GOATS: ISLA GUADALUPE

Goats were introduced to Guadalupe Island by the mid-19th century.

In 1873 William M. Landrum was one of the incorporators and president of the Guadalupe Island Company, whose mission was to import and raise Angora goats on that Lower California island, and then to Guadalupe Island to improve the existing goats on the island. By 1874 it is said there were more than 20,000 goats on the island. By 1878 the number had risen to 60,000 goats.

Several concessions and ventures continued the goat enterprise into the 20th century.

After a concerted eradication program, the goats were removed from the island by about 2005. Vegetation has been recovering ever since.

* JONES, Frederic W. A Modern Monte Christo and His Island. A Romantic Glimpse Into Goatology

In the News~

May 13, 1857 [SDU]: “Guano. —Twelve tons of guano from Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower California, arrived in San Francisco on Friday last. The Town Talk says: "This island has been the cynosure of a number of speculators in this city, who have been active in endeavoring to obtain a lease thereof from the Mexican Government. It is situated near a group on which a large number of seals have from time to immemorial congregated. The article is of superior quality, but the deposit is not very large. There are several such islands on the Pacific and Gulf Coast of Lower California, one of which is said to be quite extensive, and valued at a large sum. The Tiburon Island opposite the valley of the Hermosillo and the Cerros Islands are bountifully supplied with guano, but rain, it is said, has ruined it as a fertilizer. Some twenty or thirty men, we learn, have been left on Guadalupe Island by the getters of this expedition, ostensibly to dig guano, kill goats and seals, etc., but we suspect their object in remaining is mainly to contest the rights of rival claimants.”

May 18, 1868 [SDU]: “The little schooner Summer Cloud is now in this harbor on her way to Guadalupe Island. I learn that a carpenter is going down on her to put up something else. Guadalupe is the same island on which the unfortunate Feliciano Esparga spent about two years with his family after being driven out of Lower California by the celebrated Matias Moreno. The island is supposed to contain forty or fifty thousand goats, and rumor says there is a coal mine there, etc. It is a very desolate island, almost inaccessible even in cal weather, but has plenty of water holes and feed. The distance from the nearest land is about eighty miles, and its length is about forty.”

October 17, 1868 [Marysville Daily Appeal]: “Dried goat's flesh is an article of shipment now from Guadalupe Island to San Francisco.”

May 21, 1870 [Weekly Alta California]: “A journal of Lower California publishes a statement that a party of Americans lately landed on the Island of Guadalupe, near the coast of Lower California, belonging to the Mexican government and killed there 25,000 wild goats. They chased the goats with dogs to the narrow end of the island, drove them into corrals made with wire, and slaughtered them. The hides are estimated to be worth 50 cents apiece and the tallow of each goat 25 cents. The journal to which we refer there, asks whether Mexico should not recover the value of her property thus taken. We suspect that there must be an exaggeration about the number killed, for the goat-hunting party were from this city, and if they had obtained any great success, the fact would probably have been reported here some months ago. But if the figure is correct, there is nothing for the Mexican Cabinet to do, but to tame and herd the goats, if they are to be claimed as Government property hereafter. Under the general laws, anybody has the right to kill and carry away wild animals, whether descended from tame animals or not.”

August 19, 1870 [DAC]: “The sloop Dolphin left San Diego last week to visit Guadalupe Island, to which she makes regular trips every fortnight. The goat killers are hard at it on the island. The Dolphin brought up 1,400 goat skins and 1,400 pounds of tallow on her last trip.”

May 13, 1871 [San Diego Union]: “Expedition to Guadalupe Island. It is claimed that the parties now engaged in killing goats on Guadalupe Island are trespassers, and A. G. Gasson has contracted with Capt. Ames to dispossess them—peaceably, if he can; forcibly if not, if he must. He takes with him twenty men, well armed, to drive the interlopers off. The sloop, Hattie Portersails tomorrow with the party. Mr. Gasson expects to be absent about two weeks, and will bring back a cargo of last year's goat skins.”

May 16, 1871 [Marysville Daily Appeal]: “The sloop, Hattie Porter, Captain Garson, and twenty armed men, sailed for Guadalupe Island yesterday to drive off parties now engaged in butchering goats on the island.”

May 17, 1871 [San Francisco Chronicle]: “An expedition has sailed from San Diego for Guadalupe Island to drive off parties engaged in butchering goats thereon.”

May 20, 1871 [Weekly Alta California]: “The sloop Hattie Porter, Captain Gasson, and twenty armed men, sailed for Guadalupe Island yesterday, to drive off parties engaged in butchering goats on the islands —intending to disperse them peaceably or forcibly. ”

May 26, 1871 [San Diego Union]: “From Guadaluoe—The sloop Hattie Porter, is due today from Guadalupe Island, with a cargo of hides, tallow, etc. ”

June 7, 1871 [DAC]: “San Diego, June 6th.—The sloop, Hattie Porter, from Guadalupe Island, reports heavy weather and dead calms. The men were seven days on short allowance of one pint of water and a potato each per day.”

June 7, 1871 [San Francisco Bulletin]: “San Diego, June 6th.—Arrived, the sloop, Hattie Porter, from Guadalupe Island. She reports heavy heavy weather and dead calms. The men were seven days on short allowance of one pint of water and a potato each per day. The vessel sailed for Guadalupe Island on the 13th of last month, with an armed party under the command of Captain Gasson to dispossess certain persons who have been slaughtering goats there. On landing, Gasson, however, found the party prepared to resist, and a compromise was agreed to.”

January 25, 1872 [SDU]: “Goat Hinting.—The killing of goats for their hides and tallow is made a profitable business at Guadalupe Island, where the animals exist in vast numbers in a wild state. Formerly they were hunted and shot. At present, according to the San Diego Daily Union, they are driven into a large enclosure where the work of slaughter is pursued with greater ease and expedition. This year 10,000 will be killed.”

June 29, 1872 [San Diego Union]: “The little sloop Flirt arrived from Guadalupe Island yesterday morning after a four day run. The season thus far has been very wet on the island, and the killing of goats will be delayed in consequence fully one month. An unusually large number will be killed this year, as preparations have been made which will expedite matters so that they can be slaughtered very rapidly. A large enclosure has been made, with nearly miles of post and rail fence. Inside of this immense corral all of the springs of the Island are situated, and as soon as it begins to get dry the goats naturally find their way to water. Captain Clancey thinks that he will kill fully ten thousand this year. The hide and tallow from the number of goats will pay a good interest.”

