however, it makes little sense to remove adult bream only when the reservoir is heavily managed for other species, such as carp, that also burrow in sediment and mobilise nutrients; albeit at a lower level than bream (Breukelaar et al. 1994).
Increasing the density and biomass of piscivorous fish as a means of indirectly reducing smaller planktivorous fish has been applied in many previous biomanipulation projects (e.g. Lathrop et al. 2002, Skov et al. 2002, Mehner 2010, Vašek et al. 2013). It has been suggested, however, that the evidence for strong top-down effects from the use of piscivores is questionable (Seda et al. 2000). Mehner et al. (2004) recommended that piscivores needed to represent a 30 % proportion of total fish biomass in order to efficiently control recruitment of small planktivorous fish. In the Brno Reservoir, predatory species comprised only 17 % of biomass in the inlet zone and 14 % of biomass in the lake zone, i.e. about half that required. We suggest several reasons why stocking of predators appears not to have been successful as a biomanipulation measure in the reservoir.
First, results of previous biomanipulation projects (e.g. Benndorf 1990, Benndorf et al. 2002) have shown that stratified eutrophic lakes show no reduction in planktivorous species (and subsequent reduction in algal blooms) following piscivore enhancement if phosphorous loading remains high. Benndorf et al. (2002) suggested that biomanipulation through increased stocking of predators is not applicable in reservoirs with a total annual phosphorous loading exceeding 0.8 g.m-2 or a concentration of 50 mg.m-3 (Jeppesen & Sammalkorpi 2002). In Brno Reservoir, the annual phosphorous loading prior to PDoR exceeded ca. 20 g.m-2, though this has now been reduced to ca. 10 g.m-2 (Morava River Authority, unpublished data). Levels are still too high, therefore, to allow piscivores to control production of planktivorous species. Furthermore, sediment disturbance by (stocked) carp means that phosphorous and nitrogen are constantly being recycled into the water column.
Second, piscivorous species, such as pike and zander, are highly sought after by anglers. As these species receive no added protection after stocking, many are removed from the reservoir each year. Increased stocking, therefore, simply led to an increased angling yield and not to population enforcement. In addition, natural reproduction by pike and zander is negligible, in part due to a lack of suitable spawning grounds (low macrophyte growth, steep banks), and could not compensate for the angling pressure (Adámek & Jurajda 2011). Indeed, the depth of the reservoir, the lack of littoral macrophyte growth and factors such as recreational bathing, boat traffic and high water surface fluctuation are all likely to impede efforts to obtain a clear-water macrophyte-dominated system. Protection of predatory fish, either completely (fishing ban, catchand-release) or via increased size-limits would be highly desirable in this case; however, such levels of protection would be almost impossible to enforce in the Czech Republic due to hostility from local anglers, the high likelihood of illegal fishing (Vašek et al. 2013) and the low probability of success for such a measure (Moravian Anglers Union manager, pers. comm.).
Stocking other, less "attractive" predatory species may be better way of effectively decreasing the proportion of small non-predatory fish. Asp, in particular, show great potential for biomanipulation as they are of low interest to anglers due to their poor flesh quality and poor catchability; what is more, they reproduce naturally and are easily cultured for stocking. On the other hand, their poor catchability and low flesh quality are the very reasons why angling clubs have no interest in stocking the species in their waters. In recreational reservoirs, therefore, the biological function of predatory fish species is limited as they never reach a sufficiently high density. It would be unrealistic to increase the biomass added further, and to maintain piscivore densities at such high levels over the long-term when they remain a favoured fish for anglers.
The present fish community structure in Brno Reservoir corresponds with the "stable cyprinid stage" typical of Central European reservoirs, primarily through fisheries management. As the reservoir is multi-purpose, fisheries management must represent a compromise between recreational fisheries and water quality issues. As a result, biomanipulation of fish stocks to control water quality has proved unsuccessful, primarily due to the angler's desire to catch and remove large carp and pike or zander. Top-down biomanipulation has proved to have a low economic and public relations cost/effect ratio and, if water quality is to improve in the presence of recreational fisheries, a solution is still required that will maintain the ratio between non-predatory and predatory fish biomass at an appropriate level. Future management activity in the reservoir, therefore, will be oriented toward significantly decreasing phosphorous load in the reservoir, rather than expecting any significant improvement in water quality due to fish biomanipulation.
Overall, biomanipulation is unlikely ever to be successful in Brno Reservoir due to the impracticability of obtaining a clear-water macrophyte-dominated system (water depth, littoral zone with low macrophyte growth, recreation bathing, boat traffic, high water surface fluctuation) and due to its management as a carp/predator fishery.
This study was supported by ECIP Project P505/12/G112 and the River Morava Authority s.p. The authors are grateful to the officials and managers of the Moravian Anglers Union (V. Habán, R. Krejčí), and especially those of Local Anglers Club Brno 2 (V. Rapouch, L. Peterka), for providing important data. We would like to thank the staff of the River Morava Authority s.p. (I. Krechler, R. Konstanz) for cooperation during electrofishing. Finally, we would like to thank all those people that helped in the field.
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Pavel Jurajda, Zdeněk Adámek, Zdenka Valová, Michal Janáč, and Kevin Roche "Fish community and fisheries management of Brno Reservoir following revitalisation measures," Folia Zoologica 64(2), 112-122, (1 August 2015). https://doi.org/10.25225/fozo.v64.i2.a4.2015
Received: 6 March 2015; Accepted: 1 May 2015; Published: 1 August 2015
Folia Zoologica
biomanipulation
recreational reservoir
Pavel Jurajda, Zdeněk Adámek, Zdenka Valová, Michal Janáč, Kevin Roche "Fish community and fisheries management of Brno Reservoir following revitalisation measures," Folia Zoologica, 64(2), 112-122, (1 August 2015)


This Discovery Point is accessed along a single carriageway cliff top road with dramatic coastal views. Wild scenery, picturesque loughs, colourful villages and fantastic coastal views, the Sheep's Head Peninsula is one of Ireland's treasures that has managed to sidestep the hustle and bustle of modern life. Sheep's Head was awarded European Destination of Excellence for its 'Sustainable Tourism' practices.
The end of the road facilities include informal parking, cafe, toilets and information for tourists. Short walks to the lighthouse are available, along with access to longer walks including the Sheep's Head Way.


