March, 1885 issue of
Forest and Stream
What's happening on the island's
north end at the moment, is part of a new American adventure.
Since the early 1870s the force has been spinning around the
island, like a hurricane of another era. What the Calusas knew
and then passed on by word of mouth to people like José
Caldez, has now gone public - big time - and morphed into a fledgling
industry. Forest and Stream began publishing in 1873 and touting
Florida as a sports paradise. Ten years later, March of 1885
to be exact, they ran a story about a New Yorker named W.H. Wood
who landed a 93 lb. tarpon at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee
that set the sport on fire. And by the '90s, the Fort Myers Press
was listing the number of fish caught weekly. Because, by then
it had become possible for America's new explorers to go where
they've almost never gone before - tarpon fishing.
|