through the energetic efforts of Mr. Baynard, B. 
Rhett Green, of Fort Myers was hired as warden 
and assumed the duties of guarding it about the 
middle of the breeding season. Its future now 
seems assured, and it is perhaps not too much to 
anticipate that it will eventually regain some¬ 
thing of the prosperity of its former, days. 
I shall not go into the details or attempt to re¬ 
count all the various happenings of my trip, for 
this might finally become burdensome. During 
the latter part of March I made an excursion 
southward from the Corkscrew rookery, follow¬ 
ing down along the edge of the Big Cypress 
Swamp to a point some sixty miles below Fort 
Myers. The first two weeks of April, in com¬ 
pany with a guide from Immokalee, I crossed the 
Ocaloacoochee Slough and penetrated southeast¬ 
erly to the Seminole Indian reservation at the 
edge of the Everglades. Then returning to Immo¬ 
kalee, I made a second trip to the Corkscrew 
rookery from that point. 
A few words in regard to the general charac¬ 
ter of the country. The interior of Lee county 
is pretty much a wilderness. The Big Cypress 
Swamp, beginning some thirty miles south of 
Fort Myers, covers most of the central part of 
the county. To the north and east of the swamp 
it is principally open pine woods, interspersed 
here and there with hummocks of oak and pal¬ 
metto and small cypress swamps, or “cypress 
heads,’’ as they are usually called. There are sev- 
FOREST AND STREAM 
era! considerable prairie tracts, particularly in 
the vicinity of Immokalee. In the eastern part 
of the county there is another large swamp area 
known as the Ocaloacoochee Slough. In general 
the country is low and wet with many small 
lakes and ponds, and after heavy rains water 
stands everywhere. 
Game is fairly abundant. I saw five deer at 
one time enjoying a noonday siesta in a small 
grove of pine trees, and in all I probably saw 
thirty during my trip. Wild turkey are plenti¬ 
ful and in the wilder country about the cypress 
swamps wild-cat, bear and panther are to be 
found. 
Immokalee, with a population of fourteen fami¬ 
lies, located about thirty-two miles southeast of 
Fort Myers, is the principal settlement, although 
there are a couple of other smaller ones. Ex¬ 
cepting these the only inhabitants are the Semi¬ 
nole Indians and a few cattlemen, who take ad¬ 
vantage of the excellent pasture afforded in some 
places to graze their lean, half-wild cattle. Maps 
show several forts such as Shackleford and Si¬ 
mon Drum, but these are relics of the old Indian 
wars, long since fallen into ruin, and their sites 
can only be determined with difficulty. 
The Seminoles, who number about four hun¬ 
dred, live on a reservation down at the edge of 
the Everglades, about eighty miles southeast of 
Fort MyerSj They are under the control of a 
government agent, but do little or no work, de¬ 
309 
pending largely on otter and alligator hunting to 
pick up a few dollars. For several years back the 
alligator market has been very flat, and they find 
plume hunting the more lucrative. We camped 
with an Indian one evening a few miles south of 
the Ocaloacoochee Slough, who informed me he 
had shot eight plumes that season, which he had 
sold at Miami for $8 apiece, bringing him in 
rather a tidy sum. Incidentally I had the pleas¬ 
ure of dining on palmetto cabbage as prepared a 
la Seminole, and an excellent dish I found it. 
The subject would not be complete without a 
word or two about insect pests. The mosquitoes 
are without number. As soon as darkness falls 
they simply arise in swarms. Sleeping without a 
bar, and a cheesecloth one at that, is out of the 
question. Even the Seminoles use them. The 
steady hum of mosquitoes hovering just outside 
your bar becomes merely a part of life. The 
horse-flies of this region are the last word. In 
April it is necessary to wrap a horse in burlap 
when used, and even then they get to them pretty 
hard. Around camp a horse will stand right up 
in a smudge all day, and trust to feeding at night. 
The cattle are forced to bunch together and re¬ 
tire into the cypress swamps during the middle of 
the day. Even man is not entirely exempt. A 
couple of times when dining somewhat en de¬ 
shabille after a wade in the swamp we were forced 
to hustle out our shoes, etc., for protection.— 
IVilson Bulletin. 
TOURNAMENT NATIONAL A. C. A. 
It will undoubtedly interest many of your 
readers to know that the Second Annual Tourna¬ 
ment of the National Amateur Casting Associa¬ 
tion was eminently successful in every particu¬ 
lar. Numerically, it was half as large again as 
the 1913 Tournament, and the enthusiasm was 
unbounded from the first preliminaries of Sat¬ 
urday morning (Aug. 22) to the adjournment of 
the Annual Meeting and Banquet at midnight 
Monday (Aug. 24.). 
Nothing occurred to mar the occasion aside 
from a hard thunder storm on the second after¬ 
noon and this was not altogether regrettable, for 
the casters and their guests gathered in the 
cosy protection of the shelter tents and merri¬ 
ment reigned supreme. College and patriotic 
songs were sung, every one joining in with a 
vim that evidenced that well known trait of the 
angling temperament—an indifference to wind and 
weather. Luncheon time each day found a jolly 
crowd at the tables in the nearby Refectory. All 
the arrangements necessary to proper para¬ 
phernalia, tents, seats, practice buoys, etc. had 
been ably made by the special committees and 
nothing was left undone that contributed to the 
comfort and efficiency of those present. Weather 
conditions were at no time ideal, but nevertheless 
many creditable scores were made and that 
every one was having a good time was apparent 
from start to finish. 
The condition that stood out in bold relief 
beyond all others was the marked spirit of true 
amateur sportsmanship that was evidenced at 
every turn. That basic principle of amateurism 
—“sport for love of the sport only’’—seemed to 
be the slogan on every lip and it is a safe prem¬ 
ise that every trophy acquired gave as much 
pleasure to all the contestants as it did to the 
actual high man. 
As is generally the case, the Accuracy Bait, 
half ounce, event proved the popular one and 
in this event, thirty-eight contestants participated. 
The Tournament was held August 22, 23, and 
24th on the Lagoon at Washington Park, Chi¬ 
cago. This is a delightful spot, well adapted to 
the requirements of a casting tournament. 
Following is a summary of the five highest 
scores in each event: 
Salmon Fly 
(average of best five casts) 
F. 
F. 
J. 
O. 
R. 
R. 
D. 
L. 
H. 
E. 
J. 
F. 
C. 
H. 
F. 
Distance Bait % oz. 
Feet. 
E. Moffett .198 1-5 
E. Church .190 4-5 
E. Amman .-.169 4-5 
J. Towell .160 
D. Heatfield .151 4-5 
Accuracy Bait % oz. 
Per cent. 
C. Nicholson .99.2 
R. Linder ...99 
E. DeGarmo .98.9 
Wheeler Perce .•.98.9 
Lambert .98.7 
L. T. Dry Fly Accuracy. 
Per Cent. 
E. Amman .99 10-15 
E. Church .99 8-15 
O. Dorchester .99 8-15 
Wheeler Perce .99 7-15 
E. Moffett .99 7-15 
Accuracy Bait % oz. 
Feet. 
J. E. Amman .124 3-5 
C. O. Dorchester .119 3-5 
L. E. DeGarmo .118 3-5 
H. Wheeler Perce .118 2-5 
C. J. Spruce .114 4*5 
Per Cent. 
H. Wheeler Perce .99 
J. E. Amman .98.8 
L. E. DeGarmo .98.7 
C. C. Lucke .98.5 
F. E. Moffett .98.4 