text:
Benjamin Madeira — Official Website » anglo-saxon-literature » audiobook » beowulf » books » christians-vs-pagans » english-language » history-of-english » in-english » podcast » study-notes » university-studies » BEOWULF — «English History» — "Audiobook, Lectures" — MP3, Videos, PDF
BEOWULF — «English History» — "Audiobook, Lectures" — MP3, Videos, PDF
Anglo-Saxon Literature: Beowulf - Photo: Shangri-La Entertainment
— [http://goo.gl/FSei7I] The very first written source we have of Old English is the epic poem Beowulf. This poem, named for its hero, is from approximately the year 750 and is set in Geatland in present-day Sweden, and in Denmark. The original poem does not look much like English - in fact, it is incomprehensible if all you know is present-day English. If you are familiar with Old Norse, however, you may notice that the language of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf resembles this language . The reason is obvious: Old Norse was another descendant of the proto-Germanic language spoken by the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons before they relocated to Britain. In other words, English and the Scandinavian languages are related, and share a common ancestor.
:: RT: Audiobook, Lectures, MP3, Videos, PDF || #Beowulf #Grendel #Geatland #Scandinavia #Sweden #Denmark #Heimdal #EpicPoem #Jutes #Angles #Saxons #AngloSaxonLiterature #OldEnglishEpicPoem #Britannia #Mythology #Hrothgar #English #OldEnglish #EnglishHistory #UniversityStudies #StudyNotes #Pagans #Christians
Old English was not written very often before the year 700. Writing is largely a modern phenomenon, and most people in Britain in the year 700 did not write anything. However, when Old English was written, it was initially with runes, and later with a version of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish missionaries.
Epic poem Beowulf. [Translated by Francis Barton Gummere]. This is a short book, and the Gummere translation really captures the feel of the Old English. Beowulf tells the story of a mysterious young warrior who saves the Spear-Danes from the terrible monster Grendel and his venomous mother. Long a mainstay of English Literature courses at universities around the world, it is not only one of the oldest, but one of the most exciting English folktales ever invented.
Get your copy of the epic poem Beowulf, in Old English and Modern English, here, only copies of the original manuscript, here and Beowulf Analysis
MP3 — « Epic poem Beowulf», Action & Adventure Fiction, Poetry ::
Epic BEOWULF poem
BEOWULF: chapter 01, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Kara Shallenberg, MP3 - 17min
BEOWULF: chapter 03, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Karen Savage, MP3 - 14min
BEOWULF: chapter 04, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Jim Mowatt, MP3 - 19min
BEOWULF: chapter 05, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Peter Yearsley, MP3 - 26min
BEOWULF: chapter 06, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Cynthia Lyons, MP3 - 32min
BEOWULF: chapter 07, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Denny Sayers, MP3 - 26min
BEOWULF: chapter 08, translated by Francis Barton GUMMERE (1855-1919), Read by Kirsten Ferreri, MP3 - 21min
Similarities between modern English and modern Scandinavian languages are mostly a result of the fact that these languages are very closely related. However, a development in history resulted in even more similarities - or, more specifically, in Scandinavian influence on English. The year 793 saw the first Viking attack on Britain - on the monastery of Lindisfarne on Holy Island in northern England. For the next few centuries, more Vikings arrived in Britain, partly plundering and pillaging, but also often settling as peaceful citizens. Parts of Britain were also colonized by Scandinavians - a large area of northern and eastern England was ruled by Danish kings from the late 9th through the mid-10th century. Later, this area became known as the Danelaw because of the legal practices that had developed there during this time.
By the year 1000, then, the Germanic language that originally arrived in Britain with the Germanic tribes of Jutes, Angles, and Saxons around the year 500 had developed far enough away from the Germanic languages on the mainland to count as a separate language, even though it was still relatively similar to the other Germanic languages, for example to Old Norse. The English language was still a typical Germanic language; its pronunciation resembled that of the other Germanic languages, its grammar shared many of their characteristics, and with the exception of some Latin place names and a very few other Latin words brought in with Christianity after the year 500 and (probably) of some Celtic words, the vocabulary of Old English was largely Germanic.
Today, a millennium later, English is still a Germanic language, but hardly a typical one. Its grammar is special - typical Germanic languages for instance have grammatical genders and a slightly different word order than English. The pronunciation of modern English vowels differs markedly from that of other Germanic languages. And finally, the vocabulary of present-day English is in many respects more similar to Italian, a Romance language, than it is to German, its close relative.
Global English: The very first written source we have of Old English is the Epic poem Beowulf :: Get your copy of the epic poem Beowulf, in Old English and Modern English, here, only copies of the original manuscript, here and Beowulf Analysis
Playlist videos (includes: BEOWULF - FULL AudioBook - Folklore & Mythology - Heroic Epic. Beowulf is the traditional title of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature ::
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


NICEVILLE � A woman is accused of threatening her husband with a knife and attacking him with a bag of diapers, lawmen say.
Niceville Police were called to a Madison Avenue residence and were told by a man that his wife, Angela Dawn Hubatka, 35, of Niceville, grabbed a knife and said she�d stab him if he didn�t give her phone back to her. �At the time (the husband) believed Angela had the ability to carry out the threat and had a well founded fear that violence was going to take place,� the officer wrote in the arrest report.
Violence apparently did take place. Hubatka is accused of striking her husband on the left side of the face � twice � with a bag of diapers.
The officer who responded to the call said Hubatka had a strong odor of alcohol coming from her person.
The officer also noted she had a pill containing clonazepam in her possession when her prescription was for alprazolam.
She was charged with aggravated assault, battery and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
She has a Jan. 21 plea date.