July 20, 1872 [San Diego Union]: “Guadalupe Island—The little sloop Flirt arrived last evening from Guadalupe Island with a cargo of 1,000 goat skins consigned to W. W. Stewart & Co. Captain McDonald, of the Flirt, says that grass is now abundant on the Island and that the season has opened most favorably. Capt. Clancey and his men have made an extra good "kill" of goats, and expect to do better this year than ever before. Capt. Clancey expects to come up on the next trip of the Flirt, which runs down again this morning. The skins will be shipped to San Francisco by the next steamer.”

August 8, 1872 [Sacramento Daily Union]: “Goats on Guadalupe Island—The Weather. San Diego, August 7th. Captain Clancey from Guadalupe Island reports the season, owing to heavy rain, very unfavorable for the slaughter of goats. Up to date only 2,000 had been taken.”

August 8, 1872 [San Diego Union]: “The Goat Skin Business—We learn from Mr. W. W. Stewart that he received an order some time since to dispatch a small vessel to Guadalupe Island to bring off the goat skins that have been taken from the animals killed this season. He is unable to comply, owing to the fact that the Custom House officer of this port has stringent orders not to allow any vessel of less than 30 tons burthen to clear for a foreign port. This order of course prevents all the small craft owned in our harbor from engaging in the business.”

August 13, 1872 [San Francisco Bulletin]: “The Coast Trade—W. W. Stewart, of San Diego, recentlyreceived an order to send a small vessel to Guadalupe Island to bring off the goat skins that have been taken from the animals killed this season. He is unable to comply, owing to the fact that the Custom House officer at San Diego has stringent orders not to allow any vessel of less than 30 tons burthen to clear for a foreign port. The San Diego Union, commenting upon the enforcement of this regulation, hopes the Secretary of the Treasury may be induced to suspent it, and says: "If this requirement is persisted in, it puts an end to the business of whaling and fish oil taken on the lower coast, as well as the importation of hides, goat skins, tallow, salt, copper and silver ores, etc. This is quite an important trade for our port and its stoppage will be seriously felt. Unless small vessels are allowed to engage in the carrying business it must, however cease.”

August 21, 1872 [San Diego Union]: “Goat Skins—A lot of 3,000 goat skins were received from Guadalupe Island yesterday by the sloop Flirt.”

October 21, 1872 [SDU]: “Arrived, the sloop Flirt, from Guadalupe Island. Captain Clancey reports heavy rains on the island this summer, so that very few goats came in. Only 3,000 skins were taken during the season.”

January 27, 1873 [SDU]: “Incorporation.—Articles of Incorporation of the Guadalupe Island Company, whose principal business is that of agriculture and stock raising, were filed in the office of the Secretary of State Saturday. Capital, $500,000, in shares of $50 each. Directors—Geo. W. Dent, Henry Delafield, Cassius C. Palmer, Wm. M. Landrum and James M. Rodgers. The principal place of business will be in San Francisco.”

February 27, 1873 [San Diego Union]: “Guadalupe Island. The Washington Chronicle states that a private letter has recently been received by Col. H, G. Otis, of that city, informing him that Mr. Wm. M. Landrum, of the firm Landrum and Rodgers, of Santa Cruz County—importers and breeders of Angora goats—has just concluded, on behalf of himself and other capitalists, negotiations for the island of Guadalupe, in the Pacific off the coast of Lower California and about two hundred miles south of San Diego, and ninety from the mainland. The island is twenty-six miles long, averages ten miles in width, has good timber and water upon it, and 20,000 goats of the short-haired species, well suited for breeding to Angora rams. The purchasers have formed a joint stock company, which is incorporated, with Landrum as President, who will in a few days send to the island, from his ranch in Santa Cruz county, one hundred pure breed Angora rams. George W. Dent is one of the trustees of the company, and takes one-tenth of the stock—1,000 shares. The old man says: "This is the finest goat ranch in the world, I reckon." There have been 32,000 goats slaughtered on this island within the last three or four years, and the hides and tallow and dried flesh have formed quite an item in the shipping business of this port.”

March 12, 1873 [San Diego Union]: “Guadalupe Island. An Angora Goat Farm. Among the passengers of the Orizaba which arrived here yesterday was Capt. John G. Clancey, a gentleman who is well and favorably known in this city. Capt. Clancey is associated with Guadalupe Island the Company, a company recently incorporated to carry on the business of agriculture, stock raising and the improvement of the breed of domestic animals (more particularly Angora goats) on the island which name it bears. The company has a capital stock of $500,000, in shares of $40 each. Guadalupe Island is situated off the coast of Lower California, at a distance of about two hundred miles south of this city. It has an area of about 166,400 acres, being twenty-six miles long and ten miles broad. Nearly 4,000 acres of the island is a dense forest of white cedar, valuable for fence rails, telegraph poles and railroad ties. It has also a pine forest of some seven hundred acres, much of the timber in which will make ship spars. The remainder of the island is excellent pasture land. The island is of a mountainous character, the highest point—Mount Augusta—being 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is well watered by innumerable springs of fresh water. At present Guadalupe Island is the pasture ground of a vast flock of goats. Of the common breed, numbering, according to the best estimates, about 20,000 head. The progenitors of these flocks of goats are supposed to have been placed on the island by the Jesuit Fathers sixty or seventy years ago. Of late years some thirty-two thousand head have been killed for their hides and tallow. Capt. Clancey has himself killed one-quarter that number. It is for the improvement of the goats—to make them fleece-bearing—that the Guadalupe Island Company has been organized. This is proposed to be done by a judicious crossing with the fine-fleeced Angora goat. The animals on the island are just that variety of the common goat which is susceptible of improvement. The hair is short but straight. Such a fleece improves in length and fineness with every cross. Common goats having crisp curly hair improve very little in crossing with Angoras. To inaugurate the era of improvement in the Guadalupe Island goats, Capt. Clancey has brought with him the first installment of Angora bucks, fifty in number. The flock is in excellent condition and will be shipped off to the island as soon as possible. Four of these bucks are imported animals, valued at $250 each. The remainder have been bred from the Angora bucks of Messrs. Landrum and Rodgers of Watsonville. Santa Cruz county, who have profitably devoted their time and capital to the improvement of goats, and are valued at $100 per head. Several of the bucks are hornless, being of the progeny of the celebrated hornless buck Costamboul, imported to this state by Messrs. Landrum, Butterfield & Son in 1858. The Guadalupe Island Company have purchased a flock of high grade fleece-bearing ewes, numbering nine hundred, which, with their offspring—aggregating over ten thousand head—will be transported to the island in the fall of the year. A further shipment of fifty bucks will also be made, making in all 1,000 full grown thoroughbred goats and about 1,500 kids. The bucks of the common goats will all be slaughtered, and the same policy will be followed with half-breed bucks. It is thus expected that in the course of four or five years the flocks on Guadalupe Island will be so far improved that they will be all high grade fleece-bearing animals. Guadalupe Island was granted in 1839 to Don Jose Castro and Don FLorencia Serrano, and has been purchased by the Guadalupe Island Company. At present, that Company has but two men on the island. They are engaged in fencing land and in constructing corrals. Mr. William M. Landrum, the President of the Company, is thoroughly conversant with the breeding of Angora goats and their improvement of the common stock. He has on his rancho some of the finest stock of the former breed in the State. With such a man at the head of the enterprise, it can scarcely do otherwise than succeed. Capt. Clancey will not remain on the island, but will return at once to San Francisco for the second installment of bucks.”

