The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-02-28
TONS Of HONEY In
SOUTHWEST CAVES
AN UNIQUE sToREHoUsE OF
SWEETS IN TEXAS.
Bees Work the Year Round and
Have Gathered Tons of Their Prod
uct Far Away from Civilization
and Much Difficulty Experienced
in Marketing It-There's Millions
in It, Though.
Del Rio. Tex, Letter Chicago Record.

Del Rio. Tex, Letter Chicago Record.
There is enough honey in the brakes
of DEVILS river to make any man rich
who will get it to market There are
tons Of IT. in clefts In the rocks, in
hollow trees. in caves and in the FAM
Gus Devils Punch Bowl which Is a
great sink in the Devil valley and out
of which bees swarm always in clouds
so thick that at a distance of two or
three miles 1t has the appearance OF a
great signal smoke. The hills and VAL
ley land along the river are covered
for a great part Of the year with an
endless variety of flowers and In the
winter season, which is never cold
enough to freeze the bees, there Is an
abundance Of decaying fruit--cactus
apples and berries Of many kinds-so
that they never have to stop working
on account of lack of material or bad
weather. and thus go on piling up
their wealth throughout the whole
year. The honey is of an excellent
quality. OF good flavor and color and
brings as good a price when brought
to market as that made by tame bees.
The business of gathering this honey,
while fairly profitable, Is not followed
to any great extent, for the reason
that there is little in the work of the
honey hunter which is anything like
sport. and everything connected with
IL is full of privation and danger. The
country is so rough that it is impos-
sible to get anywhere near the honey
caves except one goes on foot. packing
his camp equpage on his back or on a
1,,,rr far ir of Int1f ,Ny a ,1h
much of that to be found is unfit for
use. and besides al! this the actual
getting of the honey is no easy task.
Sometimes the caves are in such inac-
cessible places that the hunter has to
let himself down the face of cliff for
two or three hundred feet and hang
there at the end of a rope while the
bees sting him half to death, while he
digs out few pounds Of honey; or
again, he may find cave easy to rob
only to find that he must carry the
spoil several miles on his back before
he can get it to a place where he can
load it upon his burros But getting
the honey is not all Of the work, he
must strain it and put 1t into cans, so
that it can be packed out to the near
est trading point.
LOAD UP A BURRO.
These honey cans are something of
novelty; they are fiat like canteens
and will hold about two gallons apiece;
they are made in sets so that each set
covers the back of a burro very neat
ly, each can being fitted with hooks
and snaps which fasten to rings in the
pack saddle or on other cans. The
task Of filling these is not light or
easy one and after 1t Is finished and
everything is ready for the start back
to the nearest trail there is work then
Tor the hunter in packing his grub and
bedding on his back: for, II the hunt
has been at all successful, the burros
are loaded with the cans.
The trip back is hard, the water
holes and camping places are good
long way apart, so that there is no
time to daily on the way or even to
rest. Owing to the roughness of the
country in many places 1t Is difficult
TO make over ten or fifteen miles per
day and generally speaking the whole
trip, both going and coming, together
with the time spent in hunting, will
require about fifteen or twenty days,
the distance from Del Rio to the best
honey districts being about 125 miles.
If the hunter brings in 1000 pounds
as the earning Of his trip he will be
able to realize about $3.50 from the sale
of it. Where two or more make an
expedition together the profits are
smaller on account of the necessity of
division and generally the hunter goes
alone. Even at this, counting the cost
of the outfit and camp supplies neces-
sary, there is not enough in it to tempt
any one to follow it permanently,
though there are any number who are
eager to make the first trip.
Several years ago a hunting party
made up of Kansas City men went into
that country on a trip after big game.
for there is plenty of deer in there
even now, and at that time bears were
numerous. When they got up into the
honey country they began figuring on
tine fortunes to be made out of it and
having heard of the Devils Punch
Bowl, locally known as Devils Sink
Hole" they decided to go and see it
and If possible devise some scheme
whereby they might get the tons of
honey 1t contained.
DEVILS PUNCH BOWL.
When they reached it, like every one
cisc seeiHS ~ ior tHe Hrsl tIiiie' tHey
were amazed at the proportions of the
wonder; a hole forty feet in diamete.
yawning open in the middle of a wide
valley, with a perfect torrent of bees
rushing up from it like dirt blown
! from some mighty blast, and all the
while a roaring loud as that of a great
cataract; looking down into the abyss
for the hole widens immediately be-
low the surface. they saw the festoons
of honey hanging there which the bees
had strung along the sides of their
mammoth hive after they had filled the
hidden grot toes; and looked in through
the upward swarms and saw the
CLEANS of combs built no doubt many
years before.
The sight of all that honey was toe