Three decades ago, StarDivision, the ancestor of LibreOffice and OpenOffice, was designed as an intermediate desktop publisher. However, many LibreOffice improvements are designed for users who insist on using it like a typewriter and entering manual formatting. Unofficially, I have been told that LibreOffice developers feel that, since manual formatting is the way most people use it, development for people who want advanced typography is a low priority. Finally, however, in the 5.3 release, LibreOffice has given advanced users a major feature: the ability to add advanced features automatically — a feature that, after almost a century and a half, gives home typists the ability to do advanced typesetting.
That sounds like an exaggeration, so let me explain. Typewriters were a major advance over handwriting, but still fell short of producing copy that was as polished as what a printing shop could do. To add bold on most typewriters, a typist had to backspace and type over the same letters again, often blurring the letters. Adding italics was even worse, because they could only be indicated by the old copy editing notation of underlining.
Word processors were a significant improvement over typewriters, but still generally fall short of complete professionalism. For instance, Bold and italic were available with a few clicks. However, far too many word processors continue to manufacture their own small capitals, the letters used to improve the look of several upper case letters in a row — and, often, the result was hideous.
If a typist wanted other advanced features, such as old style figures in which each number has its own baseline, or ligatures, the single characters that replace awkward letter combinations such as ff or tt, the best they could hope for was to insert them manually from a Special Character dialog, squinting at the rows and rows of non-standard English characters, or else memorizing the Unicode for characters they often used. Often, users can't be bothered — and who can blame them?
Above: Old style figures. Below: Proportional or Ranging figures.
Ligatures replace two letters with awkward spacing, such as the first and third pairs here with a single character, such as the second, third, and fourth. The ligatures available vary with the font.
From the first, LibreOffice and its ancestors have had a slightly higher standard of professionalism. In particular, it can be configured so that two en dashes automatically become an em dash, the figure they have substituted for since the days of the typewriter. Similarly, LibreOffice allows manual line divisions and hyphenation so that users can, if they care to make the effort, create a fully Justified line (one which takes up all the space between the left and right margin) without the extra spacing between characters or words that disfigures Justified lines in more word processors.
However, for other professional touches like old style figures or ligatures, LibreOffice has been no more convenient that the average word processor. A few years ago, the Typography Toolbar improved the adding of advanced typographical touches, but only for fonts that were Graphite-enabled.
Graphite is a so-called smart font feature that adds advanced typographical features automatically when a font supports them, similar to Uniscribe and DirectWrite on Windows. It was developed by SIL International, a missionary organization that specializes in delivering texts in minority languages. As well as Graphite, SIL is responsible for the SIL Font License, the standard license today for free-licensed fonts, as well a variety of free fonts, such as Gentium, Doulos, and Charis.
Unfortunately, Graphite never really caught on, and only a handful of fonts have ever supported it. Unless users wanted to use the same fonts over and over again, it was a limited solution, since after a couple of years it became clear that it was unlikely to ever be widely supported, especially since it was used almost entirely for free-licensed fonts.
What has changed in LibreOffice 5.3 is the introduction of the new font-rendering engine HarfBuzz. HarfBuzz has its shortcomings, such as a lack of support for Type 1 or Postscript fonts that means that designers with Type 1 fonts either have to buy new ones or else convert them using FontForge. However, in support for advanced typography features, HarfBuzz is pure gold.
Basically, if an Open Type font has advanced typographical features, LibreOffice 5.3 will use them without any user intervention and regardless of the font file format Not all fonts have exactly the same features — for example, different sets of ligatures are especially common — but, with LibreOffice 5.3, the situation is as good as anyone can hope it to get, and Graphite is essentially obsolete.
If anything, the challenge is to not use advanced features. You might, for example, prefer not to use old style figures in a table or a spreadsheet cell, where they can be hard to read. As well, at times, the use of some features such as small capitals, may not be automatic.
Fortunately, a workaround exists. In LibreOffice 5.3, you can add the markup developed for the same purpose in X?TeX. This markup can be entered on the Font tab for characters, paragraphs, and their styles. The markup is poorly documented in LibreOffice — for example, what are the differences between Mark Positioning and Mark-to-Mark Positioning for diacritical marks? — but a little experimenting will reveal the differences if a feature matters to you.
Typographical markup is entered after the name of a font, with no extra spaces. It is followed by a value, usually a 1 to indicate that the feature is turned on. Occasionally, other values can be entered, such as On for regular kerning, or Uppercase for kerning for combinations of capital letters.
A full list of available markup is available online.
The advantages of this new feature cannot be exaggerated. LibreOffice copy is already being used directly for book layout, especially among technical publishers, but now the final professional touches no longer have to be added manually, which saves time. And for those who use multiple languages, accents and diacriticals can be positioned as preferred.
LibreOffice is one of the first free software applications to support this features. However, HarfBarf is spreading, and it won't be the last. Meanwhile, with LibreOffice 5.3, the average user can now produce copy that is almost indistinguishable from that released by professional publishers — assuming, of course, that they make the effort to explore and set up the necessary features. After a century and a half, this advance seems long overdue.
I have never read such a valuable and information-packed tutorial in so few words. And disguised as an "article", at that.
Found out that this guy has a really good book on libreoffice at lulu, just ordered it.


Element was founded in 1992 by Johnny Schillereff and is a skateboard manufacturer and surfware retailer in Irvine, California.
Element's pro team members include the likes of Chad Muska, Bam Margera, and one of the worlds best female skaters, Vanessa Torres.
Here we have the Element Phase 2 skateboard trucks.
Element size 5.0 truck width 7.75"


It's been a long time since my wife has gone missing. I came home one night and she was gone I haven't seen her in a while and I'm worried about her. My town is big on crime rates mostly homicide. It's a scary world. I hope she's isn't dead.
I have been having weird dreams they are quit vivid. It's been happening for a few weeks over and over,the same dream.
In my dream I can vision a house in the woods and inside I can see a room hidden behind a book shelf but one book seems to stand out to me the spine of the book has a goat on it and the author is unknown the title of the book is blurred out.
Are these dreams special? Could they link to my wife's disappearance or is it just a wild dream?
This could be my only chance to find my beloved wife I'm going inside.
I am motivated to find her.
It's the next day my dreams were a bit more expanded now that I'm actually in the house.
This time in my dream I examined more of the house. To find a bookshelf in a room upstairs. I'm getting up now and I'm walking upstairs,I just found that the room was padlocked I wonder why, this house was completely abandoned.
I'm splurging the house looking for something to unlock the padlock I can't seem to find anything like Bobby pins or coins in the other rooms upstairs so I'm going back down, I'm venturing into the back yard of the house I see a fire pit and I'm lucky to find a key inside that didn't burn completely so I take it to the room to unlock the door.
Yes I'm happy to say that the key worked on the padlock and I found a bookshelf inside I look through the books and I find the book with the goat on the spine so I pulled it out, I'm getting closer to solving the mystery. That is when I'm taken to a different room by a rotating wall where the book shelf was. I panicked and pulled st the door but all I got was a broken finger,I'm not getting out any time soon.
I have almost been in here for 5 hours I'm started to get hungry but there is no food source available. I have now identified the room as a secret bedroom because there is a bed, a desk a lamp stand and various pictures of the same woman framed on the wall,the woman in the pictures are my wife I am now severely paranoid about what is to come of me, to try to relax myself I will read this book to see if I can find anything.
I have been awake for the longest trying to figure out this book,but inside is just random, or a different language I can't seem to decode the language even the title is written this way.
I can't sleep now or ever I have to find out what they did to her I can't rest now.
I haven't slept since the day I got stuck here, I wonder if anyone is looking for me. I hope they don't I can't be taken away now I'm just getting closer, I have began examining the room itself I haven't found anything. Perhaps I'm not looking close enough.


