The Brinkley argus., 1910-08-12


 frequently spend months tray ing through this region and not SCI | single alligator except those in car tivity. The killing of the creatures 10 sport or for their hides has been th' main cause of their great decrease Il numbers. In addition thousands o the young have been killed or shippe' away. while enormous numbers of tn eggs have been gathered and sold a curios.
 It was not until about 1855 that th' demand for alligator leather became of importance. The market was no long continued. In 1869 fashion agall called for the leather for manufactur ing into fancy slippers, travelling bags belts, card cases, music rolls, etc. Int demand has continued to the present and many thousands of the animal: have been killed, while preparation o the skins has given employment tt hundreds of people.
 The output of the tanneries of thi: country approximates 275,000 skins an nually, worth about $425,000, part O which come from Mexico and Centra America. It is estimated that abou 3,S00000 alligators were killed II Florida alone between 1880 and 1909 nearly 10000 being killed in 1908.
 The earliest settlers in the southern states found alligators, or, as they were then called, crocodiles, exceed ingly abundant in almost all streams especially in Florida and Louisiana Many marvellous tales are found in the early chronicles of the ravages O these monsters. They were said t6 eat dogs and pigs and to consider tho negro an especially succulent tidbit while it was considered dangerous te go into streams where they were known to exist. When such stream had to be crossed hours were spent sometimes in beating it to frighten of the alligators.
 The researches of scientists have shown that there is very slight foun dation for such stories, and it is prob able that the greater number of the pigs lost by the planters could have been traced to other enemies, particu larly the twc-footed kind.
 The greater part of the supply of al ligator leather now comes from Floridn and owing to excessive hunting, the industry is profitable only in the cen tral part of the peninsula, in what is called the Lake Okeechobee region and in the Everglades. Here the principa hunters are Seminole Indians, who have their homes on hunmocks fai back in the Everglades and come te the settlements only when in need 0 articles which they cannot produc, themselves.
 In April CT May the mother alligator there builds small mound with i; hole in the middle The foundation C this mound is of mud and grass. an' on these she lays some eggs. Sh' then covers the eggs with anothc stratum Of grass and mud, upon whic. she deposits some more eggs. Thu she proceeds until she has laid iron twenty-five to sixty eggs. The egg are matched out by the sun.
 As soon as they have clipped th shell, the baby alligator5 arc led to th water by the mother. who provide them with food, which she disGofGo Papa Alligator has to De careful watched at this time, for he highl and is not particular whether they ar his own or his neighbors childrei When by strategy or downright hgh ing the mother has got her famil safely into their natural clement. it not long before the young seatte each to begin life on his own hoois
 When fully grown. the alligator about sixteen feet in length. In tn adult stage it is greenish black abov, l having lost the yellowish color band that belong to it's earlier years. Hun
 CTS say that alligators grow yer 1 slowly. attaining the first year | length they arc said to bc from ten { l fifteen years old, while those twely 1 feet long are supposed to be sevent five CT more. Their normal life is c l timated at from one hundred to on hundred end fifty years.
 Alligator hunting originally bcga as sport Then some one tanned tI skin and found that it could be put l commercial use Carried on as
 must bc, at night. the hunt is pictu csGue.
 In many places the hunters faste bicycle lamps 10 tee.r caps. and wht the animal is attracted by the ligh pick it CT by hittirs it in the eye vii q rifle ball. Torches are often use Sometimes the hunter lures the allig tor to the surface of the water .telephonins 10 the gator" as 1t called.