ISLA GUADALUPE THROUGH TIME
- July 9, 1874 Guadalupe in Forest and Stream [1]
- 1875. National Association of Wool Manufactures, Bulletin, Volume 5 [2]
In the News~
January 9, 1839: “Isla Guadalupe was ceded from the Mexican Government in a murky business deal to Jose Castro and Florencio Ferrano, both Mexican citizens, on January 8th, 1839. They received not just Guadalupe island but all the smaller islands in the region as well. They owned the rights to the entire region then covered in a healthy cloud forest, with declining seal populations.” [3] [Juan Batista Alvadaro was governor of Alta California 1836-1842].
1845: “By 1845 Jose Castro had sold 50% of his stake in the islands for the princely sum of $500 in gold. The transaction and ownership title remained murky by even standards of the 1800’s.” [4]
1850: “In November 1850, U.S. Army Lt. George H. Derby passed Guadalupe Island on his expedition in the U.S. Transport Invincible. He described it thus:
- "This island is about 15 miles length and 5 in width. It is rocky + mountainous but capped with vegetation and is reputed to be thickly inhabited by wild goats of unusual size. Water is found upon the eastern shore and the Island is frequently visited by small vessels engaged in the capture of the sea elephant numbers of which animals are found upon its coast."
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.”
April 11, 1868 [DAC]: “The exports to Guadalupe Island per schooner Summer Cloud embrace a value of $183.”
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.”
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 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.”
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.”
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.”
April 22, 1872 [SDU]: “From San Diego. San Diego, April 21st. Fears are entertained for the safety of the schooner Hattie Porter, which sailed for Guadalupe Island over three weeks since and has not been heard from. Heavy weather is reported off the island for several weeks.”
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, Cassins C. Palmer, Wm. M. Landrum and James M. Rogers. The principal place of business will be in San Francisco.”
February 8, 1873 [Pacific Rural Press]: “Guadalupe Island Company. Notice is hereby given to the Stockholders of the Guadalupe Island Company that a special meeting will be held at its office, 306 Pine Street, on February 22nd, 1873, at 3 o'clock P.M., for the purpose of adopting By Laws. By order of Wm. M. Landrum, President. Arthur Rodgers, Secretary.”
March 12, 1873 [DAC]: “Guadalupe Island. An action was commenced some time ago in the Fourth District Court by Hermann S. Wildmann, against Moses C. Howell and John Sridger to recover $5,694.22 damages. On the 1st of May, 1871, it is alleged that Howell deeded to Widmann, Phillip H. Newman, Frederick Muller, and Valentine Struble, an undivided one-fourth interest in Guadalupe Island, lying off the Coast of California, with the improvements and stock thereon, for $3,700, promising to give them possession. Widmann and his copartners hired men and purchased provisions, machinery, etc., at a cost of $1,614.22., which they took to the Island. But the defendant failed to give them possession of the property. Howell, in answer, denies that he ever had, or pretended to own any interest in the Island, but that O. T. Ames, who owned a fourth interest in the Island, gave him a mortgage on the same to secure the payment of $100. He denies that he agreed to put any person in possession. A jury was impanelled to try the case, yesterday, after which a recess was taken until two o'clock. When the case was again called it was announced that the matter had been compromised and settled, and the action was dismissed.”
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 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.”
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. Rogers, 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.]”
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.”
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.”
August 26, 1874 [SDU]: “The dry alfileria on Guadalupe Island would cut for hay at an average of two tons to the acre.”
September 5, 1874 [Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel]: “A Modern Crusoe. Mr. Landrum, of Landrum and Rogers, returned a few days ago from a trip to Guadalupe Island, where he was compelled to enact the role of Robinson Crusoe for a few days. The schooner that he embarked from concluded not to land any more goats after seeing the proprietor safely ashore but dropped off, leaving Mr. Landrum to explore the recesses of his island. Mr. L. says he enjoyed his visit very much. His principle trouble and one that distracted him more than anything else, was being deprived of the news of the day, he could not keep up with the Beecher narrative.”
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 & Rogers, 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 & Rogers. Those men represent several million dollars, and mean business in goat raising.”
January 28, 1875 [Marysville Daily Appeal]: “C. S. Abbott, Flint, Bixby & Co., and B. Boswell, have purchased most of the stock of the Guadalupe Island Company, and propose going extensively into the business of goat raising.”
January 31, 1875 [Marysville Daily Appeal]: “The schooner San Diego returned from Guadalupe Island on Thursday, bringing H. G. Otis, President of the Guadalupe Island Company, who has been exploring that island for the past four or five weeks. He is very enthusiastic over its resources.”