Bento/lunch boxes were so pretty to look at and very tempting to posses one of our own. I try to resist from buying more and kept a few quality ones for my son's packed lunch. But I have a few in mind like the diablock and red fire engine which I am still considering whether I should buy. This is a a lovely orange bento box given as part of birthday's goodie bag togther with some stationery stuff from his classmate. I think it is such a great idea and so apt since my boy need to bring his own lunch to the kindergarten every Monday.


text:
Q: Cast or convert List to List? I'm looking for a convenient way to safely cast a List<T?> to List<T>? (or, more generically, Iterable<T?> to Iterable<T>?) without filtering any elements.
In other words, take the list if all elements are not null.
In Swift I can do this:
let a: [Int?] = [1, nil, 3]
let b: [Int?] = [1, 2, 3]

let aa = a as? [Int] // nil
let bb = b as? [Int] // [1, 2, 3]

In Kotlin, the similarly looking code just does an unchecked cast and does not result in aa being null:
val a = listOf<Int?>(1, null, 3)
val b = listOf<Int?>(1, 2, 3)

val aa = a as? List<Int> // [1, null, 3]
val bb = b as? List<Int> // [1, 2, 3]

Thus, I'm looking for a method like this:
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
fun <T : Any> Iterable<T?>.takeIfAllNotNull(): Iterable<T>? =
    takeIf { all { el -> el != null } } as? Iterable<T>

With that I can write my code as follows:
val a = listOf<Int?>(1, null, 3)
val b = listOf<Int?>(1, 2, 3)

val aa = a.takeIfAllNotNull() // null
val bb = b.takeIfAllNotNull() // [1, 2, 3]

I must be missing something here. Doesn't the standard library have such a method?

A: There is no build-in function but you can combine filterNotNull and takeIf to get the desired behaviour:
val a: List<Int?> = listOf(1, null, 3)
val aa: List<Int>? = a.filterNotNull().takeIf { it.size == a.size }

--
Edit: as per @DrawnRacoon's suggestion it would be faster to use just takeIf:
val aa: List<Int>? = a.takeIf { null !in a } as List<Int>

This does not create an intermediate List and it short circuits when it finds a null. It does require an unsafe cast to force the compiler to change the type.
Extracted in an extension function it would look like this:
@Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
fun <T> Iterable<T?>.takeIfAllNotNull(): Iterable<T>? {
    return takeIf { null !in this } as? Iterable<T>
}

It seems we have arrived back at your original proposal. So maybe the answer should have just been:
No, you are not missing anything.
There is no method in the standard library for this exact behaviour.

To touch what is going on in the question:
It has to do with generics erosion. In runtime there are no generics so the cast is just List to List which always succeeds, and it returns the original object.
The compiler will correctly warn you about an unsafe cast. Ignoring this warning may lead to incorrect types at runtime:
val a = listOf(1, null, 3)
val aa = a as? List<Int> // unsafe cast List<Int?> to List<Int>
// aa is now List<Int> but contains a null