March 12, 1873 [SF Chronicle]: “The Island of Guadalupe on the coast of Lower California is to be devoted to the raising of Angora goats.”

March 19, 1873 [San Diego Daily World]: “Sailed. Schooner Louisa Harker, Smith, master, for the Guadalupe Island with fifty Angora Goats.”

March 20, 1873 [San Diego Union]: “The Angora Goat. The experiment about to be attempted by the Guadalupe Island Company to improve the common goat stock at present on the island by the introduction of pure blooded Angora bucks, has an important bearing upon the wool interests of the Pacific Coast. The men at the head of the enterprise—Messrs. Landrum of Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, and others, have demonstrated beyond question the feasibility of improving the grade of the common goat by judicious crossing with the Angora species, so as to make it like the latter fleece-bearing. The Angora goat which is a native of Asia Minor, takes kindly to the herbage and climate of Southern California. It is only twelve years since the first Angora buck was imported to this State by Mr. William M. Landrum, and yet there are now at least 70,000 graded fleece-bearing goats, besides several hundred pure-blooded. Flocks of Angora goats are to be found in all parts of the State, and stock raisers are paying considerable attention to their program. The efforts made to acclimatize the Angora goat in the Northern States have not been very successful, and the number there at present is very limited. In this State they multiply at the rate of over 100 percent per annum, while the mortality after the first year of all goats under ten years of age does not exceed one percent per annum...”

April 3, 1873 [San Diego Union]: “From Guadalupe Island—Yesterday the schooner Louisa Harker, Capt. Smith, returned from Guadalupe Island, where she has been with a consignment of fifty Angora goats. Capt. John G. Clancey has returned with the vessel. He reports that an abundance of rain has fallen on the island, and the grass there is now two feet high. The two herders on the island are in the enjoyment of good health, and are in excellent spirits. An immense amount of fencing has been done by them during the winter. Capt. Clancey goes north on the next steamer to bring down another herd of Angoras.”

April 5, 1873 [Pacific Rural Press]: “San Diego Union, March 20: The Angora Goat.— The experiment about to be attempted by the Guadalupe Island Company to improve the common goat stock at present on the island by the introduction of pure blooded Angora bucks, has an important bearing upon the wool interests of the Pacific Coast. The men at the head of the enterprise — Messrs. Landrum of Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, and others, have demonstrated beyond question the feasibility of improving the grade of the common goat by judicious crossing with the Angora species, so as to make it like the latter fleece-bearing. The Angora goat, which is a native of Asia Minor, takes kindly to the herbage and climate of Southern California. The effort made to acclimatize the Angora goat in the Northern States have not been very successful, and the number there at present is limited. In this State they multiply at the rate of over 100 percent per annum, while the mortality after the first year of all goats under ten years of age does not exceed one percent per annum. Guadalupe Island, upon which the experiment of improving the common stock is about to be inaugurated on an extensive scale, is possessed of a climate similar in every respect to that of Asia Minor — the home of the Angora. The island has now 20,000 common goats grazing upon it. Selecting only 5,000 ewes wherewith to enter upon the experiment, it is calculated that at the end of ten years the number of graded ewes will have increased to 75,000, valued at $10 each, or an aggregate of $750,000. The amount to be derived from the sale of wethers and old ewes during that decade is estimated at $643,040. The quantity of wool or mohair to be sheared during that time will sum up to nearly 1,000,000 pounds, valued at about $900,000, being nearly an aggregate revenue, including the value of stock, of $2,300,000. The experiment will be watched with interest.”

April 10, 1873 [Daily Union and American]: “Nothing is truly Californian unless ti is very big. The latest "big thing" is the enterprise of converting Guadalupe Island, lying off the coast of Lower California, into one Angora goat ranch. The island has an area of 166,400 acres, and is the property of an incorporated company. It is mountainous, well-watered, and at present tenanted by an immense flock of wild goats, embracing, it is estimated, 200,000 head, the descendants of some goats placed on the island by the Jesuit Fathers 60 or 70 years ago. Of late years some 32,000 head have been killed for their skins and tallow. It is for the improvement of these goats—to make them fleece-bearing—the the Guadalupe Island Company has been organized. This is proposed to be done by judicious crossing with the fine fleeced Angora goat. The first installment of Angora bucks, 50 in number, has arrived at San Diego, and is perhaps already on the island. Four of these bucks are imported animals, valued at $250 each. The remainder are valued at $100 per head.”

April 19, 1873 [The Arizona Sentinel (Yuma)]: “The latest "big thing" is the enterprise of converting Guadalupe Island, lying off the coast of Lower California, into one Angora goat ranch. The island has an area of 165,400 acres and is the property of an incorporated company. It is mountainous, well-watered and at present tenanted by an immense flock of wild goats, embracing, it is estimated, 200,000 head, the descendants of some goats placed on the island by the Jesuit Fathers sixty or seventy years ago. Of late years some 32,000 have been killed for their skins and tallow. It is for the improvement of these goats —to make them fleece-bearing—that the Guadalupe Island Company has been organized. This is proposed to be done by a judicious crossing of fine Angora goat. The first installment of Angora bucks, fifty in number, has arrived at San Diego, and is perhaps already on the island. Four of these bucks are imported animals, valued at $250 each. The remainder are valued at $100 per head. the San Diego World gives the following particulars: The Guadalupe Island Company have purchased a flock of high grade fleece-bearing ewes, numbering 900, which, with their offspring—aggregating over 2,000 head—will be transported to the island in the fall of the year. A further shipment of fifty bucks will also be made. The bucks of the common goats will be slaughtered, and the same policy will be followed with the half breed bucks. It is thus expected that in the course of four or five years the flocks on Guadalupe Island will be so far improved that they will be all high grade fleece-bearing animals. Sac. Record.”