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.”
August 12, 1876 [Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel]: “Angora Goats. Messrs. Landrum & Rogers have on their fince 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...”
December 15, 1876 [SBMP]: “Among papers recently presented to the San Diego Society of Natural History was a paper on the Falconidae and Ornithology of Guadalupe Island.”
January 11, 1877 [SBMP]: “Chambers's Edinburg Journal, in an article on the distribution of animals throughout the world, says that snakes are found in the whole globe except New Zealand and a few of the tropical islands of the Pacific... that of Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower California, on an expedition made to it two years ago. Not a snake was, or has ever been seen on the island—nor a carnivorous animal...”
January 15, 1877 [SBMP]: “One hundred and eighty-two shares of stock—par value, $50 each—in the Guadalupe Island Company of Lower California, are offered for sale at a bargain. No assessments to pay. Apply at the Press office.”
July 9, 1877 [SBMP]: “Guadalupe Island: A Goat Kingdom in the Pacific. Late on a sun-flooded December day near the end of the year 1874 I set sail for the island of Guadalupe in a staunch little sixty-ton schooner, commanded by a "melancholy Dane," manned by three sailors, (one of them the cook), and laden with goats—goats on the deck, in the hold, goats forward and aft, goats everywhere, almost, save in "the cabin," the cook's galley, and the small spaces reserved for the sailors to work in. There were 300 grade Angoras aboard, besides hay, water, and supplies for the island. We sailed out of San Diego's land-locked harbor right gallantly before a spanking breeze, just as the setting sun was gilding the tops of the low hills, and gleaming in semi-tropical splendor from the glassy surface of the beautiful bay and from the lighthouse windows on Point Loma, and under bellying sails rode out into might and the Pacific. We were bound not for the Isle of the Golden Fleece, that mythical concern which venturous Jason and his fifty-four companions sought in the "Argo" in the legendary long ago, but for a real, tangible, solid island, which, as it produces the shining fleece famed in commerce, may well wear the name of the Isle of the Silver Fleece. Not a man on board—not even the skipper himself—had ever visited the island; but he sailed by chart directly south half west over a placid sea, and at nine o'clock on the morning of the second day we sighted, sixty miles away, the distant peaks on the north end of the island, which is distant 210 miles from San Diego, in latitude 28 north, and longitude 118 west, (Mexican waters). When the cry of "Land Ho!" came from the man at the wheel, the schooner was heading right for the harbor in Esparza Bay, showing how well our course had been taken. The little ship lazily kept her course all that day—for the wind was light and slowly crept over the smooth surface of the sea. Sometimes we were well-nigh becalmed. I lay relaxed on hay bales, basking in the magnificent Winter sunshine, and enjoying to the utmost the dolce far niente. Towards evening we neared the island shore, but as the captain thought it unsafe to take his vessel into an unknown harbor in the night, he stood off twenty or thirty miles to sea and waited for morning.
Next day we made the anchorage in Esparza Bay without difficulty, and the little ship was run right up under the very brow of the lofty mountain that here rises almost straight from the sea, and anchored near the beach in deep water, with a good bottom. We had made the island in seventy-one hours from San Diego. As we sailed in, all eyes were strained landward to catch a glimpse of man or beast; but no living thing was then seen save myriads of sea-fowl and small birds skimming the surface of the deep. The skipper blew his bugle horn, and I fired my rifle repeatedly, hoping to "raise the natives," (who consist solely of the few men kept there by the owners of the island,) and bring them down from their mountain fastness 4,000 feet up and five miles away in Spring Valley; but we only succeeded in smoking them out, for, just before nightfall, we saw, far away on a mountain peak, a little column of smoke slowly ascending—the signal of the islanders that our sail had been sighted.
Then we landed and took observations. Before we had touched foot on the beach numbers of a mean bird of prey sometimes improperly called the "Guadalupe vulture," but which in reality is the Caracara eagle of Mexico and South America (Poliborus thaurus) scented our approach and collected on the beach, clamorous for prey or provender. I know of no more detestable bird thank this in all the ornithological kingdom. They are so mean that dozens of them will combine and tear their own kind to pieces when caught hurt or sick.
