Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-10-11
A HUNTERS PARADISE.
WHERE LARGE QUANTITIES OF
GAME ABOUNDS.
a Sea Bass which Weighed $50 Pourds-A
Peculiar Kind of Goose in Great
Sumbers-Ducks and Cranes.
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
LoRETo, MEXICO, Oct 10-There arrived
in this town party of young Americans
who report the finding of i veritable sports
mans paradise in the upper part of the
gulf. The party consists of Walter Ed
wards, Frank English and Leon Gordon,
who have been hunting and fishing all
summer in the southern part of California
and the western part of Arizona. They are
from Kansas City, Mo, and took their
vacation in an unusual way by going to Z
portion of the country which they knew
would be free from the hunters and fishers
from the states who come West every
year The stories they tell of the wonder
full things the saw and did fully prove
that they were right in going out of the
beaten paths for their pleasure. They left
Kansas City last June and went directly to
Guaymas, and from there went along the
coast in a small sailing vessel which they
bought at that port. They went directly to
the head of the gulf and made their camp
at the mouth of the Colorado river, and
from there made their excursions to all
parts of the peninsula, and have now
started back home laden down with the
spoils of their chase. While they tell re-
markable stories in the way of strange
things found they bring proof in lot of
shells, skins and other curiosities.
During the three months that they have
been in camp they have not seen white
man nor have they been bothered by In
diahS. They have seen Indians only three
times during the summer, and then only
while they were travelling around the coun-
try. The spot they selected for their camp
was in such an Out-of-the-way place that
unless others were on the same errand they
would never go there. Among the trophies
which the party is taking back home with
them is sea bass which was caught after
half a days work by the whole party. 1t
weighed 80 pounds and the preserved skin
and skeleton looks as if it might have be-
longed to whale. 1t is twelve feet long
and measures three feet across the largest
part of the body. 1t had been seen several
times i'll the water at the head OF the gulf,
and efforts to catch it were unayailing, for
the hooks which they had We're too small
and the lines would snap with the weight
of much smaller fish than the monster bass.
They inaugurated regular campaign. how
ever, and at La Paz they bought large
kedge hook and a MANILA rope about a
quarter of an inch in diameter. With
these they went to work to catch the big
fish and were successful. He gave them a
desperate fight, but they soon had him on
the bank English is the taxidermist OF
the party, and he went to work to prepare
the skin and skeleton for preservation,
which feat he successfully accomplished,
and he says he will mount the specimen and
ext ibit it at the Worlds fair in Chicago.
In addition TO this specimen they have sew
eral others which they think will be ac-
ceptable to the authorities of the exposition
as specimens of what America can do in the
way of game when shs tries.
Among their collections are the skins of
peculiar kind of goose which they saw in
great numbers on series of small lakes in
in the peninsula. The bird is about twice
as large as the Canada goose and is sky
blue in color, with the exception.of the
oh, &c hi A inf TO-,
knot stands from the head and the legs are
longer than those of the ordinary goose
The birds weighed, when killed, forty
pounds each and the flesh was coarse and
almost unfit for eating. There were mill
ions of wild geese, ducks, cranes, gulls and
other waterfowl and birds, and in nearly
every instance they were different from
those seen in the North and East. The
ducks and cranes were, as rule, larger
while the gullS were smaller than those
found on the Atlantic ocean.
The headwaters of the gulf of California
and mouth of the Colorado river teemed
with fish of all sorts and in the case of sea
bass they surpassed anything ever seen or
heard Of by any of the party in the East.
The sea bass were especially large, and
while the one they have is monster and
was the largest they saw, there were many
others which were enormous and would
have been prizes anywhere. They were es-
lluldleu 10 WelgH I'LL lIe way from lUO 10
500 pounds. In addition to these there were
millions of sardines and smelts, which
swan in such shoals that there was no rea-
son why anyone should go hungry, for in
some estuaries all they had to do was to dip
their hats into the water and draw out half
a dozen of the little fish. CLAIMS were found
in great quantities, but they were as large
as dinner plates and were too coarse to be
fit for eating. There were oysters in count
less numbers, which were very small but
R10Gat delicious to eat. Crabs and other
snen fish abounded, and had they been cast
there with nothing but their hands with
which to get their living they would have
been in no danger of starving.
The sea birds and fish were in such guam
titles and of such strange varieties that the
party paid little attention to hunting ami
mails, but they succeeded in OBTAINING some
valuable specimens of a peculiar fox and Of |
y animal which they had never seen and |
could not locate as TO its proper place in |