The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-11
GRAVEYARD OF The LAKES.
AN ISLAND WHERE 1900 SAILORS
HAVE Persisted.
The Pile OF Sand I'm Lake Erie That Causes
Serious Wreck Almost Every Year
Its Long List Of Trsgedies-A MaEnifi-
cent Hunting and Fishing Preserve Also

cent Hunting and Fishing Preserve Also
Graveyard of the Great Lakes" is the
name that has been applied to bleak Long
Point Island which has its beginning few
miles east of Port Burwen, Ontario, and
thrlsts itself mwelcomed twenty miles
| out into the middle of Lake Erie. fetching
up some sixty-four miles west OF Buffalo.
Graveyard indeed it il, as the spars and
deck timbers and ironwork that cover the
whole south beach testify, but 1t is also the
finest fishing and hunting preserve OF the
Great Lakes. On the sand hills there are
thousands Of deer; In the marshes In the
fall and spring, wild ducks and geese con-
gregate In millions. and OF the north shore
there are as game bass and pike as fisher
man ever threw line for
OF this sport. however, only few know,
and fewer still oan take advantage Of It;
while there's not sailor from North Tona-
wanda to South Chicago who does not fear
and avoid the treacherous bars and per-
sistent southwest winds that make the south
shore Of the island deserve the title they
have given 1t.
The island is triangular twenty miles
long and about six miles broad at It's widest
part. OF the eighteen thousand acres con-
tanned in it sixteen thousand are purely
marsh, under not more than six feet Of water
all the year, and overgrown with quill
reeds, through which hundreds Of narrow
waterways run. A few hundred yards
back from the south beach are the sand
hills, continuous from point to mainland,
sending of at half dozen points short
ridges, that reach out into the marsh like
the teeth Of gigantic comb.
The sandhills are surmounted by thick
growth Of red cedar. and through these
scurry innumerable red foxes. Through
these also, the deer have their runways.
having worn of the lower limbs to height
Of four feet and beaten the ground under
foot to a frmness not exceeded by that
Of paved streets.
South Of the sand Mills there is the beach.
on which one can walk half day without
being required to step from wreckage.
For half a mile from shore yellow bars
extend, in parallel lines, changing with
every breeze, and ever waiting for unwary
vessels that may be blown In their
direction.
1t was United Empire Loyalists who
first made use of the island. A certain
Capt. Ryerson obtained it from tho English
Government to complete his grant Of land
on the mainland. For many years 1t formed
an admirable breakwater for the excellent
harbor Of Port Ryerse, on the north shore
of the bay.
The channel between the island for the
fifty years following the War of the Revo-
luton was very wide and very deep. and
the boats Of the lake entered 1t fearlessly.
There was good trade In iron ore and fish,
and Capt. Ryerson throve exceedingly.
By the time Of the Civil War, however,
the upper channel had been drifted full,
and the harbor itself was so shallow that
only vessels Of very light draught could
enter. Port Ryerse, OF which 1t had been
predicted that it would become the greatest
port on the lake, had shruI k to village Of
few hundred INDECENT fishermen.
The iron mines on Capt. Ryersons grant
having been exhausted, the old man sac
rificed the timber on Long Point. He had
two reasons: first, to realize as much
money as possible; second, TO remove, II
possible, the island from the lake.
Already it had earned its title Of grave
yard Of the Great Lakes. More than one
vessel had been wrecked off the southshore
Amateur scientists advised tho captain that
the removal of the pines would leave the
sand hills at the mercy Of the strong winds,
which would soon blow them over into the
bay He was so convinced Of the soundness
of the theory that he ordered the island
denuded of every tree.
Hardly living thing was left upon the
sand hills All one winter the lumbermen
worked, and when spring came the hills
were bare.
Occasionally strong wind sent few
basketfuls of sand into the marsh, and when
the cal tain saw this his heart rejoiced BY
the following spring, however. millions OF
red cedars had obtained foothold. Two
or three damp summers sufficed to clothe
the hills again In green, and before the old
man was taken to his grave he was forced TO
admit that Long Point was not to be re-
moved by the hand Of man.
In the early '705 an English nobleman
organized stock company and bought
the island from the CAPTAINS heirs. Fifty
deer from the Canadian Northwest were
turned loose upon the hills, and many
guards were set at work killing the foxes
and rattlesnakes and looking after the new
denizens of the cedars.
The deer multiplied rapidly. BY 1885, when
the company had had the island fenced
of, had built lodges for the keepers and
had erected clubhouscs for the members,
it is estimated that there were 5000 deer
on the island.
Since that time the company has had no
end OF trouble in protecting Its property.
Its deer have been hunted persistently by
poachers. It's own keepers even have
fought for the privilege OF killing the deer
they wanted, and eventually won it, after
detective sent to watch them had been
shot.
Fishermen with hook and line are not
molested, so plentiful are the game fish,
but the company protects the ducks and
geese with all its ingenuity. For twenty
years it had little trouble with them, but
recently it has been almost impossible to
prevent poaching.
At the time of the purchase Of the island q
Government surveyor measured the land
and the company built q fiimsy fence around
its property. On the north shore, in twenty
years, the marsh grew amazingly, so that
in the first nineties there were several acres
Of new land, outside the company's fence.
On this new land one day poacher
,o,o++aJ and b,tilt "a h,lt Keepera q iaot ad