Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-07-26
choicest tidbits. Such is an everyday scene
at .Iunitar during the summer and fall.

choicest tidbits. Such is an everyday scene
at Jupiter during the summer and fall.
The inlet is very shallow. Its bed is de-
tached coral rocks, covered with sea green
moss. The moss hides that peculiar shell
known as "bleediDg teeth" At low tide the
water rushes over the rocks, forming rapids
like those on some Canadian streams. Banks
of sand appear at the foot Of the rapids, and
are washed by the breakers of the Atlantic.
The tide sets in with wonderful force. The
current is very strong, and the banks and
flats inside are quickly flooded. Immense
eddies are formed, and, strange as it may
seem, these eddies offer some of the finest
flying fish in the world. The bone or lady
fish, blue6sh, snapper and cavallo take fly
with the veracity Of brook trout. Gamey
as is the bluefsh, the lady6sh is his superior.
The latter is very long and slender, covered
with small silvery scales. 1t has a broad
head, large and expressive eye, fine sharp
teeth, and a mouth like that Of trout. 1t
reaches ten pounds in weight The lady6sh
snaps the fly in the air and darts away.
When struck it is marvel of nerve and
elasticity. Swerving in a circle, it repeated
ly leaps from the water and dashes away.
After hard fight it either jumps ashore or
gives up gracefully, and is easily netted. The
cavallo, strong, active fish, is frequently
taken at fifteen pounds. It lacks the dash of
the lady6sh, but is much harder to kill.
While fishing these eddies salmon rod
and reel is preferable. The common trout
rod is altogether too light.
A light house is the only sign Of civiliza'
ton at Jupiter. It towers 100 feet from a
sand hill on the main land, and is plain
brick shaft crowned with revolving light.
Heavy eastern gales, combined with the &C.
ton of the Gulf Stream, sometimes shut the
inlet. About fifteen years ago storm closed
the gap. Billions of salt water fish were
damned in. Then long rainy season fol-
lowed. The Jupiter, North, Allokehatchie,
and Lake Worth rivers, which empty into
the Indian river within mile of the inlet,
poured out volumes of fresh water, but the
ocean had done its work well, and the dam
remained intact. The fresh water passed
through Hope sound and forced its way to the
sea through Indian river inlet, fifty miles
north of Jupiter.
The salt water at Jupiter became fresh.
All the oysters died TrilIions of fiddlers and
hermit crabs gave up the ghost. The man
grove trees turned a sickly yellow, and the
thousands of insects that draw their nourlsh-
ment from the saline marshes disappeared.
Schools of black bass left the fresh water
streams and appeared at Jupiter. Solid
acres of salt water fishes piled themselves in
to the blight of the inlet, and fought for the
sea water that oozed throug b the sand at high
tide. The alligators of the Everglades got
wind of what was going on. They came
down the Allokehatchie and Lake Worth
creek in scores, and attacked the fish damned
in the blight. The slaughter was astonishing.
The water turned to blood, and was car
peted with dead fish. The alligators were
reinforced until their number was estimated
at five hundred. They gorged themselves
with fish, and dozed away their days on the
hot sand beneath the scorching rays of the
sun. The beach was black with their mailed
bodies.
One day north wind arose. 1t gathered
in strength day by day until its fury was that
of gale. 1t began to back up the water in
the inlet. Rain fell, and the water increased
in depth. The wind shifted to the North
west. A high neap tide followed. AS it be-
gan to fall thread of fresh water found its
way over the sandy barrier. Within twenty
minutes the dam was burst, and the pent-up
waters were roaring and rushing into the sea.
The army of alligators was caught in the
food and carried outside. A terrific fight
ensued. The neap tide had brought hun
dreds of enormous sharks to the coast. They
scented the fresh water and made for the in
let. Frantic after enforced fasting during
the storm they attacked the aligators. The
noise of the combat was heard above the roar
of the ocean. A son of Judge Paine, of
Fort Capron, who was an eyewitness of the
scene, tells me that he saw sharks and alliga-
tors rise on the crest of the waves and fight
like dogs.
Many of the killed foated belly upward,
and were afterward rocked ashore by the
waves. For days their bodies drifted to the
beach. The dead alligators had lost their
legs and tails. The sharks in some cases
were nearly bitten into two pieces. The cur
rent of the Gulf Stream, strewed the shore as
far north as Cape Malabar with their carcass
es Clouds of buzzards, and even the BAHIA
ma vutures were drawn to the beach by the
offal. Mr.. Paine fancies that the sharks were
too active for the aligators, but others say
that the per centage of bodies on the beach
indicated that the weight of mettle was in
favor of the iron-clad reptiles.