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Myra H. Mcilvain
Author of Award-Winning Stein House, historical fiction set in the 19th C Texas seaport of Indianola that blew away in the 1886 hurricane.
THE BLIND MAN'S TOWN
Posted by myrahmcilvain
In 1854 Adam Rankin Johnson, a twenty-year-old from Kentucky settled in Burnet County on the edge of the western frontier. He fought Indians, which could be expected since he worked as a surveyor and Indians believed the surveyor's compass was the instrument that
Adam Rankin Johnson (1834-1922)
was pushing them off the land. In 1854, Johnson stood on the banks of the Colorado River and a dream took shape as he viewed a waterfall cascading down fifty feet over a series of three limestone formations. He had found the spot for building an industrial city.
"Quaker Guns" made with a charred log and a stovepipe set between wagon wheels.
During the Civil War, Johnson went back to Kentucky to enlist as a scout. He rose in the ranks as his Rangers fought behind enemy lines, harassing Union supply centers. In July 1862, Johnson's men were outnumbered by federal troops guarding supplies at Newburgh, Indiana. He had his men construct two "Quaker Guns," using a stovepipe and a charred log which they anchored between wagon wheels. Placing the assemblage on a hillside, the Union troops believed they were looking down the barrel of two cannons. Johnson led his band of about thirty-five guerillas across the Ohio River and captured the Union supplies without firing a shot. From then on, his men called him "Stovepipe Johnson."
His exploits during the war eventually earned him the rank of brigadier general by June 1864. However, two months later, in a battle in Kentucky, Johnson was accidentally shot by his own men, permanently blinded, captured by the federals, and imprisoned until the end of the war.
General Adam Johnson came home to his wife and family and set about fulfilling his dream. Although he could no longer see, he had not lost his vision. Some accounts say he directed from memory one his sons to drive his carriage about the county as he made land purchases.
In 1881, General Johnson's land ownership suddenly took on new importance when the Texas state capitol burned. In the rush to rebuild, the planners discovered that the intended limestone for the capitol's exterior was inferior. It so happened that Johnson's land lay within a mile of Granite Mountain, and the owners of the 180-acre batholith that rose above the landscape offered to give the granite for the capitol if the state constructed a railroad from Austin. General Johnson immediately set about getting the land donated for the right of way.
Granite Mountain provided for Galveston's seawall and many state buildings.
When the railroad arrived to begin hauling what was eventually 4,000 flatcars of granite for construction of the Texas capitol, General Johnson and his partners were ready to lay out their town. Within a week Johnson held a public sale of lots from a grandstand in the center the new town. Although many people called it "The Blind Man's Town," the official name of Marble Falls finally took root.
The Old Mill overlooking the limestone series of falls
Johnson's dream of harnessing the Colorado River kept meeting setbacks until 1893 when The Ice, Light and Water Company provided power for the city and the nearby textile plant. But it was 1951 before The Blind Man's Dream was fulfilled in a different form. The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) completed a series of six dams beginning at a site on the river that General Johnson had marked in 1854 as the perfect site for industrial development. Buchanan Dam is the first in the chain of dams that create the Highland Lakes, known not for industry, but for hydroelectric power, flood control, and recreation.
Max Starcke Dam, the fourth in the chain, created Lake Marble Falls, which covers the old limestone outcropping that General Johnson gazed upon in 1854. The city he dreamed of building has become the center of a vast recreational region.
General Adam Johnson's other legacies include one son, Rankin Johnson, Sr. who became a Major League pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. General Johnson died in 1922 and is buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin next to his wife Josephine and near his grandson, Judge George Christian Sr., and a great-grandson George Christian Jr., White House Press Secretary for President Lyndon Johnson.
Adam Johnson standing before the old mill.
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Posted in Battles, Civil War Battles, Movers & Shakers, Railroad, Texas Capitol
Tagged #Blind man, #Civil War, #Granite Mountain, #Highland Lakes, #Quaker Gun, #Stovepipe Johnson, #Texas Capitol
Millions in Silver Hauled Across Texas
Hundreds of freight wagons, each drawn by six to eight mules, and brightly colored Mexican carretas, each pulled by four to six oxen, formed dusty weaving trains on the Chihuahua Road from the silver mines of
Mexican Carreta in El Paso, c. 1885
Photo courtesy SMU
northern Mexico to the port town of Indianola on the central Texas coast. The trail across Texas opened in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War when the U.S. laid claim to Texas and the entire southwest all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The following year, the California Gold Rush set the get-rich-quickers into a frenzy looking for a shorter route across the country than the old Santa Fe Trail that ran from Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Port of Indianola
The new port of Indianola on Matagorda Bay offered dockage for U.S. military personnel and equipment bound for the western settlements of Texas as far as El Paso (future Fort Bliss), and it provided the perfect jumping-off place for settlers and gold-hungry Americans heading west. The ships, anchored at piers stretching out into the shallow bay, took on the Mexican silver and transported it to the mint in New Orleans. The vessels returned with trade goods destined for the interior of Texas and the towns developing in the west and the villages of Mexico.
The Chihuahuan Road headed northwest from Indianola, made quick stops in San Antonio and Del Rio, twisted north along the Devils River, forded the steep ledges along the Pecos River, and then plunged southwest through the Chihuahuan Desert to cross the Rio Grande at Presidio, entering the mineral-rich state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
The Spanish, as early as 1567, had discovered northern Mexico's mineral wealth—gold, copper, zinc and lead—but silver was overwhelmingly the richest lode. By the time Mexico opened its commerce with the U.S. after the Mexican-American War, there were six mines in the area near Ciudad Chihuahua, capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
The raw outcroppings of the richest mine, Santa Eulalia, had been discovered in 1652, but persistent Indian troubles chased away the Spanish explorer who had found the site. Fifty years later, three men who were fugitives from the law, hide in a deep ravine tucked into Santa Eulalia's steep hills. They stacked some boulders to create a fireplace, and as the flames grew hotter, the boulders began leaking a shiny white metal, which they recognized as silver. Knowing their fortune awaited, they sent word via a friendly Indian to the padre in the nearby mission community of Chihuahua, offering to build the grandest cathedral in New Spain if the padre would absolve their sins and pardon them of their crimes. It worked. The fugitives received absolution and pardon; they became fabulously wealthy; and they built the Church of the Holy Cross,
Church of the Holy Cross, Our Lady of Regla, Ciudad Chihuahua
Our Lady of Regla, the finest example of colonial architecture in northern Mexico. Miners flocked to the Santa Eulalia mine and Ciudad Chihuahua grew into a large and wealthy city.
Millions of dollars in silver and trade goods were hauled over the road between Indianola and Chihuahua, except for the years of the Civil War. The road served as the corridor for western settlement until 1883 when the Texas and Pacific Railroad from the east met the Southern Pacific from California. The new southern transcontinental railroad opened a direct route between New Orleans and California. The final blow to the Chihuahua Road arrived with the devastating hurricane of 1886 that turned the thriving seaport of Indianola into a ghost town.
Route of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad
Posted in History, Indianola, Mexican War, Mexico, Railroad, Rio Grande, Texas tale
