Exploring ihe Salton Sea. 
Los Angeles, Cal., May 6.— Editor Forest and 
I ream: A remarkable voyage of discovery has 
st been completed by Chester A. Pinkham and 
rthur Henderson, of Mecca, Cal., who set out 
a small boat on Salton Sea, and besides cov¬ 
ing a vast stretch of water, found islands con- 
; riling which nothing was known; discovered 
: st sea bird rookeries, notwithstanding the great 
land salt water lake has been but recently 
eated, and were so beaten by a storm, that they 
■arly abandoned hope of reaching land. 
Salton Sea is about eighty miles long, by forty 
ide and is a terra incognita so far as its center 
id more remote shores are concerned. Pink- 
im and Henderson made their trip as one of 
[venture and exploration simply, and the 
rmer describes it as follows: 
| “Starting with a good, staunch boat we sailed 
1 om Mecca on the afternoon of a perfect April 
i ; y. A moderate breeze from the north was 
eating long easy swells, like those of the Pacific 
ider similar conditions. The wind whipped us 
ong about six miles an hour, and at 6 o’clock 
|e landed on the mainland half a mile beyond 
■here Fig-Tree John’s ranch and spring used 
j! be. At present these landmarks are under 
| indred of feet of water, if they have not been 
sallowed up in some of the newly-created caves 
ith which the bottom of the lake bed is sup- 
>sed to be scarred. 
“We seemed to be on the real sea. Around 
; sounded the harsh screams of sea gulls which 
fid come up from the Gulf of California. Brant 
id geese circled overhead, and countless ducks 
id coots scurried out of the path of the boat, 
ow and then a loon came along. Toward 
i ening myriads of carp leaped front the water 
umsily and fell back with a loud splash. Hun- 
i -eds of cranes rose from the submerged tops 
: mesquite and other trees alongshore as we 
iproached our first camping place and wheeled 
iwn the lake, nearly every one with a fish in 
j 5 beak. 
i “Telegraph poles, ties, sides of rude shanties 
ltd planks were floating all alongshore. .On 
[ ese scores of gulls and coots were resting, 
\ hile a few avocets, stilts and smaller shore- 
rds which we did not recognize, were feeding 
l the mud flat which everywhere rints in Sal- 
n Sea. Clouds of gnats and small flies kept 
j; busy digging them out of our eyes and ears. 
' s the sun set above the desert of water it made 
I most sombre and melancholy sight. Where 
i ice had been prosperous homes was now noth- 
1 g but a waste of water, silent as the grave 
I ve for the calls of the waterfowl, and most of 
i ese were fast driving out to their roosting 
I aces. 
! “Running our beat into a convenient cove we 
| ent ashore and by chance met Ed Stone and 
1 man named De Lano, who were on a pros- 
| cting trip with their burros. The evening was 
ie and we spent considerable time swapping 
f rns around a camp-fire. From the two men, 
liwever, we were unable to get any informa- 
j on concerning the central parts of Salton Sea 
' ’ of its further shore, familiar though they 
ere with all parts of the desert. We slept in 
e boat, and on the following morning, bright 
J id early, we were on our way. encountering 
I imerous spring time whirls of wind which kept 
j ; guessing how to tack and set our heads whirl- 
g until we came close to being sea sick. Run- 
; ng ashore we visited some large coral reefs 
hich might almost be called fossil cliffs, so 
<e stone are they. Presumably these reefs were 
j ade hundreds if not thousands of years ago, 
hen the Gulf of California reached up into this 
i iff of the desert and when the Colorado River 
aptied into the sea somewhere near this point. 
\ e took pictures of a cave in the reef and then 
i iled away. 
“When midway of the old Bad Land region, 
now covered with water, a northwester, coming 
out of Coyote Pass, rushed down upon us, and, 
although within a hundred yards or less of the 
shore, so strong was this wind that we could 
not beat up to it. The gale increased, and to 
keep from being swamped we scudded before the 
blast. Near the center of the lake the waves 
attained enormous proportions, and while we 
always weathered their fury, only alertness 
saved us from being swamped. We took off 
our coats and shoes, but I doubt very much, had 
we been thrown out, if we could have clung 
to the boat, let alone swimming in such a sea 
as was then running. Just before dark we 
rushed in between the Illusionary Isles (so 
named because they are now perceptible, now in¬ 
visible from the shore, even on the clearest days) 
and out upon the Devil’s Backbone. This brist¬ 
ling reef of jagged rock stretched directly across 
our path, but there was no help for it. Rushing 
onward into this whirling maelstrom, we took 
the one chance. An immense rock to the right 
—probably the jagged crest of a water-buried 
mountain—was safely passed, and we plunged 
into a torrent of waves. Suddenly a rock, larger 
than any we had yet seen, loomed up and a quick 
whirl of the tiller again saved us, only to hurl 
us on to another slimy boulder. Once lifted 
clear of this we were whirled out into quiet 
water. 
“On into the gloom we were driven, our situa¬ 
tion becoming momentarily more critical because 
darkness was falling fast and we had no means 
of seeing our way. Time and again we narrowly 
escaped disaster, and had mast or rudder given 
way we should assuredly have said good-bye to 
all our friends back in the Coachella Valley.” 
