ISLA GUADALUPE THROUGH TIME
In the News~
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.”
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 7, 1885 [LAT]: “...Another unfortunate scheme [of ex-governor Haile of New Hampshire] was the purchase of an island near San Francisco, with the idea of starting a mammoth sheep or cattle ranch. This probably refers to Guadalupe Island, one hundred miles off the coast of Lower California, which Haile bought for $100,000.”
August 11, 1887 [LAT]: “The steamer Carlos Pacheco, which sailed south from here last week, ostensibly in search of smugglers, arrived today from Guadalupe Island, 240 miles southwest of here, whither she went on official business for the Mexican Government, carrying soldiers to relieve the garrison stationed there.”
December 9, 1888 [SF Chronicle]: “Fourteen months ago four men and a boy were sent to Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower California, to kill goats. There were supposed to be 200,000 animals on the island, and last week a small steamer was sent from San Diego to collect the pelts.”
February 21, 1891 [SF Chronicle]: “On a Desert Island. Seven Seamen Left to Their Fate. The Men Rescued by a Passing Schooner—A Law-Defying Shipmaster. San Diego, February 20.—About two months ago Captain Bartells, an aged shipmaster, was arrested for assault and battery upon another seaman and in Justice Sloan's court, on the day of the trial, he created a sensation by assaulting the complaining witness while on the stand and badly injuring him. Upon being fined for contempt of court he finished the performance by cursing the Judge and other officials. He was admitted to bail and that night boarded his vessel and departed for pastures new, leaving his bondsmen to suffer. Before he left here Captain Bartells gathered seven men, named Jillison, Anderson, Smith, Hortz, Reddy, McCoy and Johnson, to go down to Guadalupe Island and kill wild goats for their hides and tallow. Bartells was to do the transportation, sell the product, furnish the provisions and divide, at stated intervals, the proceeds. They had been there since last September and everything went all right until December 1st. A few days prior to that day the vessel arrived at Guadalupe from San Pedro, where Bartells had disposed of about 1,000 goat skins and a large quantity of lard, estimated in value at $700. The vessel was again loaded with skins and tallow, and late in the afternoon of November 30th the money for the last sale and all previous sales was to have been divided according to the contract. Bartells feigned sickness and proposed to put the settlement off until the following morning. The men agreed and went ashore for the night. On going to the beach the next day they were horrified to find that no vessel was in sight. Bartells had sailed away during the night and taken with him not only the money, but all the provisions. The men were out of flour, sugar, coffee and salt. They had but a pound or so of sea biscuits left and after two days these were exhausted. Having no cartridges, powder or lead, they were compelled to resort to all sorts of means to capture goats for meat, and their bread for two months and five days consisted of palm seeds pounded into flour and backed without salt. Water was scarce, and vile at that. On the 5th of this month the schooner Ellen, returning from a shell-gathering cruise, was compelled to put under the shelter of the island on account of bad weather, and the men, more dead than alive, managed to attract the attention of the captain and were taken on board the vessel and cared for. After an uneventful trip the schooner has arrived at San Diego, and if Bartells ever makes his appearance again, the men say they will put him where his temper and dishonest propensities will be curbed for some time.”
June 18, 1910 [The Leavenworth (Kansas) Post]: “Leaving a woman and child on Guadalupe Island, 150 miles off San Quintin, Lower California, A. Marcomson of Los Angeles and a companion, the latter the husband of the woman, arrived in San Quintin last Wednesday after passing six days in an open boat. This information was brought by steamer from Ensenada, Lower California, yesterday. The party of four was shipwrecked. The two men, in a small boat, started for San Quintin to obtain help. A relief party has set out for Guadalupe Island, which is uninhabited, save for the woman and child.”