Tagged #Chihuahua Road, #Ciudad Chihuahua, #Indianola, #Santa Fe Trail, #Silver mine, #Southern Transcontinental Railroad
The Harvey Girls Go West
Their uniform consisted of black dresses covered by starched white pinafores, opaque black stockings, black shoes, and hairnets secured with a regulation white ribbon. They were
The Harvey Uniform
Harvey Girls who could serve a meal in thirty minutes that included fillet of whitefish with Madeira sauce or roast beef au jus and lobster salad. The homemade pie was cut and served in generous quarters unlike the customary one-sixth portions.
Harvey House locations in Texas
As railroads had spread across the country, passengers either carried their own food, endured meals that often included rancid meat and cold beans, or simply did without. Fred Harvey, a dapper British immigrant who worked as a railroad freight agent, observed the terrible conditions on trains and convinced the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1876 to let him open a restaurant in Topeka, Kansas. His idea of fine fresh food at a reasonable price proved so popular that his establishments began spreading along the railroad. Harvey Houses reached the isolated cattle towns of West Texas in the 1890s, and crossed the state from El Paso and Amarillo to Dallas and Houston and south to Kingsville. Even in remote towns, up to four passenger trains came
Harvey Girls o Somerville, TX from the Gordon Chappell Collection
through daily carrying from fifty to eighty people who expected to be fed in thirty minutes.
From the beginning, the railroad allowed Harvey to set up his restaurants as he saw fit, which meant fine China and Irish table linens. He demanded civility, cleanliness, and high standards of efficiency. The Harvey girls were not called waitresses; they could not wear makeup or chew gum while on duty. He personally inspected his restaurants and was reported to have sometimes overturned a table that was not set to his standards. He advertised for "white, young women, 18 to 30 years of age, of good character, attractive and intelligent." Upon entering their month of training they quickly learned that their work would be demanding—serving meals, polishing silver, brewing fresh coffee every two hours, and following a strict code in dealing with customers. Beginning pay was $17.50 a month, including room, board, and tips. They lived in dormitories with a 10:00. PM. curfew, and were supervised by a senior Harvey Girl who served much like a housemother.
Although the environment sounds harsh by today's standards, it allowed young women a rare career opportunity. In later years, married women entered the program and benefited from the chance to add to family income. Some of the women were widows who claimed that they and their children were welcomed like family into the Harvey House environment.
Harvey branched into hotels alongside depots, eventually opening eighty-four facilities. When railroads began offering food service, he reluctantly agreed to staff dining cars with Fred Harvey Company personnel. The Harvey brand began moving in the 1930s into locations away from the Santa Fe Railroad and in 1959 the restaurants started lining the Illinois Tollway. Although the Harvey House era came to an end with the death in 1965 of Fred Harvey's grandson, the company is credited with offering the first "blue plate special"—a good meal at a reasonable price, creating the first restaurant chain in the United States, and opening tourism to the American Southwest by making railroad travel more enjoyable.
Judy Garland in 1946 musical, The Harvey Girls
Posted in Railroad, Restaurants
Tagged #Blue Plate Special, #Harvey Girls, #Harvey House, #Jobs for Women, #Railroad dining
Judge Roy Bean: Law West of the Pecos
Pecos River
As the railroad spread westward across Texas it was often said, "West of the Pecos there is no law; west of El Paso there is no God." The Texas Rangers were called in to quell the criminal element that followed the railroad crews through the desolate Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas. The rangers had been hauling prisoners to the county seat at Fort Stockton—a 400-mile round trip—and they needed a local justice of the peace in Vinegarroon, a town just west of the Pecos River. It was August 1882 and Roy Bean,
who had left his wife and four children in San Antonio earlier that year, won the appointment. He kept the job with only two off years, when he lost elections, until 1902.
Bean's training in the law consisted of a talent for avoiding it. He was in his early twenties when he made a quick exit from the law in Chihuahua, Mexico. He made a jail break in San Diego and avoided being hanged in San Gabriel, California. He prospered for a time in the saloon business in Mesilla, New Mexico, with his older brother. After the Civil War he settled in a part of San Antonio that became known as Beanville. He married in 1866 and spent several years in various jobs—a firewood business until he was caught cutting his neighbor's timber; a dairy business until he began watering down the milk; and a butcher shop that sold meat from cattle rustled from nearby ranches. When he began operating a saloon, a rival saloonkeeper was so eager to see him out of the business, that she bought out his entire operation for $900, all the money he needed to head west and set up his own tent saloon along the new railroad construction in Vinegarroon.
Postcard–Jersey Lilly Saloon
With his new position as justice of the peace, Bean acquired an 1879 edition of the Revised Statues of Texas and undertook his first action—he shot up the saloon shack of a Jewish competitor. His tent saloon served as a part-time courtroom where his jurors were selected from an array of his best bar customers. When an Irishman named O'Rourke killed a Chinese railroad laborer, a mob of O'Rourke supporters surrounded Bean's court and threatened to lynch him if he didn't free O'Rourke. After looking through his law book Bean said homicide was killing of a human being; however he could find no law against killing a Chinaman. He dismissed the case.
As railroad construction moved westward, Bean followed the line to a town that became known as Langtry, which Bean claimed he named for the English actress Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) Langtry whom he fell in love with after seeing her picture in a newspaper. In truth, the town, sitting on a bluff above the Rio Grande, was named for George Langtry an engineer and foreman who supervised the Chinese immigrants who constructed the railroad.
Apparently Bean's reputation preceded him because the landowner sold to the railroad on the condition that no part of the land could be sold or leased to Bean. O'Rourke, the gentlemen Bean acquitted, suggested Bean establish his saloon on the railroad right-of-way because that land was not covered in the railroad contract.
Bean built his saloon, which he named The Jersey Lilly in honor of Lillie Langtry who was born on Jersey, one of the islands in the English Channel. He claimed to know Miss Lillie and wrote to her several times inviting her to visit his town. When his saloon burned, he built a new home and called it an opera house where he insisted Miss Lillie would come to perform.
Her visit actually came ten months after Bean's death.
Bean's creative court decisions in The Jersey Lilly included the time he fined a corpse $40 for carrying a concealed weapon. It just so happened that in addition to his gun, the dead man had $40 in his pocket, which paid for his burial and court costs. Bean was known as "the hanging judge," despite never hanging anybody. Whereas horse thieves were hanged in other jurisdictions, in Bean's court, they were let go if the horses were returned to their owners. Since there was no jail, all cases ended with fines, which Bean kept, refusing to send the money to the state. Usually the fine consisted of the amount of money found in the prisoner's pockets. Although a justice of the peace was not authorized to grant divorces, Bean did it anyway, charging $10 for the service. He charged $5 for performing a wedding and ended each ceremony with "and may God have mercy on your souls." Bean was noted for his colorful language such as, "It is the judgment of this court that you are hereby tried and convicted of illegally and unlawfully committing certain grave offenses against the peace and dignity of the State of Texas, particularly in my bailiwick," and then he added, "I fine you two dollars; then get the hell out of here and never show yourself in this court again. That's my rulin'." But he also maintained tight control of the language used in his courtroom, even threatened a lawyer with hanging for using "profane language" when the lawyer referred to the "habeas corpus" of his client.