May 24, 1873 [Democratic Advocate]: “A company of California capitalists have purchased the Island of Guadalupe from the Mexican government, and intend to convert it into a vast ranch for the breeding and rearing of Angora goats. The island, which is situated off the coast of Lower California, is said to bear a remarkable resemblance in climate and general conditions to the native soil of the Angora.”

November 21, 1873 [Jamestown Journal]: “Harrison Gray Otis writes Forest and Stream. The Guadalupe Island Company was incorporated under the laws of California, Jan. 25th, 1873, and at once commenced active operations by putting on improvements and shipping to the island a band of fine Angora bucks to be used with the native ewes already there in breeding up future generations to a fleece-bearing standard. The number of common goats on the island at the time of its purchase was approximately twenty thousand. (There were some thirty-two thousand slaughtered on the island for their skins and tallow alone during the five years preceding its purchase by its present American owners.) One-half of this twenty thousand being males, are to be slaughtered in order to stop the propagation of this non-fleece-breeding race, while the remaining ten thousand, being females, are not to be killed off, but utilized as breeders by crossing them with pure and high grade Angora bucks. The offspring of the third cross (seven-eights Angora) is a fleece-bearing animal. To these five thousand native ewes (bring only one-half of the entire number now on Guadalupe Island) have already been added more than one thousand pure and high-grade Angora ewes. A large number of Angora bucks have also been sent on since the first shipment last spring. It will thus be seen that this enterprise is organized upon no narrow or unsafe basis. Commencing on such a broad foundation, having a vast range, comprising more than 166,000 acres of rich grazing land, affording ample natural food for at least seventy-five thousand goats, and producing the most prolific, hardy, cheaply-raised and profitable of all fleece-bearing animals. The projectors are not willing to admit that their enterprise is specious in its character, chimerical, visionary, impracticable, or their estimates exaggerated. Finally, the enterprise is no experiment. You say truly "that the Angora goat can be profitably raised in California admits of no doubt." There is no room for doubt on this point, when the manager of El Rancho Guadalupe himself, (Mr. Landrum) has successfully raised them in the State for twelve years past. He being the pioneer Angora breeder on the Pacific Coast, may be presumed to know whereof he affirms in regard to the wonderful prolificness, healthfulness and profitableness of this animal in that latitude and favoring climate. And of his integrity, good judgment and fair mindedness there can be no doubt. I think I have now given you enough facts to show the true state of the case with regard to this goat's paradise in the Pacific.”

February 14, 1874 [Red Bluff Independent]: “...The most extensive enterprise in the way of Angora goat-raising in this country is probably that of the Guadalupe Island Company of California, which owns an entire island in the Pacific southwest of San Diego, comprising some 160,000 acres of grazing land, upon which the 20,000 or more goats subsist and thrive the year round without prepared food or artificial shelter. The leader of this colossal enterprise is William M. Landrum, "the pioneer goat man of the Pacific." they are not a grass-eating animal, and when kept on such in small enclosures soon become unhealthy. They are a browsing animal, and cannot stand being high fed with grain and grass.”

March 13, 1874 [LAH]: “Mr. James M. Rodgers, of the Guadalupe Island Company, sailed for the island yesterday afternoon in the schooner Louisa Harker. He visits the island to make an inspection of affairs there, upon which he will report to the company. As our readers are aware, the object of the corporation is the propagation of the Angora goat. Thousands of wild goats are found upon the island, and it is proposed to cross them with the Angora, bringing the stock in time to nearly full blood. Guadalupe Island is, however, valuable aside from the main purpose of its owners. The timber shipments thence will one day be important. The island is about 200 miles below San Diego, off the coast of Lower California, in 29 deg. north latitude; it is about two days sail from this port. It is thirty-two miles long, and its greatest width is twelve miles. The north end of the island is mountainous, the highest peak rising 3,000 feet above the sea. Considerable forests of sugar pine, cedar, palm and sycamore timber are found in this section. There are many copious springs, and good grass for grazing. Some fine valleys are found on the island, which could be cultivated. The island has two good bays, the largest on the south, being known as Baker's Bay; it is formed by a deep indentation in the shore, protected in front by a long rocky ledge; the entrance is from the east, and the largest ships can safely anchor within. On the west Jack's Bay affords 25 fathoms of water 600 yards from the shore. —[San Diego Union.]”

March 13, 1874 [LAH]: “Mr. James M. Rodgers, of the Guadalupe Island Company, sailed for the island yesterday afternoon in the schooner Louisa Harker. He visits the island to make an inspection of affairs there, upon which he will report to the company. As our readers are aware, the object of the corporation is the propagation of the Angora goat. Thousands of wild goats are found upon the island, and it is proposed to cross them with the Angora, bringing the stock in time to nearly full blood. Guadalupe Island is, however, valuable aside from the main purpose of its owners. The timber shipments thence will one day be important. The island is about 200 miles below San Diego, off the coast of Lower California, in 29 deg. north latitude; it is about two days sail from this port. It is thirty-two miles long, and its greatest width is twelve miles. The north end of the island is mountainous, the highest peak rising 3,000 feet above the sea. Considerable forests of sugar pine, cedar, palm and sycamore timber are found in this section. There are many copious springs, and good grass for grazing. Some fine valleys are found on the island, which could be cultivated. The island has two good bays, the largest on the south, being known as Baker's Bay; it is formed by a deep indentation in the shore, protected in front by a long rocky ledge; the entrance is from the east, and the largest ships can safely anchor within. On the west Jack's Bay affords 25 fathoms of water 600 yards from the shore. —[San Diego Union.]”

