The Monroe journal., 1922-12-01
ESQUIRE SECREST FINDS
CHAMPION FISHERMAN
He Is Florida Man Who Catches
and Ships Not Less Than a Car
Load Of Fish Every Day
HAS BEEN IN BUSINESS
FOURTEEN LONG YEARS

The champion fisherman of Ameri.
ca has been discovered by Esq. T. w
Secrest. Union county surveyor, who
is touring Florida, accompanied BY
several friends Of the Waxhaw com.
munity, in an automobile. He is a
man by the name of McCreary, who
claims to have been in the fish busi-
ness for fourteen years, in which
time he has never failed to catch
and ship less than a car load of fish
a day.
OF him and other things of irter-
est, the Esq. writes in the Waxhaw
Enterprise, as follows:
Permit me to say a few remarks
about Torpor Springs, especially its
beauty and industries. The shade
trees along the streets are Palmetto.
The bayou at the western end of the
town is laid broad with cement walks.
The driveway is elevated about Is
feet and about forty feet back be-
tween these are all kinds of beauti-
ful shrubbery and flowers with oc-
easionally a mineral spring of diff
erent kinds of water. Among the
shrubbery not far from the bayou
edge back of the driveway is the
beautiful yards and residence. The
bayou empties into Aclote river and
the river empties into the Gulf of
Mexico. The bayou is about 800 yards
across. In it is a spring that has
been fathomed $50 feet and no bot
tom found. This spring is called
Torpor Spring from which it took its
name from rare but very fine fish
that is occasionally caught in it.
Brooks creek empties into Butler
lake. The diameter of this lake is
5 by 8 miles. 1t never rises or gets
higher in time of freshet. 1t is | l-2
miles from Torpor Springs and the
water is supposed to pass under
ground from the lake to the deep
spring.
"One man, Mr.. McCreary, told me
today that he had already shipped
this week SO thousand pounds of fish.
Said he had been in the business IA
years and had never stopped his
business single week day and had
never shipped less than one car load
each day. Nothing strange to see a
fisherman with hook and line pull
out from 5 to 25 pounds of great big
fine looking fellows in one and two
hours time.
THE population of this town is 3,-
500. Of that number about 1900 are
Greeks. The chief business is the
sponge industry run by the Greeks.
One captain and his crew caught
about $4,000 worth last year. A To-
cal company purchased about $74,-
900 worth last year, and already this
year they have turned loose $124,103
for sponges. In fact, the sponge bu-
siness of Torpor has expanded until
today it brings the city one million
dollars per annum and is said to be
the biggest sponge exchange in the
world. 1t ships its sponges to every
civilized nation in the world. They
have a fleet of $50 sponge boats. The
sponge is not weed nor any form
of vegetation, but grows from seed
in the Gulf of Mexico and is said to
be the lowest form of animal life. The
divers go out for the sponge from
so, 80 to 1870 miles, dive as deep as
$50 feet and stay under the water
10 to 30 minutes at each dive accord
ing to depth. | saw a boat start out
today to hunt sponge, They told me
it ,ras prepared with food and gas
to stay out on the hunt five or six
months. These people are perfectly
harmless and many of them have be-
come American citizens and are sa
to be extremely smart mentally
speaking, They have a Greek Catho-
lie church here. Their children go
to the white school and speak both the
G.eak and English languages