Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-23
A Fortune Gained in a Year in This
Unique Trade.
VAST NUMBERS OF BIRDS TAKEN
Twenty Birds Day Often Cap
tured and Killed.
r E W a r ID FOR THEM


Los Angeles Letter to Philadelphia Times
Henry NJ. Knowles who went to Chile
from San Francisco I'm 1870 with Henry
Meigs of South Aemrican railroad fame
and enormous wealth. came up tie coast
TO Los Angeles the other day. after an alb
sence of fifteen years from California. ue
went away a poor boy from San Francisco.
ana Is now paying taxes on some million
dollars worth of property in CaIlao, Peru.
ana In Valparaiso and other cities in Chile
1 got my start toward fortune" said he
yesterday In a group OF old-tme friends IN
the lobby of the Nadeau Hotel. whe,
pressel to tell how he had prospered i'm
South America, by lassoing condors. That
may seem very strange occupation for
money making. but ii was rot so uncom-
mon down in Chile and Peru. You see +
had lived as boy so long Among the
plainsmen in Kansas and Nevada that I
became expert with the lariat and on n
morse Before L WAS sixteen / could iasso
horses and cattle with the best man in
Nevada When 1 went down TO Chile there
had been boom of several years because
OF the newly discovered gold and silver
mines and the nitrate deposits so every
body felt rich. The Chilean go,crnment ar
ohe suggestion OF Meigs. gave bounty Of
- Tor every condor killed in The republic
You see the birds had become such a nut
sance and were increasing so fast that
they devoured tens of thousands of dollars
N"rth CT food every year. and attacked
nerds OF sheep and even calves and colts
IN their ferocity for a carcass TO prey upon.
Money I'm Condors.
Well. the Chileans felt so PROSPEROUS
that coupled with their natural Incidence,
they did not care to avail themselves Of
the opportunities to make money by sl;,y-
ing the condors, for the V pcatian REQUIRES
hard work and many physical ks. / had
not been down in Chile a week before saw
a chance to make more money than lad
ever before dreamed of possessing by
IaSsoing and killing the mammoth birds.
L mere We're three of us Yankees IN kalna-
raise. and We decided 10 go INTO the COM
dor-killing business The next day mount
ed on horses that Meigs bought for us. and
armed with guns and lariats. We started
out to hunt condors among the foothills
ana canyons and crags of the Andes noun
tains. We went over 300 miles out .mong
the cattlemen and sheep herdcrs For a
lew Gays we had instructions from a few
Chlieans as to the most experienced meth
OBS OF capturing the enormous and savage
birds
I'm few weeks we Yankees had learned
every detail of hunting condors. and our
raiive ingenuity had added to the expert
cnce of the Chileans. For months 1 got
from ten to twenty condor heads every day
ana each one in our party did half as well
as that. My early training on the plains
OF Kansas and Nevada was my stock in
trade. Every month during the years 1871
and 1872 and 1873 l got warrants on the
Chilean treasury for from 500 to $50.
one month when / had forwarded 2l6 dried
CONDOR heads TO the controller of Chile and
mad sworn that there was no fraud by me
L got warrant for Sl.oS0. That was the
red letter month in my condor lassoing
days. L was remote from civilization aud
so could not spend my money il / desired.
never saved money like that before nor
since.
Some Big Birds.
The big birds used to be found in fiocks
of seventy or eighty i'm the grazing coun-
tries of the lower Andes in Central Chile.
Like other members Of the vulture family
they search everywhere Cor carcasses upon
which to feed. They have a wonderfully
keen eye, and / have proved to myself
that condor can see a dead animal ten
ana even fifteen miles away. 1 have tried
experiments where condors have been al
Iured over eight miles from a mountain
crag above the snow line by a bait OF a
bleeding goat in the valley below
But the condor differs with other MEM
bers of the vulture family IN that it dot sn't
wait for something or somebody to die in
order that he may have his dinner. hut IL
ne uoesh ma a ready-made carcass con-
fenient on the plain when he is hungry he
proceeds at once TO provide that carcass
himself The herds of cattl. that pastur.d
on the undulating plains between the i'm
Ndil Oh the Andes and the Pa
cifcs white-crested line of surf offered the
condor unrivaled facilities in his line in
those days, and as he seemed to be in a
state of chronic hunger this king Of the
feathered race levied constant frihn:s On
the grazing herds.
twenty-five years ago il was no unc om-
mon Thing TO see hundreds of these free
hooters lowering over the plains. each one
a raverous aid determined dinner robher
from the herds below. to which the shadow
or cordor's wing carried as much terror
as the appearance of a hawk does TO a
brood OF chickens. The condor was the
greatest enemy the stock raisers in that
part OF South America had to contend
with, and IL was his persistent and de-
structive raids on grazing cattle that made
MIN an outlaw with a price on his head
Batting Menu.
How did We capture these ferocious
birds? Our first job every morning before
We had even a peep of sunlight over the
mountains was to carry the carcass of a
dead animal, as a horse or a COW, out on
the plain, where it could easily be seen
from all points of the compass We some-
times f1ade carcass do service for a fort
night, but it required a strong stomach and
indifference to stencil. We moved about
every few days from one locality to an
other, and never put the rottening body
twice ir the same place. because of the ex-
IRENE suspiciousness of an average con-
dor. Generally We would move three or
four miles every twenty-four hours. Some-
times, when We were not doing SO well as
we thought We should do. we would move
ten miles away in another valley.
After We had placed our bait carcass we
set up our tents and the canvas flies that
us and our horses from view Of
the condors. Breakfast was no sooner
over than We could from our peep
holes in the canvas that hid us several
condors coming down through the clouds
from the mountain crests straight toward
our bait We waited patiently until 4
dozen or more of the birds had eaten heart
lily of the meal we lad provided for them,
and then We strang to our horses which
stood near, hridled and saddled. ready fer
the chase. In a second we were OF, lar
ats in hand, after the ccndors.
Too Heavy to Fly.
1T should be said here that when a con,
1cr has gorged itself with food IT cannot
-ise for flight unless after long distance
IF running to give itself a momentum 1t
IAN get over ground. however. as fast as
dog. Our method was to follow the birds
or half a mile or more, and then as they
Csc for flight to throw our lariats over
heir heads. An expert lassoe- could send