Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-04-22
TO HUNT GREEN TURTLES.
Two Milwaukee Men Plan Unique
Trip to Central America.
CAN SOUP ON SHlPBOARD.
Will Bring Together the Demand for the
Detachable Dish and the Supply
of the Raw Material.

Milwaukee is to be made famous for
other things than beautiful women and
honest public officials. 1t will give to
the world the unique institution of a
! floating cannery for the manufacture of
green turtle soup.
First on the Menu Card.
| OF all the tempting dishes that ever
| brought the water to the mouths of
epicures there is nothing more delectable
than green turtle soup. Unfortunately,
! however, the supply of green turtles is
! limited at those places where the water
| ing mouths abound and in those commu-
mites where there are plenty of green
turtles there is a woeful lack of appre-
/ ciatiye palates. Two Milwaukee men
have conceived the brilliant idea of bring
! ing into close proximity through the
! agency of Il floating cannery the abund-
ant supply of green turtles of Central
America, and the anxious people who de-
| light in the haYors of that delicious con-
coctiOn.
| This is to be accomplished by means of
| a floating cannery, which will sail to
Costa Rica under its own canvas, can Il
cargo of turtle soup and bring it back to
| the states.
| The hackers of the company who CON
celved the idea are Joseph Oberhofer,
assistant chef at the Plankinton house in
| Milwaukee, whose duty is solely to pre-
pare the soups at that big hotel John
Il. Restle, second cook at the Planknton
house, and William Siegmeier, engineer
at the Martin flats.
The floating cannery will preserve va
rious kinds of turtle and terrapin, the
promoters figuring on spending four
| months to get Il cargo, i'll the West In
| dies and on the Central American coast.
| The green turtles will be captured when
they come ashore on the reefs to lay
their eggs, and some of the varieties of
terrapin will be hunted in the creeks and
streams of the Central and South Amer
! lean coast.
Capitalized at $4,000.
| Mr.. Oberhofer, a tremendous fellow in
his loose white kitchen apparel, said at
| the Plankinton house kitchen the other
day. I'VE have incorporated for $780,
600 Attorney Zebulon Pheatt. in the
| Empire building, made out the papers
and is our lawyer. We three expect a
one-third interest for our experience and
intend to sell stock for the other two
thirds. We have obtained subscriptions
of between $4,000 and $4,000 already
and hope to get our vessel off the middle
Gs June.
II have done this before. In 1895
| went with a schooner from New York
TO Central America. The trip cost S1S.-
900 and we realized $4,000. | canned
| $4,000 cans. The best two-pound cans
sold for 50 and from that down to ST.
We hired natives to turn the turtles over
on the beach and get them to the ship
Fifty cents was paid for turning and
nifty for, landing them. Each weighs
two or three hundred pounds The fur
| ties 90 mp on the low islands at night
to lay tner eggs. They are turned and
in the morning six or eight of them are
tied together and gotten into the water
They make their own way to the ship for
| they naturally try to get into deep wa
ter Their location is kept by little
flag tied to them.
To Get Vessel in New York.
I'VE are going to New York to get our
vessel. 1t will be some little Nova Scotia
fishing schooner and will not cost over
$4,000. Then we will have to have a
cooking outfit, captain, a mate, three sail
ors and timer to solder the cans. Mr..
Seymayr and l will go and Mr.. Restle
will stay here to look after this end of
the business. Mr.. Seymayr will attend
10 the boiler and steamer for the canning
and l will make the soup. We will can
80 to 40 heads day or 10000 cans a
day. We will can 100000 cans alto
gether.
''In 1895 we had a little schooner 100
| feet long that would carry 104 tons. The
season lasts from the middle of July to
the middle of September, when we will
come home. / can't tell what | will do
in the winter. | don't expect to have to
do anything if this thing comes ont as l
| expect it will. If you want to read
about our expedition in 1895 get a copy
| of The Century for Anrjl or Nav 1900
and You will see it written up with pic
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