Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-08-22
DEADLY DUCK TT rs.
Small Lakes and Ponds IN the
Desert Attract Thousands.
Fowls Fly Hundreds of Miles TO Then
aud stay Around Until hilled
by Gunnsrs Presence OF
Water Attracts Life.

Just rs irrigable and irrigated lands
will produce better and more certain
crops than lands which Depend upon
rainfall for moisture, so ponds or lakes
made in arid lands are tic best duck
onas In tie world. Never On my
northern body OF water are MID 10" 5
packed together as on artificial sheets
The reason is simple. They are the
only vaters within many square niles
OF iefis.~y nud. ducks and geese go
to them because there is nowhere else
to 20, SAYS the New York Sun.
within nine piles OF the city OF San
Antonio. Tex, is a lake or pond Of
Ibis charaeter called Mitcheli'a lake.
Il wasmade by aamminy up tie la~sr
anl OF a natural lanafalland this dam
resulted in pond a mile long by half
mile wide and shoulder deep in the
center.
= coon became rich In duck grass
ard edihle weed and some wild rice was
r'anlei in II. Then ducks visited il in
tess Of thousands.
1ley were confined in so narrow
space that killing them was no trouble
at MI. II 9ri~cn away by repeated gun
fire, they few some miles to the south
or west and. ending no other water, re
turned. Thus on shooting days at
N.tchell's lake there was a constant
egress and ingress OF wild fowls and
the gunners shot until their heads
cched.
TIE lake depended upon rain "a Il and
in dry seasons there was sometimes
not more than two inches of water In
fts center and much of its bottom was
dry In these seasons jacissnipe pre-
ferred it and settled upon it's fat in
fWarms.
Many times a hundred mallards
have been killed by a sirgle gun at
Mitehell's lake between daylight ar
jate breakfast and toe snine have heea
taken off 1t by the gross. The pond lies
20 miles above the Gulf coast and is
stopping place for birds which make
the saltwater their winter home.
Nine miles south of San Antonio. near
the old Spanish mission and not far
from San Antonio river, some men have
purchased 800 acres and will make a
pond similar to Mitchel's lake. 1t is
intended solely for private shooting
association.
These ponds are now heing built In
many places throughout the west and
southwest. The land in those regions
is cheap and much of it is not fl fer
enything save to be put under water.
Where the course of dry creek can
he found, a creek draining q good bit
e territory when there is anything 20
drain, the construction ef shooting
lake Of this kind is not COS .ly. The
dirt NAV be had as low as So an acre,
and building dam amounts 80 little.
However small a lake Of this kind
may be and however far in the desert
tie wild fowls find it as soon as it has
s.e~ 'rd duck feed They DO this
tNan"h 1t be 500 miles off the regular
air lines which they travel in going
south or coming north, the two routes
being distinct and widely separated.
Always, too. around these nonds
there 'r a greas Increase Of Wild life and
vegetation see-ls to srr;ng MP to shell
tor Il. On is, blue and brown seek the
~ eps. as do wild turkeys ard doves.
TNeksn'9es find ii as readily SIS Go the
Gac.s. geese and swans. Small birds
e. to it from no one knows where and
nest by il,
Occasionally far out on the brown
tah'e-lands duck appears which ie
rarely seen away from salt water.
such as the ale-wife, or sonth-south.
e~lY OF Chesapeake bay, though why
end how they get there Is one OF the
17any unexplained mysteries about
fowl fights.
As the birds visit the new lake nreda-
tory fauna follow them and hide in the
mesquite and catclaw which is sparse
at frst-foxes, bobtailed cats. ocelots.
sEunks. and so on. Soon acres which
y months before were but a part OF n
tuStv waste. nnten&nted ea~e by The
t0&ntaia and centipede. show every
form Of wild life of which the west is
capable.