At 7:30 P. M., three hours after they struck 
the storm, the mariners were driven high up 
on the extreme southeastern rim of Salton Sea, 
close to fifty miles. The wind was still blowing 
a hurricane, and, unable to start a fire, they 
crawled into their wet blankets, supperless. At 
dawn everything showed smooth and peaceful 
on the sea. “We had a hard tussle launching 
the boat off the mud flat,” continued Mr. Pink- 
ham, “but it was finally accomplished and we 
rowed up shore about five miles, anchoring in 
a lagoon that pierced far inland. Old Beach, or 
Imperial Junction, was but three miles distant 
and we tramped up there and mended the sail 
which had become badly torn. Thence we re¬ 
turned and explored the islands, giving names 
to all of them except the one furthest east, which 
had already been christened Pelican Island by 
the Carnegie Institute people who visited it about 
two months ago in the same boat we were using. 
The other islands we named Echo, Mysterious, 
Pilot Cove and Obsidian Ridge. Echo Island is 
a long, low obsidian and pumicestone fragment 
about three miles in circumference, with two 
lovely coves penetrating about midway into each 
of its sides, allowing safe landings and good 
anchorages. On the southwest slope clay, sand¬ 
stone and volcanic bluffs present a beautiful 
sight with their delicate tints of green, red and 
yellow. Carp are exceptionally numerous in 
the waters of the lake around this island, and 
I caught one small salmon off shore. This 
would make a magnificent place for a winter re¬ 
sort, with its boating, bathing, hunting and fish¬ 
ing, for I might add that I caught good sized 
catfish as well as carp. There is an abundance 
of driftwood, and the water is pure enough for 
cooking and washing. 
“Pelican Island is three miles distant from 
Echo, and has already become a rookery for 
sea birds, which could be seen in hundreds 
lying on the ground. Presumably they will nest 
there and this island will become as famous as 
the island in Salt Lake where thousands of peli¬ 
cans breed every season. On the other side, to 
the west, Mysterious Island, the top of a rugged, 
rocky butte, looms up, only a mile and a half 
away, and about the same distance beyond, Pilot 
Cove, Obsidian Ridge and the Devil’s Backbone 
are all close together, all of volcanic origin, and 
during the fall and winter months, when there 
are no desert winds, Echo Island would prove 
a charming resort or camping ground. These 
islands change, rise, spread out, shoot up in every 
imaginable shape, and even at times fade clean 
out of view. The surrounding mountains, such 
as Signal, Superstition and other desert ranges 
bordering the sea, assume many changing angles 
and shapes, while the water illusions and mirages 
are startling and numerous. Close around the 
islands are hundreds of mud geysers and springs 
of surpassing interest, but now all under water.” 
Nothing of moment occurred on the return 
trip and they reached Mecca ’the second evening 
after leaving Echo Island. They brought with 
them some 300 pounds of obsidian and other 
specimens. The voyage was made in seven days 
and covered more than 170 miles. 
Harry H. Dunn. 
Game Protection in Florida. 
R. S. Williams, Jr., in Circular No. 59; Bureau of 
Biological Survey. 
Experience extending over many years has 
clearly shown the futility of any scheme of game 
protection in the United States which does not 
provide for a general official in charge of the 
work. This fact has been so generally recog¬ 
nized that thirty-five States and three Terri¬ 
tories now maintain Sate or Territorial game 
commissioners or wardens. Florida is one of 
the nine States in which provision has not be-^n 
made for such an officer and one of the seven 
in which the enforcement of game laws is in¬ 
trusted wholly to county wardens. Experiments 
in other States have plainly demonstrated the 
practicability of supporting a State game de¬ 
partment entirely with the revenue derived from 
hunting license fees. Florida realizes a con¬ 
siderable sum each hunting season from non¬ 
resident hunting licenses, but, as at present 
applied, this fund furnishes little support to 
game preservation. 
By 1891 the necessity for stricter laws was 
plainly manifest, and that year was marked by 
resumption of legislative interest in game and 
birds. A very notable advance was made by 
the passage of an act shortening the open season 
for deer, turkeys, and partridges and prohibit¬ 
ing their sale and possession during the close 
season,* prohibiting the netting and trapping 
of partridges and wild turkeys, and allowing in¬ 
formers one-half the fines. Another effort was 
made at this session to prevent the destruction of 
plume birds, by an act prohibiting the killing 
of cranes, egrets, ibises, curlews, and herons 
for sale or traffic, under a penalty of not more 
than $300. This was far in advance of any 
former attempt to protect non-game birds, but 
failed to accomplish its purpose owing to in¬ 
adequate means of enforcement. In 1893 killing 
the manatee or sea cow, except for scientific 
purposes under permit from the county com¬ 
missioners, was prohibited under severe pen¬ 
alties. During the same year the first complete 
non-export law was enacted, but was limited 
to the shipment of partridges from the county 
where killed. At the next session of the Legis¬ 
lature this prohibition was extended to deer 
and turkeys and has continued in force to the 
present time. 
In 1895 an act was passed which virtually 
codified the game laws. This. important measure 
forbade sale of deer or venison outside of the 
♦Sale of deer at any time was not prohibited until 
1899, and of turkeys and partridges until 1903. 
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