June 1, 1874 [Daily National Republican]: “Guadalupe Island...The Goats and Their Range. In the central portion of the island is the principal range of the goats, through Spring Valley, further north, has a grazing area of five miles. A deep valley, covered luxuriantly with a carpet of living green, extends from Jack's Bay across the centre. This principal range begins at the corals and houses used by the goat-killers, at a height of 2,000 feet above the sea, and stretches southward on the west side over a mesa (table-land) covered with spruce timber, and eastward down a long valley—both mesa and valley having plenty of clover and alfilerillo. The central section has no running stream, but, like the northern part of the island, is full of fresh-water springs. How the progenitors of these goats came upon Guadalupe Island is not fully settled. One account says the immense flocks of recent years are descended from a few pairs left on the island in the last century by the famous navigator, Capt. Cook. Other writers say the missionary padres first placed goats there sixty or seventy years ago. However that may be, certain it is they are there now and in vast numbers, so vast that in 1870 they were estimated to number 100,000 head or more. There being no beasts of prey upon the island, the goats being healthy and the ewes extremely prolific, the flocks increase with wonderful rapidity. Thousands have been slaughtered within a few years. In the fall of 1870 alone 7,000 hides were taken, and report says that once 30,000 goats were killed by men from Santa Barbara. The practice has been to ship the skins, tallow and meat to San Diego, hence to San Francisco, and there sell them. Mazatlan and Guaymas, in Mexico, are also excellent soap markets. By 1873, when the island passed into the hands of its present owners, the work of slaughter had reduced the number of goats there to about 20,000...In dry seasons the goats subsist mainly upon a species of chemical that is found green all over the island, and thus the damaging effects of extreme drought is obviated. Indeed, the goat is essentially a browsing animal, the Angora race consuming some forty-five more varieties of aromatic shrubs and plants than any other herbivorous animal. They eat, not only with impunity, but with beneficial results, many vegetable growths that are rank poison to sheep and cattle... The immediate and practical value of Guadalupe Island lies in its adaptability to the production of mohair, or the lustrous fleece of the beautiful Angora goat. To this object the island is now devoted. The territory and flocks passed into the hands of the Guadalupe Island Company, an incorporated association of California capitalists and practical wool-growers, in January, 1873, and its new owners forthwith commenced the work of carrying out the original plan, viz, the gradual supplanting of the native flocks by the more valuable fleece-bearing race. With this view they sent to the island, early in the spring of 1873, their first shipment of Angora goats, embracing fifty of the finest bucks obtainable in California, and sixty ewes for breeding pure bucks to supply future demands. The company's flocks were increased during the ensuing summer by the purchase of 60 more fine bucks and some 1,800 high-grade ewes. This latter band was allowed to remain on the mainland until the workmen on the island could complete the necessary enclosures for separating the fine ewes from the common stock. The next step in the work of extirpating the plebeian race was to commence the slaughter of all the native bucks, numbering from 10,000 to 12,000 head. This was continued throughout last winter. The small force of men on the island have, however, been able to get away with only 1,200 head thus far, besides curing their pelts ready for sale to the morocco men; castrating 800 head of young bucks, and completing a large enclosure; but the company will put on an extra force in June to clear the island of the remaining bucks of the common sort, so as t0 have nothing but wethers and ewes of this description to run with the fine Angoras. The carcasses of the goats hereafter to be slaughtered will be utilized to the best advantage—the hams dried, the meat canned, the pelts and tallow properly handled, so as to produce the largest possible returns in money from this source. The natural increase of these immense flocks on Guadalupe Island has been simply wonderful in past years, as the facts show. The results of the recent kidding season there, when they came to be known, will doubtless exhibit as high a rate of increase. I will astonish you with the figures when they come in.”

July 12, 1874 [LAH]: “Angora Goats. Mr. William M. Landrum, of the firm of Landrum & Rodgers, of Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, passed this city yesterday with 1,025 Angora goats of different grades that he is taking to Guadalupe Island, which lies some distance from the mainland two hundred miles south of San Diego. This island contains 166,400 acres, thirty-eight square miles of which are covered with cedar timber and three square miles with pine. In the cañons and gulches grow a great deal of palm. The island is well adapted to goat or sheep raising. It is owned by a company, of which the firm named are members. This company now have 40,000 goats on the island. Mr. Landrum is entitled to the credit of being the pioneer thoroughbred Angora goat breeder on the Pacific coast. He brought two of these goats from Missouri across the plains in 1861, and he now has at Watsonville two hundred pure Angoras — about one third of all there is in the United States. The band he is now driving south contains different grades, from the nearly pure Angora down to the almost common goat. A few facts concerning the Angora goat and the value of its fleece will be of interest. The ewes shear about six pounds; seven pounds is the extreme. The extreme weight of the buck's fleece is ten pounds. The average of the ewe's fleece is four pounds, and the average of the buck's six pounds. There is no consumption of this wool as yet on the Pacific coast, but it readily sells in the East at the following figures: Lowerst grade, 24c@30c; second, 45c@48c; third, 65c; pure select, $1.20 Fair average is worth $1 per pound. The value of the Angora goat, mixed and pure, is as follows: Ewes, half-breed, $4; three-fourths, $6; seven-eights, $9; finer quality, $30; thoroughbred, from $120 to $175. Mixed bucks are worth about $40, while the thoroughbreds sell at from $150 to $200 each. The Angora goat is a great deal hardier than the sheep. The climate of the Southern Coast counties is especially adapted to their culture...”

July 13, 1874 [SBMP]: “A New Source of Wealth. The farmers of the Pacific Slope are turning their attention to a branch of stock-raising which bids fair to result in adding an important staple to the productions of the United States. This is the naturalization and breeding of the Angora goat, commonly but incorrectly called the cashmere, the fleece of which supplies the mohair of commerce. Until recently the entire production of mohair for use of the world was confined to Asia Minor. The preparation and sale of mohair has been the principal industry of the people of Angora... The first Angoras imported into the United States for breeding purposes were brought to this country in 1848 by Dr. Davis of South Carolina... In 1861 Mr. W. M. Landrum took two bucks to California. One of these, bred by Mr. Peters from the original Davis importation, lived to be ten years old, and became the sire of about 2,000 kids... In 1872 it was estimated that there were 70,000 Angora goats of all grades on the Pacific slope, and under favorable circumstances the flocks are almost doubling annually. On Guadalupe Island, situated off the coast of Lower California, about ninety miles from the mainland, where a company is engaged in breeding the Angora goat, the increase has been 100 percent from the ewes. There are now 35,000 goats on the island, old and young...”

July 19, 1874 [San Diego Union]: “Wm. M. Landrum, of Landrum & Rodgers, Angora goat and sheep growers, of Watsonville, arrived in this city yesterday. Mr. Landrum is on the way to Guadalupe Island, off the Lower Coast.”

July 25, 1874 [San Diego Union]: “The schooner Louisa Harker sailed last evening for Guadalupe Island. Mr. Wm. M. Landrum took passage down on the schooner, taking with him 152 head of Angora goats. Mr. Landrum expects to be absent two or three weeks and will prepare a report to the Company on his return. This Guadalupe Island enterprise is, as we have before remarked, one of very great importance to San Diego.”

August 20, 1874 [SDU]: “From Guadalupe Island—Landrum's Adventures. San Diego, August 19th. The schooner Esther, Captain Wilson, arrived at 11 o'clock last night from Guadalupe Island, bringing up William M. Landrum, of Watsonville, who went down on the Louisa Harker a few weeks ago, with a cargo of Angora goats. She landed him, and then, according to the commander's account, a sudden gale sprang up and drove her out to sea. She was compelled to return to this port with the goats. Landrum gives another statement of how he was left in the lurch by the Harker. He says the schooner was not brought to her proper anchorage, and so drifted away; that there was no wind at all, it being perfectly calm. This turn of affairs interfered with the object of his trip, but he made the best of the circumstances, and explored the island thoroughly while there. He says he was agreeably surprised with the island, pasturage being exceedingly abundant, even to the tops of the mountains, and the grass was three feet high.”