Reconnoitering. I sent a green fellow, whom we had brought along as a laborer, ashore with directions to find the trail, follow it up the mountain to headquarters, and bring down the men; but he soon returned declaring that his way had been blocked by boulders. With eyes sticking out on his cheeks, he excitedly declared that "neither man, horse, nor goat could go up that canyon." Lost. I saw that the fellow had simply missed the pack trail and tried to go up the bed of the gorge instead of along its flank, where the path runs, and resolved to take upon myself the task of finding the island people. But it was now too dark to proceed, and so the night watch was posted, the goats fed and watered with the last of their supplies, and I lay down on deck, under the stars, to wait for a new day, while the old salts turned in below.
On an Exploration. Next morning bright and early I went ashore in a boat, and, armed with my rifle and provisioned with a pocketful of sea-biscuit (to provide against the contingency of getting lost), I started to climb the rugged mountain side, bound to find headquarters or exhaust every cracker in the attempt. The trail was struck and followed, according to Landrum's very clear description, without difficulty. Soon the first sign of goat life greeted me. Looking up the mountain in front, I saw sharp against the sky, perched on a great rock, a solitary wild goat standing motionless as a statue and watching me. Presently another, then another, and finally a fourth, successively appeared, all looking at the intruder in an inquiring way—for the goat has more curiosity in him, according to size and weight, than any known animal. He is almost equal to a woman in that respect. Solitude! solitude everywhere. In an hour from the time of leaving the beach my search was rewarded with success. Voices! and men—objects! and human ones: these greeted my ears and eyes. Bearing straight down on me, at an angle of something less than forty-five degrees, I saw two most extraordinary-looking human beings on foot, one leading a burro and the other a sorry-looking California horse, while another burro was driven before and a shepherd dog followed. I never had the fortune to see Mr. Robinson Crusoe, except in my mind's eye, but I can conceive of no spectacle more nearly resembling the original Crusoe than those two men presented who confronted me in the sagebrush of that island mountain on the last day of the year 1874. They got away with all my previous ideas of oddity—and I have looked upon the bushwhackers who in war times had their habit on the Devil's Fork of Guyandotte in the mountain wilds of West Virginia, the most primitive region I penetrated before sailing for the "Isle of the Silver Fleece." These Guadalupe fellows filled me with many and curious sensations. When the singular cavalcade got near enough to hail, I sang out "Hallo! how are you boys? How far is it to the next house?" "The next house is a hay-stack!" came in reply. (Shake.) "What vessel is that?" pointing to the little craft lying at anchor away below. "The San Diego, Captain Joachumsen, from San Diego, with goats and provisions for the island." "Good!!... Any letters?" "Si señor, una carta por el hombre viejo mismo." (I bore a letter from William M. Landrum, the boss goat man, to Walter Young, the mayor domo.) "Do you want anything to eat? "Not just now; but our commissary is down to bed rock—nothing left but flour, beans, and wild-goat meat." "So?—well, we've brought you a fresh supply."
The men, whom I found to be intelligent fellows—one an Englishman, the other a Yankee, and both old sailors—were delighted to see somebody from God's country, and informed me that every day since the 10th of the preceding August (since when they had been looking for relief) they had gone to Point Lookout to watch for the expected sail. They were beginning to fear they had been abandoned for the Winter, and had given up counting on the arrival of a vessel before Spring.
Debarking. We descended the mountain without delay, and after some maneuvering to manage the timid skipper, who stood in great dread of the rocks that lift their heads out of the water on either side of the anchorage—which is, however safe—we commenced the work of landing our precious fleecy freight. For this task we had but one small boat, no more capacious than a Western river skiff. The "melancholy Dane" proposed to dump the goats into the sea and make them swim ashore, but, considering the damage and danger to the Angora from water, and especially salt water, this proposition was vetoed forthwith. The work of debarking the band in the single boat was then commenced. A line was passed from the ship to the shore, made fast, and by it the boat was hauled rapidly to and fro, carrying a dozen goats and two men at each trip—one man to keep them from jumping overboard and another to manage the boat. This operation was kept up all day, and at 10 o'clock on the morning of January 1st we saw the last goat on land. The debarkation had been tedious and laborious, not less than forty-nine trips having been made between the vessel and the shore; but the debarkation was a success: not an animal had been lost. Several got overboard, but proved good swimmers and were rescued by the sailors. The band was by this time suffering for water and feed. There was not a spear of grass on the sandy beach where they had to be held till the unloading was completed, and no fresh water short of Spring Valley, five miles away. Before noon the vaqueros had packed their animals with supplies for the camp, and were hurrying up the mountain, driving the band before them. Sanford carried a couple of tender kids which had dropped in the melee. After a parting lunch with the kind-hearted but nervous navigator, I bade him goodbye and a "Happy New Year!" leaving him to return to San Diego for another cargo of goats, and took a boat for the shore. Landing, I started up the trail, rifle in hand, with Charley Stewart, a young San Diego adventurer, along. Full of the spirit of discovery, Charley named the first valley he came to, New Year's Valley. Scaling the toilsome heights, we kept on, urging forward straggling goats that had dropped, exhausted, behind the band. At dark, very tired, we reached Headquarters in Spring Valley.