When Bean heard that Jay Gould was on a train heading toward Langtry, Bean used a danger signal to flag down the train. Thinking the bridge over the Pecos River was out, the train stopped and Bean entertained Gould and his daughter at The Jersey Lilly during a two-hour visit. The delay sent tremors through the New York Stock Exchange when reports circulated that Gould had been killed in a train wreck.
While the trains stopped to take on water, passengers poured into The Jersey Lilly where Bean served them quickly and then became very slow giving them their change. When the warning whistle blew announcing the train's departure, the rush was on with passengers demanding their money and Bean eventually fining them the amount they were owed. His reputation grew as the passengers ran cursing back to the waiting train and future travelers could not resist stopping to visit the ramshackle saloon and its famous proprietor.
Prizefighting became illegal in most of the Southwest and in Mexico, which prompted Bean to open a side business promoting fights on a sandbar in the middle of the Rio Grande. In 1898 when promoters could not find a place to hold the world championship title prizefight between Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher, Bean welcomed the event to Langtry. An excursion train arrived with 200 spectators on February 22 and Bean entertained them for a time in The Jersey Lilly before leading them to a bridge he had constructed to reach the makeshift ring. The Texas Rangers watched helplessly from a bluff on the Texas side of the river while Fitzsimmons beat Maher in 95 seconds. The fans and sportswriters enjoyed a few more drinks at The Jersey Lilly before the train carried them to El Paso to spread the news throughout the United States.
Books, movies, TV shows, and Roy Bean himself spread the legend of Judge Roy Bean, "the law west of the Pecos," with tales true and tainted. Despite failing health, Bean he went on a drinking binge in Del Rio in March 1903 and died in his bed the following morning. The Texas Department of Public Transportation has restored The Jersey Lilly Saloon in Langtry and created a Visitors Center just south of US Hwy. 90
Jersey Lilly Visitors Center
Posted in Railroad, Texas Travel, West Texas
Tagged #Jay Gould, #Jersey Lilly Saloon, #Judge Roy Bean, #Langtry, #Lillie Langtry, #Prizefight, #Vinegarroon
Lance Rosier, "Mr. Big Thicket"
A Texas historical marker on FM 770, a few miles east of Saratoga in deep East Texas credits Lancelot "Lance" Rosier with being one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve, a sprawling wonderland of biodiversity so unique that UNESCO designated the region as a Biosphere Reserve in 1981. A self-taught naturalist, Lance Rosier was born and grew up in the heart of the Big Thicket. As a child he roamed the forest, grew familiar with every trail; he knew every baygall (shallow, stagnant water), and the name of every plant. An avid reader of botanical publications, he became the foremost authority on the flora of the Big Thicket. Rosier served as a guide for Hal B. Parks and Victor L. Cory, botanists in the 1930s who authored the Biological Survey of the East Texas Big Thicket, the "Bible" of those wishing to preserve the area.
Big Thicket Cypress Swamp
The Big Thicket has always presented a challenge to those who wanted to exploit its riches and to men like Rosier who worked to preserve its unique character. As early as the 17th Century, when Texas was part of the Spanish Colonial Empire, the forest of ninety-eight-foot Longleaf pine trees measuring five and six feet in diameter towered over dense growths of six-foot palmetto trees, beech trees, fern, cacti, orchids, and carnivorous plants. The padres who established Spanish missions in East Texas traveled a route that circled north of the 3.5 million-acre swath of Southeast Texas from near Nacogdoches to near present Beaumont. Long before the Spanish arrived, mound-building Caddo Indians and other tribes from along the Gulf coast used the thicket for hunting deer, bear, panthers, and wolves. At the end of the 18th Century Alabama and Coushatta Indians migrated into the region and settled in the thicket in the 1830s.
Original Big Thicket
Called "the thicket" because of the dense plant growth and cypress swamps, the region offered ideal hiding places for emigrants coming to Texas to escape legal problems such as bankruptcy and criminal charges in the United States. During the Civil War, when the Confederate government began conscription in 1862, men who did not want to get in the war, men who did not own slaves and saw no reason to fight for big plantation owners, hid out in the thicket. They survived on the abundance of fish, small game, and wild berries. They set up secret locales where their families brought them coffee and tobacco in exchange for honey, wild game, and fish the families sold in nearby Beaumont.
Lance Rosier grew up listening to the stories about the thicket and the timber barons who began clear-cutting the forests in the mid-1800s and turned the region into a lumber bonanza after the railroad arrived in the 1880s. By the time Spindletop blew in south of Beaumont in 1901, the thicket had been reduced to about 300,000 acres and the oil industry brought more frantic development into the area.
After serving in the army in World War I, Rosier returned to his homeland and worked as a timber cruiser (someone who measures a plot of forest to estimate the quality and quantity of timber in that stand) and he led Big Thicket tours for anyone seeking his expertise including scientists, photographers, students, scholars, and conservationists. Rosier also led politicians such as Texas Governor Price Daniel and Speaker of the U.S. House Sam Rayburn as they explored possibilities of making the Big Thicket a Texas state park.
A shy and retiring little man, Rosier is said to have lent a sense of spiritual zeal to his quest to save the thicket. He catalogued hundreds of species of new plants and discovered plants that had been considered extinct. Rosier worked with the original East Texas Big Thicket Association that began in 1927 hoping to save the land and waterways. When that project met political headwinds, he led a new movement that became the Big Thicket Association in the early 1960s. Lance Rosier died in 1970, four years before his dream was fulfilled—the United States Congress passed a bill in 1974 establishing an 84,550-acre Big Thicket National Preserve—a string of pearls consisting of nine land units and several creek corridors. Today, the preserve manages twelve land units covering over 105,000 acres. The Lance Rosier Unit at 25,024 acres is the largest and most diversified preserve in the thicket. It encompasses the land where Rosier was born and roamed as a child.
Lance Rosier Unit
Posted in Botany, Civil War, Federal preserve, History, Nacogdoches, Plant life, Railroad
Tagged #Alabama-Coushatta Indians, #Big Thicket, #Caddo Indians, #Civil War, #Civil War hideout, #Conservation, #Cypress Swamp, #Longleaf Pines, #UNESCO
The Four Gospels Railroad
The twenty-two mile rail line did not begin in 1909 as anything other than a central Texas business scheme to move Williamson County's huge cotton crops to the Missouri-Kansas and Texas
The Bartlett-Western Railroad
"Katy" Railroad at Bartlett. Granted, farmers and residents along the line were so happy to have a railroad that when the last of the track was laid in Florence on December 27, 1911, an excursion train arrived loaded with 250 to 300 people who paid $1 for the round trip. They dressed in their Sunday best and enjoyed the daylong celebration.
It was after The Bartlett-Western Railroad changed owners a couple of times and was sold in 1916 to Thomas Cronin that the route took on a new flair. Cronin had retired from a highly successful career with the International and Great Northern Railroad and was looking for a new challenge. He found it in the BW. Cronin began by turning the operation into a family affair naming his daughter Marie the vice-president, his daughter Ida became treasurer, Ida's husband William Branagan served as general manager, and nephew Thomas Wolfe who had been injured in his former railroad position came along in a wheelchair and may have simply supervised. The entire clan moved into an apartment on the second floor of a brick commercial building next to the Katy Railroad and a few blocks from the Bartlett-Western depot.
