The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1912-08-24

/" He alligator is fast losing his
home. That great, mysterious
region, the Everglades of Flor
ida, once the paradise Of the
alligator hunter, which only
few years ago covered practi-
caIly the entire lower portion of the
peninsula, is fast becoming but his
torical recollection. What was only a
few years ago a great marsh of saw
grass, is today yielding fruits and
vegetables in infinite varieties.
This wonderful change has come
about through the great drainage
project now under way, which it is es-
timated will cost something like five
million dollars before completed, but
will reclaim some four million acres
Of former inundated lands.
The opening of the first canal a
short time ago, which completed a
waterway from the Gulf of Mexico to
the Atlantic ocean, marked the first
step in this big undertaking.
With the coming Of the tillers Of
the soil, the saurian that was former
~ almost the only inhabitant of this
great tract, has been forced further
and further into the 'glades Time
was when the hunting Of these crea-
lures was profitable, but today hunt
ers are scarce, for there are few ALI
gators to be found.
Recently the writer made a trip
across the peninsula by way of the
canal just completed, which connects
Fort Myers on the Gulf of Mexico
and Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic
ocean.
Some Of the party wanted to see
no" the alligators were caught on
in the distance, at the edge of the
canal, flew a bright red handkerchief
or rather what had once been a hand.
kerchief. It marked the camp of two
white men who make a business oil
hunting gators. Jim and Jack are the
only names to which these men an
swer. If Gey ever had any other
names they seem to have forgotten
them They have never been out OF
the 'glades in twenty years, except to
go to Fort Myers for supplies. and are
known all over southern Florida by
the titles here used
Surface a Dead Level.
Owing to the fact that the surface
Of the Everglades is a dead level.
without a natural landmark of any
kind, it is necessary for the hunters
to mark their camp. so that it may be
seen by them from a distance This
is done by flying a flag or a rag from
the top of a pole from ten to TWEEN
ty feet in height Even then, at a dis
lance of a mile or even less the flag
looks as if e were close to the ground.
Without these artificial landmarks it
would be an easy matter for gator
hunter to get lost-and he might
never be heard Of again.
Drawn up on the canal bank were
three boats, one of them, a light fiat
bottom ,scow, half filed with the skins
of alligators, packed in salt Around
the camp were scores Of carcasses of
the reptiles. over which the buzzards,
the scavengers of the south, fought.
So numerous and so daring were the
birds that it was difficult to move
around the place without kicking
against one of the fowl. all Of which
attempted TO dispute the right of the
intruder to pass.
The two other boats were small
skiffs, easily carried by a man OF ordi-
nary strength They were the boats
used in travelling over the low places
in the 'glades in search of gators,
which do not always expose them
selves on the banks of the canal In
fact, the older and larger reptiles,
which have grown wary as the hunt
ers have more closely pursued them,
make their homes far back from the
stream, where they walloW and bel
low in fancied security
Jim and Jack were not very com
municative. Tall, gaunt, Drowned and
urshaved. they presented a picture
not easily forgotten. With them
speech was almost as scarce as dia.
monds, and even when they did speak
it generally was only the word yes
or mo" that they uttered
For many months at a stretch they
live alone IN the 'glades, far removed
from human habitation, not seeing a
white man once a month They grow
quiet, apparently sullen, and have lit
tie to say. News Of the outside world
interests them not q bit-it was al
the same to them whether the passen-
gers Of the Titanic were lost or res
cued; as a matter Of fact they had
not even heard Of the ocean disaster
A high-power rife, long steel rod
sharpened at one end and stout gan
larger and much stronger than the
gar used by fishermen, constituted the
weapons OF the gator hunters The