778 
FOREST AND STREAM 
A FLORIDA PARADISE. 
Stuart, Fla., December I, 1914 - 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Nearly one year ago I wrote of my moving 
from Topeka, Kansas, to this place, Stuart, Flo¬ 
rida, on the estuary of the St. Lucie Sound, or 
river, as it is named on the maps, in which the 
tides ebb and flow, and in my letter of last year 
I wrote of the immense quantities of flsh of the 
best kinds for food and sport. Now, after a 
year's residence and observation, I can only say 
that words fail me to describe the sport here, and 
its effect on the lovers of the gun and rod, who 
come here for a few weeks, for the recreation. 
With quail in flocks of twenty to fifty all over 
the woodlands, red deer, turkey, wild hogs, rac¬ 
coons, wild cats, opossum, rabbits and squirrels 
in plenty, in the woodlands, the people here do 
not seem to find time to hunt them, and the 
sportsmen from the north, arriving here, and 
fishing for a few days, seem to have lost all love 
for the gun and devote all their time to the cap¬ 
ture of tarpon or jewfish in the river, or else to 
catch sheephead from any of the docks, and it 
seems to me that in our fine climate they all get 
lazy, for there are plenty of small lakes filled 
with bream (blue-gilled sunfish), and black bass 
(called trout here), up to fifteen or more pounds 
in weight, but they will not take the trouble to 
go to these lakes and fish for bass, but put in 
their entire time fishing in the salt water of the 
river or making trips out into the ocean. The 
natives were in most cases born tired, and are 
content to catch in front of their doors what fish 
they need for family use, or get them as gifts 
from northern sportsmen. So the bass are left 
to grow, unmolested. 
A Chicago sportsman came down here and 
went out a few times to the best bass lake, and 
had such good success in catching large bass that 
he bought the land surrounding the lake, and 
has had it surveyed and platted .in ten acre tracts, 
either fronting on the St. Lucie river or the 
shore of the lake, and then on the nearest shore 
of the river, nearest to 'the town of Stuart, he 
has had platted a ten acre town site, which he is 
reserving for sportsmen, giving to every pur¬ 
chaser of a tract a free gift of a town lot, which 
opportunity, it seems to me should appeal to 
every lover of the fighting qualities of the large 
mouth black bass, as owners can have a camp on 
their own land on the shore of the lake, and 
build a home on the free lot by the side of the 
river, keeping their yachts, cruisers and motor- 
boats at their own doors for a very few hundreds 
of dollars. To own up to my failings, the 
Chances of productive sport are so great here, the 
temptation is so great, it requires plenty of self- 
denial to keep from neglecting the business of 
my law office, and not go fishing for bass, tarpon 
or jewfish; or quail, deer o ick shooting, in 
this open season, and so that i can have at least 
half the time for recreation, my office hours are 
for the forenoon only. I can, in half an hour in 
a motor boat from the office get on good quail, 
deer and wild hog, or wild turkey ground, as 'the 
settlement of this part of the peninsula of Flo¬ 
rida is confined to a narrow strip of a few miles, 
with here and there a farm along the line of the 
Florida East Coast R. R. 
Having lived for one year in a paradise for a 
lover of the rod and gun, the spirit has moved 
me to make the location of that paradise known 
to brothers of the clan. W. F. RIGHTMIRE. 
21 Park Place 
New York City 
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