October 22, 1874 [Russian River Flag]: “...The mohair business on this coast is in its infancy, the same as all business ventures once were... We have made it convenient to study the Angora question during the past few years, and have made the acquaintance of a number of breeders, and all seem to possess unbounded faith in the business... The Guadalupe Island Company, for instance, propose to breed entirely for mohair; no goats are to be brought away from there...”

December 21, 1874 [SDU]: “The schooner San Diego, from Santa Cruz, arrived last evening. She will take on board several hundred Angora goats for Landrum & Rodgers, of Watsonville, and proceed to Guadalupe Island.”

January 16, 1875 [Mariposa Gazette]: “The Watsonville Pajaronian, learns that E. R. Marsh, of San Francisco, has recently invested $27,000 in Angora goats; also William Hall, of San Jose, lately purchased a lot at $11,480; and C. S. Abbott, Flint, Baxby & Co., and B. Boswell have bought all the stock of the Guadalupe Island Company, except about 300 shares, and the stock held by Landrum & Rodgers. Those men represent several million dollars, and mean business in goat raising.”

February 12, 1875 [San Francisco Examiner]: “Marine News. San Diego, February 11.—The schooner San Diego returned last evening from her third trip to Guadalupe Island, having taken hence 858 Angora goats.”

May 1875, [Journal of Edward Palmer]: “...The cause of the long detention on the Island, was owing to the inability of W. W. Steward [Stewart].—with whom arrangements had been made to send a boat in six weeks, to dispatch one from San Diego before, as no boat smaller than mail steamer, entered the harbor of San Diego, during that time, if a boat was kept at the Island, the hands might escape, and when the want of food, was made known by Telegraph to the President of the goat company, it turned out he had unintentianally [sic] kept the memorandum of Provisions in his pocket, instead of sending them on the Island at the time of my visit, — The distressed condition of those from the island,— awoke the simpathy [sic] of the company, A new President was elected and six months provisions with some new men was promptly sent on the Island...”

May 21, 1875 [San Diego Union]: “The schooner Coso arrived last evening from Guadalupe Island to W. W. Stewart & Co., bringing up passengers Dr. Palmer, of the Smithsonian Institution, Master Harry Stewart, and two of the men employed on the island. Dr. Palmer has been engaged in collecting specimens of natural history for several weeks past. There has been some sickness among the men on the island, the supply of flour having given out some weeks ago, and an exclusively meat diet having proved unwholesome. The schooner left the men all the flour she could spare, and more will be forwarded immediately.”

June 22, 1875 [LAH]: “Mr. Benj. Flint, who arrived by the last steamer, brought down the flock of Angora goats for Guadalupe Island, mentioned a day or two ago. He says that the work of killing the wild bucks on the island will be continued steadily.”

June 22, 1875 [LAH]: “More Angora goats were brought down on the steamer for Guadalupe Island.”

June 28, 1875 [SDU]: “At San Diego, June 26th, the schooner Susie sailed for Guadalupe Island, with Benjamin Flint, thirteen men, supplies and some Angora goats for Guadalupe Island. The company propose to make was on all the wild male goats on the island, after having stocked it with tame Angora bucks.”

July 28, 1876 [SBMP]: “Description and Points of a Good Angora Goat. The first and most noticeable point of difference between the common goat and the Angora species is the magnificent long white fleece of the latter, which covers the animal from eyes to hoofs, almost... (The writer has seen goat's hair of 18 months' growth, from a buck of the Guadalupe Island flock, bred by Landrum & Rodgers, which measured 17-1/2 inches in length.)...

August 12, 1876 [Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel]: “Angora Goats. Messrs. Landrum & Rodgers have on their fine place near Watsonville, 150 ewes and 100 bucks. Their best ewes shear five to seven pounds and the bucks six to eight pounds. Their prize buck, Herculese, sheared last year ten pounds of mohair. A yearling buck, last year, sheared eight pounds. The mohair was thirteen inches long on the belly, and running down to nine inches on the hock. He took the first prize at the California and Oregon State Fairs ...They occupy, with Flint, Bixby & Co., C. S. Abbott, and B. Boswell, the Guadalupe Island and have thereon 1,000 head of high grades and pure breeds, and 5,000 to 8,000 low grades, and over 30,000 common goats. Their last year's fleece sold in New York for ninety, sixty, forty and twenty-five cents, and the poorest culls for twenty cents...”

September 14, 1878 [Pacific Rural Press]: “Goat Speculation.—Index, Sept. 5: A party of Salinaites, consisting of Wm. Spicer, Jas. askins, A. I. Abbott, Jim Johnson and three others whose names we have not learned, sailed from Monterey yesterday in a 15-ton schooner bound for Guadalupe Island, which lies about 150 miles a little south of west of San Diego. The island, which is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, is owned by Messrs. Abbott, Boswell & Flint, and has upon it some 60,000 Angora goats, also owned by the same parties. About one-third of the goats are high grade with fine fleeces, and the remainder are of an inferior kind. Spicer and his six companions have taken a lease of the island and the goats for one year, with the privilege of renewing the lease for a term of years, if they so desire. They will shear the high-grade goats and kill the inferior ones for their pelts. The owners of the island furnish the schooner and are to receive five-twelfth of the proceeds of the enterprise, leaving exactly one-twelfth of the profits to each of the lessees.”

September 5, 1888 [LAT]: “Goat Skins and Copal. [San Diego Sun.] Capt. Behen, of the sloop Liberty, who arrived from Guadalupe Island Friday evening with a cargo of goat skins, believes he has struck a bonanza. The island is now stocked with thousands of wild goats, which are valuable for their skins, meat and tallow. The Captain states that there is a forest of trees, covering an area of several miles, from which copal may be obtained in paying quantities. Copal is imported largely in the East, is used by painters in making fine varnishes, and the best grade brings a high figure. Guadalupe Island belongs to Mexico, and is situated about 240 miles south of San Diego. Capt. Behen has a concession from the Mexican government granting him the privilege of using and developing the resources of the island for a term of five years, and while he has heretofore turned his attention to the importing of goat skins, which are valued at 50 cents each, he will now take steps toward laying in quantities of copal.”