September 14, 1878 [Pacific Rural Press]: “Goat Speculation.—Index, Sept. 5: A party of Salinaites, consisting of Wm. Spicer, Jas. Caskins, 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.”
May 24, 1884 [Pacific Rural Press]: “Pacific Coast Palms... Another species is Erythea edulis, Watson, native of Guadalupe Island off the coast of Lower California. It is a smaller palm, having an abundance of palatable fruit, single clusters of which weigh sometimes 40 and even 50 pounds. This island species has been introduced into cultivation in several places...”
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.”
June 30, 1887 [Coronado Mercury]: “The contract between the International Company and the Mexican Government calls for four to eight round trips per month by mail steamers from San Diego to Ensenada, touching four times at San Quintin and once at Guadalupe Island. The company gets $150 per trip and is credited with 50 per cent of the duties on merchandise brought by the steamers. They may sail under a foreign flag one year.”
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.”
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.”
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 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.”
March 5, 1892 [LAT]: “The Citrus Fair... Seeds of the Guadalupe Island pine are being shown on the branch. They are about the size of a cherry. The tree itself is large...”
October 22, 1892 [LAT/classified ads]: “Personal~ A gentleman intends visiting Guadalupe Island: object, natural history research; a proposition from suitable party to accompany him, sharing expenses, would be considered. Address by mail, Dr. E. F. F., 321-1/2 W. Fourth St., Los Angeles.” [horticulturist Emanuele Francesco Franceschi ]
September 14, 1894 [SFChronicle]: “Too Much of One Diet. Goats' Flesh the Main Food of Island Laborers. San Diego, September 13.—The schooner Chromo, Captain Gerald, arrived from Guadalupe Island to-day, having on board eight men who have been killing and skinning goats for some months past. The Chromo's cargo consisted of 1250 goat skins. She left the island on the 3rd inst. The eight men, all Mexicans, had a hard experience before the Chromo reached them, having lived for twenty-four days on goat's meat and the fruit of the black palm. They were ravenous for a change of diet, and when the Chromo's boat reached the strand of the desert island the men jumped aboard and grabbed the flour and other provisions that were brought from the schooner. They said that fish were not easy to catch. J. M. Soto, agent for Martin Garcia, the concessionnaire of the island, started two months ago in the schooner Alcalde with provisions for the men on the island, but a terrible storm was encountered in which Soto narrowly escaped with his life. He managed to get back to this port after being blown 400 miles out of his course, and he then delegated the voyage to Captain Gerald. The returned Crusoes say that about 15,000 goats are now on the island.”
June 16, 1895, [SFCall]: “Savage Encounter of Two Men With Goat-Killers on the Island. Three Assailants Kept at Bay Ten Days Until Outside Help Arrives. San Diego, Cal., June 15.—J. M. Soto and Thomas Hardy have arrived from Guadalupe Island, off Lower California, in the junk Acme, with particulars of a savage encounter on the lonesome island with three goat killers—Antonio Felix, a Basque and an American. Soto holds the concession from the Mexican Government and contracted with Felix to kill goats for skins. Three months ago he went down to see how business was progressing. He found that Felix and party had moved camp and were entering into the goat business for themselves. Soto demanded an accounting, and Felix responded with threats, saying he would be glad to shoot Soto as he would a goat. Hardly had Felix left and joined Soto, and together they prepared to defend themselves from Felix and the Basque, who were joined by an adventurer from a sealing schooner hovering around the island. Felix and companions ran out of food, and attacked Soto one night, demanding food at the point of pistols. They got pork and flour, and the next night attempted a raid. Soto and Hardy met them with a volley, which killed no one. As Felix and partners had only starvation ahead of them they were rendered desperate, while Soto and Hardy, not knowing when the schooner would return, determined to hold on to the food at all hazards. They prepared a pitfall at the door of the cabin and lay in wait. Felix, the basque and the American made another onslaught, and fell into the trap, the American being nearly killed by the fall. Soto and Hardy covered the party with rifles and made them swear to cease depredations, yielding to their entreaties not to be imprisoned. Hardly had Felix become free before he viciously attacked Soto, and would have killed him had not Hardy got in an opportune blow on the head that laid him out. For ten days following both sides were kept on the alert, fearing surprise and slaughter, and when the junk appeared Felix and his companions tried to steal it and leave the others to starve or eat goat. But the skipper turned it over to Soto, and he and Hardy managed to get away from the island, arriving at Ensenada, where the state of affairs was made known to the authorities. Orders have been issued to a force of soldiers to proceed to the island to capture Felix and his companions. Soto says the island is made the prey of marauding American sealers and land pirates. It is probable that the Mexican Government will station an armed force there.”