Marie and Ida Cronin grew up in the East Texas railroad town of Palestine, but both girls studied in Paris. Marie had remained in Paris until the beginning of World War I and earned an international reputation as a fine portraiture. Upon her return home, she won commissions for many of the portraits in the Texas State Capitol. Ida, a gifted singer-organist, studied music in Paris, retuned to Palestine, married William Branagan and became very active in Catholic women's work. This rather unusual family set about developing a relationship with the 2,200 townspeople of Bartlett and soon found the community welcoming, if not a little surprised by their new neighbors.
Marie Cronin, called "Mamie" by her family, took the town by surprise with her flamboyant European-style clothing, wide-brimmed Parisians hats, and way more makeup than women of Bartlett found acceptable. She moved her art studio to the second floor of the BW depot where she could perform her duties as vice-president for the railroad and continue with her painting. Ida Cronin Branagan, as BW treasurer, set about renaming four of the small flag stations for the "Four Gospels." The small flag stations were not actually towns; they were locales where farmers waited to load their cotton or other produce for market or to catch the train for a trip to Florence or Bartlett and consisted of a roof with benches on each side. Ida had the gospel names framed along with the verses for each gospel to offer passengers an opportunity to read while waiting for the train. For instance, the first stop after Bartlett was Caffrey and it became "St. Matthew." At the John Camp station, which became "St. Mark," there was a small store. A surplus car stood on an extra railroad siding at Atkinson that was designated "St. Luke." "St. John" was the stop on Salado Creek where the train engines refilled at a water storage tank. Passengers began calling the line the "Four Gospels Railroad," but it also became know as the "Bullfrog Line" because it jumped the track so often. The folks in Florence called it the "dinky" and others said the initials BW stood for "Better Walk."
Despite derisive remarks, the BW in 1916 earned $3,817 in passenger revenue and $30,327 from freight. Cronin set about improving the BW service and maintenance of its equipment, bridges, and roadbed. At some point a tractor was fitted with flanged wheels, allowing it to pull flat cars loaded with up to 130 bales of cotton. Crews carried sand to sprinkle on the tracks when the train, carrying a heavy load, had difficulty gaining traction on the up or down grade. When the BW secured the mail contract, it used Ford trucks equipped with railroad wheels to carry the mail. Although cotton was the largest commodity transported over the BW, it also carried the needs of the communities along its route including lignite, livestock, forest products, fruits, vegetables, drugs and, furniture. Cronin overhauled the trolley-style passenger car and tried, unsuccessfully, to get financing to extend the line to connect with the Santa Fe in Lampasas.
Ironically, Ida Cronin Branagan fell in 1926 while getting off the BW and died from her injuries. That same year Thomas Cronin died, leaving Marie to serve as president of the BW while William Branagan continued as general manager. Marie, William, and cousin Thomas remained as a family living in the old commercial building.
Marie Cronin relished her role as president of a railroad, even riding the BW to give attention to every detail. She appeared perfectly confident in herself and her abilities and showed more self-assurance than the people of Bartlett expected from a woman. One person said she "always dressed like she was going to meet the Queen." Others said her strong voice dominated the room and she showed other eccentricities such as her long-time desire to be a lawyer. Despite never having studied the law, she took the bar exam many times without success. Many others found Marie friendly and generous to everyone without regard to race. One account claims she gave her Willys-Graham to her chauffer because he needed a car for his family.
In the 1920s and 30s the BW struggled with damage from frequent flooding that tore out the tracks and continually drained the family's savings. The boll weevil spread across Texas by 1926 causing cotton prices to drop from $1.59 to forty-five cents a bale, starting the downward spiral of revenue for the BW. Some family members have said Marie enjoyed being president of a railroad so much that she waited longer than reasonable to admit that the BW needed to be shut down. One nephew says Marie was what would be described today as a Type-A personality. The Texas Railroad Commission finally granted Marie Cronin's request to close the BW on October 11, 1935. No one denies, however, that Marie Cronin and her family added color, charm, and a sense of excitement to life along the Bartlett-Western Railroad.
Posted in History, Railroad, Texas, Texas tale, Texas Women
Tagged #Bartlett, #Business woman, #Cotton, #Florence, #Four Gospels, #International & Great Northern RR, #Katy RR, #Railroad, #Texas artist, #Williamson County Texas, #Women in Texas, TX
Niles City: "Richest Little City in Texas"
Three miles north of Fort Worth's business center, Niles City, a tiny strip of land spreading over a little more than one-half square mile and boasting a population of 508, incorporated in 1911. Within its bounds sat the Fort Worth Stock Yards, Swift & Company, Armour & Company, two grain elevators, and a cotton-oil company, which placed the city's property value at $12 million. Six railroads came through the town with the Belt Railway owning and operating a roundhouse. Niles City had a town council and enjoyed complete utility service, good roads, and fine schools.
The town was named for Louville Veranus Niles, a successful Boston businessman who reorganized the Fort Worth Packing Company in 1899 and was instrumental in convincing Armour and Swift to locate in Niles City in 1902.
There were no fine homes in the town, just the houses belonging to the plant workers and about seventy rental houses erected by the Fort Worth Stock Yards for its employees. Niles City claimed other important venues including the Live Stock Exchange Building,
Live Stock Exchange Building, 1902
the horse and mule barns, and the Cowtown Coliseum, where the Fat Stock Show offered the first indoor rodeo in the United States.
Cowtown Coliseum, first indoor rodeo in the US
Many big name entertainers performed at the Coliseum including Enrico Caruso who drew a crowd of about 8,000 in 1920. The Swift and Armour packing plants added significantly to the economy, employing about 4,000 workers from Fort Worth and the surrounding area.
All of the wealth packed into such a small piece of real estate proved too tempting for Niles City's neighbors. In 1921 the Texas legislature passed a bill allowing a city of more than 50,000 to incorporate adjacent territory that did not have a population greater than 2,000. To protect itself from annexation, Niles City quickly took in another square mile of extraterritorial industries including the Gulf Oil Company refinery and its pipeline plant, and two school districts attended by the children of Niles City. The move increased the town's population to about 2,500 and its taxable property to $30 million. The legislature passed a second bill raising the population needed to halt annexation to 5,000. In July 1922 Fort Worth held a special election in which voters passed amendments to the city charter allowing Fort Worth to incorporate Niles City, which occurred on August 1, 1923.
Today the Stockyards, the Cowtown Coliseum, and Billy Bob's the world famous honky tonk are located on the grounds of the town once known as "the richest little city in the state of Texas."
Billy Bob's "World's Largest Honky Tonk" at 127,000 sq. ft.
Posted in Cowboys, Fort Worth, Historic Preservation, History, National Register of Historic Places, Railroad, Texas Legislature, Texas tale, TX
Tagged #Billy Bob's, #Cattle, #Cowtown Coliseum, #Honky Tonk, #Meat packing, #Niles City, #Rodeos, #stockyards
These tales are told with a Texas twang. I include stories of real people that I discovered while writing books about famous and infamous Texas sites and writing Historical Markers posted along Texas roadways. Yes, real people write the words you see on those highway markers.
Myra's website
Austin American Statesman Article
Kirkus Star Review
Stein House, A German Family Saga
The Doctor's Wife
Waters Plantation
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PROUD TO BE A KILLER
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
TEXAN SANTA FE EXPEDITION
FIRST MAN TO FLY IN AN AIRPLANE?