June 4, 1891 [LAT]: “Skipper Grosse's Adventure. He Hunts for Island Goats and Is Taken for a Wild Man. [San Diego Union.] Skipper Grosse of the schooner Emma, which is now running between Ensenada and the lower ports of Mexico, met with a shivering adventure while lately anchored at Guadalupe Island. The Lower Californian related that the skipper and Capt. Behen had secured several wild goats in the northern part of the island, and descended the steep hill to the beach in the belief that would be the shortest and easiest way around to the landing. But shortly they discovered that the beach was not continuous, being irregularly paneled by sheer walls of rock that cut into the surf. Skipper Gross objected to returning and pulling the heavy goats back over the brush grown hills. He relieved Capt. Behen by offering to swim around the cliff, and in that way he would get a small boat and return. So the skipper husked and emerged as a Greek god for the plunge. When out of sight and sound of the Captain, a cramp seized him at the foot of this sixty-foot cliff. It was climb up or drown, and how he got up that steep smooth bank, his work fingers and toes testify. Nor was the worst over, as the living statue discovered. There was no easy way down to the beach, for the bleak cliff appeared practically endless. What with picking cactus pins from beneath his toes, the skipper had a tedious journey. At length a defile in the cliff revealed the Emma, and the crew in camp. The lost one hallooed, but when they located the apparition it was to quickly seize their arms. The skipper shrieked that he was not a wild man from anywhere, and so he was peacefully rescued and reclothed. Without losing a moment he pulled off the small boat to rescue the Captain, who trudged into camp just after the skipper had left. The hero of the adventure kept his bunk four days following to recover from "the effects of the sunburns he had received during his three hours' picnic among the crags and peaks of Guadalupe Island.”

September 24, 1895 [LAT]: “The schooner Acme arrived from Guadalupe Island on Sunday with 2260 goat skins.”

July 19, 1896 [LAT]: “Schooner Sailor Boy sailed with provisions for Guadalupe Island goat killers on Friday.”

August 15, 1896 [LAT]: “The Helene Don't Go. Mr. Axtel's new yacht Helene recently launched in the channel, was booked to sail under the guidance of Capt. Julius Duritz and a man named Julius Bartel on Tuesday last for Guadalupe Island, but is still anchored in the channel, owing to the fact that O. Ellison who came to this coast as ship carpenter on the Golden Horn, and has spent the last year constructing the Helene, has a bill for unpaid wages which he holds against the boat, amounting to some $500, although he has offered to settle for $300. He says he has received but very little money for his work the past year, and was only enabled to complete the boat by allowing his wife to take in washing and ironing. Mr. Ellison was advised not to let the Helene go to the island "to carry goat skins", and accordingly he forbade her leaving until he is paid. The boat is now for sale and somebody will capture a prize. She is 52 feet 6 inches overt all, with a 12 foot 6-inch beam. She has a splendid cabin, fitted with twelve berths below. She has all double planking; is perfectly seaworthy, and a good sailor, having scored eight knots. Her cargo capacity is 15.31 tons, and she is by far the neatest little boat in the channel.”

October 2, 1896 [LAT]: “Schooner Mina is preparing to sail for Guadalupe Island, where five men have killed 4500 goats.”

October 17, 1896 [LAT/SD]: “The junk Acme has returned from Guadalupe Island with 3000 goat skins.”

July 5, 1897 [LAT]: “The United States Geodetic Survey steamship Gedney, Capt. Osborn, arrived in port yesterday, with the members of Stanford University who had been on an excursion to the Guadalupe Islands. They report no fur-bearing seals, the species being extinct there, but found a great number of wild goats, which were the only animals there. Traces of slaughter by hunters were plentiful, the skinned carcasses of goats being greatly in evidence. Water was found in only one place on the islands, which are of volcanic origin, and worthless for purposes of cultivation. The geological formations of the islands were not examined, but it is thought that gold exists in small quantities. The steamer will sail tomorrow (Monday) morning for San Francisco, her object in stopping at San Pedro being merely to take on coal.”

November 17, 1897 [LAT]: “The schooner Capt. Johnson has arrived here from Guadalupe Island with three hunters and 3700 wild goat skins. The skins will net the hunters a handsome sum.”

'March 25, 1898 [LAT]: “San Diego. The guano poaching [in Mexico] has been carried on probably for years. It is said that the genius who first discovered and developed the business was Oscar Bartels, a pirate. Bartels, a Russian Fin, has acquired a reputation from La Paz to Alaska as the prize pirate of the coast. He raided Guadalupe Island and marooned a lot of goat-skinners there, leaving them with scant provisions and robbing them of their pelts. He stole boats from various ports and sold them to others. He made excursions to the South Seas and had a number of romantic adventures. He stole the schooner Star of Freedom from San Francisco Bay, sailed her down the coast and was wrecked near La Paz, being captured and serving a number of years at La Paz and Ensenada. This man saw, with a pirate’s keen vision, the money to be made in guano poaching. He operated awhile, until the taste for something stronger than guano led him to Alaska, where he is reported to have killed an Indian woman and sold whiskey to her male relatives contrary to law. Others took up the guano business…”

September 28, 1901 [LAT]: “The schooner Freia, which left here some two weeks ago to go to certain concessionaries of the Mexican government, is expected to return to San Diego harbor this morning. The concession granted by the Mexican government gives to three men to whom it is granted all of the personal property on the island. The property consists of immense herds of goats whose value consists almost entirely of what can be secured from a sale of their hides. The Freia was at Ensenada while the St. Denis was there, and the steamer brought up the report that when the Freia arrived at the island the schooner Lou was there loading a number of hides which had been gathered by the hunters. The concessionaires asserted their rights, and the Lou, with her crew, set sail for San Diego. The concessionaires found readily to their hand about 900 hides which the hunters had killed for the schooner Lou. The Freia loaded the 900 hides and will bring them here today.”

September 30, 1901 [LAT]: “Lost Their Hides. The schooner Freia, which some weeks ago took to Guadalupe Island a party of prospectors who have obtained a Mexican concession of complete right to the island, is expected to return here soon. The party found the schooner Lou at the island loading goat hides, and asserted their rights as concessionairs. The schooner sailed as quickly as possible for this port with the hides already aboard, and left about 900, valued at approximately $400, in the hands of the Mexican owners of the island. The Freia loaded them on board and they for a part of her return cargo.”

October 17, 1901 [San Diego Union]: “Will import a million goats. Mexican Company Has Secured Control of the Guadalupe Islands. E. Carazo and three other men who went to the Guadalupe Islands some three months ago, in the interest of a company with headquarters in the City of Mexico, and which has secured a concession to the islands for a term of fifteen years, were passengers on the schooner Freia, which arrived in port yesterday from the islands. The Freia brought 820 goat skins which had been left on the isalnd by four hunters who had killed 3,500 goats, but were unable to take away all the hides on one trip with their vessel. Mr. Carazo says he is well satisfied with the result of his trip, and will recommend to his company that the island be stocked with a Million Mexican goats. They will be imported from the state of Guanajuato, but before the animals are taken to the islands it will be necessary to develop more water. This can be done by opening the springs of which there are ten or more on the island. The company that has secured control of these islands will prohibit the further illegal killing of the seals, and will establish at least a dozen families there to take charge of the animals.”