June 20, 1895, [SFCall]: “Guadalupe Brigands. Indemnity for Outrages May Be Demanded of Mexico. Scoffed at the Flag. An Ensenada Justice Tries to Capture an American Vessel. Soto Arrives at San Diego. An Order for the Arrest of Desperado Feliz and His Followers Secured. San Diego, Cal., June 19.J. M. Soto, the concessionnaire of Guadalupe Island, returned today via Ensenada, where he made authorities acquainted with affairs on the island and secured orders for the arrest of Antonio Feliz and seven men who kept Soto and his two companions in a state of siege thirty days, stealing provisions, threatening to kill them on sight and taking possession of Soto's property. When the junk Acme arrived at the island with provisions and to bring Soto home, Feliz and two men boarded her and attempted to take command by force of arms. Soto had ordered a flag hoisted, and called Feliz's attention to the stars and stripes. Feliz retorted that he "didn't care for that rag," and said threatened starvation on the island forced him to take possession. The mate of the vessel drew Feliz aside and told him his act was piracy, and that he would be shot in Mexico or hanged in the United States. This scared Feliz and he withdrew. Food for fifteen days was left with him. The authorities at Ensenada issued an order to Feliz as Justice of the Peace to arrest Feliz as a pirate and robber and bring himself and men into court. Soto objected to this, and secured an order to arrest the men. He has prepared claims which will be sent to Washington demanding satisfaction from Mexico for the acts of its redoubtable Justice on Guadalupe Island.”
September 24, 1895 [LAT]: “The schooner Acme arrived from Guadalupe Island on Sunday with 2260 goat skins.”
October 17, 1896 [LAT/SD]: “The junk Acme has returned from Guadalupe Island with 3000 goat skins.”
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…”
October 15, 1898 [LAT]: “Rare Birds Brought From Guadalupe Island. San Diego, Oct. 14.—Four of the most rare birds known to ornithologists were brought up from Guadalupe Island the other day by Harry Drent, a goat-killer of the schooner Fancine [Francine]. They are called the Guadalupe carcar [caracara] and are the size of a small eagle. So far as known the only living birds of that species are on Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Lower California, and are very few in number. Drent in telling how he captured the birds said:
- "I winged the first bird with a shotgun and fastened him near a big boulder. I knew from experience with birds in South Africa that the other birds would come near the captive. I laid a snare in the shape of a lariat and in that manner caught three more birds. I saw only three other birds of this variety on the whole island. I noticed where they went and found that they were nesting on a cliff. I let myself down several hundred feet with a rope and secured two eggs. They are worth $500 each. The birds I consider very valuable. I shall offer them to the Smithsonian Institution."
July 20, 1902 [LAT]: “Col. T. C. Brooks of Pomona, who has had a varied experience as prospector, mine owner, capitalist and mining expert, is a conspicuous figure on Catalina. Col. Brooks was once the owner of Guadalupe Island."
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.”
April 9, 1911 [LAT]: “Excursion, ten days' voyage to Guadalupe Island; want a few more to join party on business and pleasure trip; expenses reasonable; will sail about April 12. For full information call at 536 I. W. Hellman Bldg.”
April 16, 1915 [LAH]: “Schooner Admiral Ashore on Island. San Diego, April 16.—The auxiliary schooner Admiral is beached at Guadalupe Island with little hope of salvage, according to word brought today by Captain T. J. Keeney of the schooner Flyer. The Admiral was in the service of the Guadalupe Island Company. President J. D. Hand of the company; W. B. Rowland, state veterinarian, and A. B. Pratt, meat buyer, returned on the Flyer from the island. No lives were lost on the Admiral.”
May 11, 1915 [LAH]: “Brings Record of Wreck in 1807. Captain C. C. Bruce, who was marooned on the Guadalupe Island with other members of his crew when his schooner Admiral was wrecked today arrived in Los Angeles bringing records found on the island of an experience similar to his when the crew of the ship David Christy were marooned Sept. 9, 1807, and rescued a year later. Bruce was rescued after a month on the island.”
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.”