1901 “...The Western States have man thousands. [of angora goats] Mr. William M. Landrum is quoted as follows: White goats can stand any amount of cold and snow, but sleet and wind are very injurious. On the other hand, they can endure the scorching heat of the Tropics. Their fleece is best at an altitude of from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. The fleece never sheds on Guadalupe Island, 210 miles from San Diego, at an altitude of only from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. I have grown mohair there two feet long, of lovely texture. We had 80,000 wild goats roaming on the island without any attention, except in slaughtering season, when we sheared the Angoras and slaughtered from 14,000 to 15,000 common goats for their hides and tallow. The goats all ran wild and took care of themselves. We were not at one dollar expense on them.” [17th Annual Report. Congressional Serial Set (Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives), U. S. Govt. Printing., 1901, p. 327]

November 22, 1901 [El Paso Herald]: “Colonel Landrum went from Leavenworth to California—Pioneer Angora goat breeder. Colonel William N. Landrum, of Laguna, Texas, who is attending the Angora goat show and sale in Kansas City, was one of the original fanciers of the United States. The first importation to this country was by J. S. Davis of Columbia, S. C., in 1847. Mr. Davis sold the entire consignment, which was small, to Richard Peters, of Atlanta, Ga., the next year... Little progress was made in the Angora industry until 1855, when Mr. Peters discovered that the pure-breds could be bred to the common goat, producing grades that approximated in quality to the pure-bred, and in a few generations, could be inbred with pure-bloods until it was practically impossible to distinguish the latter from them... Five years later Mr. Landrum bought all the goats Mr Peters would sell, and took them to California... In 1872 Mr. Landrum bought the entire flock of Mr. Peters, of Georgia, and took it to California. There were many common goats in that section, and he conceived the scheme of converting Guadalupe Island into a gigantic goat farm. "At one time we had sixty thousand head of the animals on the island," he said. "We turned a large number of pure-blood bucks and does in with the natives, and soon had a valuable herd." "How does it happen that you now have only three hundred head? Did you sell all the rest?" he was asked. "Lord, no, they were stolen. Why, they simply stole us blind out there. The men we put in charge of the herd conspired with the owner of a ship, and in a few nights they simply cleaned us out... Mr. Landrum is now quite an old man, and his son, F. O. Landrum, runs the ranch.”

October 10, 1904 [LAT]: “Sheep. Vice. Goats. N. J. Wweaver, owner of the concession of the Guadalupe Islands, off the coast of Lower California, which allows him to dispose of the thousands of wild goats on the islands with sheep, going into the business on a large scale. The goats are of no value for breeding purposes, the principal item of their worth being the hides and tallow. As the islands will support as many sheep as goats, and sheep are more profitable, Mr. Weaver thinks he will do well in making the change.”

September 5, 1931 [Madera Tribune]: “Seven Found Stranded on Pacific Isle. Two Women and Five Men Are Saved by Coast Guard. Wore Robinson Crusoe Clothes. They Had Been Living on Shell Fish and Sea Gull Eggs. San Pedro, Sept. 5—Five men and two women, isolated on a destitute. barren Guadalupe Island while trying to commercialize wild goats found there, were rescued today by a Coast Guard cutter, which is bringing them to the mainland. they had been living on shell fish and sea gull eggs. They were wearing Robinson Crusoe-like garments.”

September 6, 1931 [San Bernardino Sun]: “Quest Closed by Castaway Island Party. Half-Starved Searchers Who Had Sought Riches Upon Isolated Pacific Isle Are Rescued. Coast Guard Goes to Aid. Seven Persons Give Up Plan to Reap Golden Harvest Out of Fleece From Wild Goats. San Pedro, Sept. 5.—A modern quest for the golden fleece was at an end today. The United States Coast Guard dropped its pursuit of rum craft long enough to go on an errand of mercy to the barren Guadalupe Island, 130 miles south of San Diego, off the coast of Mexico, where seven persons were slowly dying of starvation. The small group, last remnant of more than a score who went to the island several months ago expecting to make a fortune out of hides of wild goats which overrun the hilly country, was taken from the island today by the cutter Tamaroa, and were to be landed here at San Diego. Only Scant Supply of Food Remained. For long, weary months the party, composed of Mr. and Mrs. William Watson of Los Angeles, their daughter; J. A. Woodcock, Orval Lindsay, a man named Bradshaw and a Chinese cook, had sought to keep alive with the scant supplies left them when the remainder of the party put off for the Mexican coast. When supplies ran low, goat meat, sea gull eggs and fish became the staple diet of the seven until the providential arrival of Capt. G. Allan Hancock, Los Angeles millionaire, on his palatial yacht, Valero III. Captain Hancock, who had taken a scientific party to the Galapagos Islands to capture specimens of the elephant seal, gave the small party what supplies he could spare when they refused to leave the island, still hoping for the return of the party's leader. Clothing of Group Hangs in Tatters. Last Saturday, a Coast Guard cutter commanded by Capt. Charles Lucas stopped at the island, and there learned of the plight of the seven. The clothing of the party was in tatters. The women had attempted to garb themselves in crude garments of leaves. Because of the small size of his craft, Captain Lucas was unable to take the party aboard, and before he could return to port, Mrs. J. A. Woodcock, wife of one of the stranded party, had secured the aid of Admiral Billard of the Coast Guard, who ordered the Tamaroa to go to their aid. Although Guadalupe Island was reputed to be the hiding place of much pirate gold, the party sought the more lowly goat hides, and meat which they planned to can and sell in Mexico. Goats, left there by seal trappers in the last century, have so multiplied that they overrun the island. There is hardly a vestige of vegetation left, even the leaves being chewed from the limbs as high as the animals can reach. Because of the denuding of the small island, water has grown more scarce as the years went by, until even fishermen seeking to replenish their supply have given it a wide berth. The original party of 20 was composed largely of Mexican laborers. They revolted at the poor food and water, and with a member of the party returned to the mainland in their only boat. The one American, whose name was not learned, was to seek aid in the United States, but help never appeared. Guadalupe Island has been the scene of many expeditions, in search of gold and also to slaughter the goats. A party of four men and women was rescued last December when it was found near starvation by a United States destroyer which touched at the lonely islet.”