BajaNomad

1903 exploration in the San Pedro Martir of Baja

John M - 11-18-2021 at 04:53 PM

10 days ago or so I posted a story about three generations of the Charles Nordhoff family and their stories/books about Baja in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. Following up on that research I found a Los Angeles Examiner newspaper story about a subsequent trip taken by Walter Nordhoff and a few others into the San Pedro Martir mountains. This trip lasted a bit over 30 days. The article follows.












Additional stuff about the trip will follow tomorrow.

John M





John Harper - 11-18-2021 at 05:23 PM

Wow, the game list is incredible, and they caught rainbow trout!!! The "Nelson's Rainbow" (or Santo Domingo) trout of Baja. I'm lucky to at least have that in common with these pioneers. Thanks for such a fascinating article from the past. And, I also have a Luger pistol and an old .30-30!

I think Nordhoff was possibly involved in transplanting the trout to a few other areas, some of which are accessible today. There's an article here on BN about that fortuitous project.

John

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by John Harper]

Trout

John M - 11-18-2021 at 05:39 PM

John Harper

Pictured are two photos from that trip - their trout, plus comment about the source. More images tomorrow. Image isn't so clear but it from a long time ago.





JM

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by John M]

advrider - 11-18-2021 at 06:27 PM

Amazing story. I can just imagine the desert alive with all of the wild game they talk about! I too own my grandfathers 30-30, I shot my first deer with it.

John Harper - 11-18-2021 at 07:35 PM

Wow, those are huge fish for the waters they inhabit. I've so far only caught one about 10-11" at most. It must have been epic fishing back then. Today, the common belief is that they don't ever get that big, a kind of stunted subspecies due to the small waters they were found.

Obviously not true.

John

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by John Harper]

David K - 11-18-2021 at 09:04 PM

Quote: Originally posted by John Harper  
Wow, the game list is incredible, and they caught rainbow trout!!! The "Nelson's Rainbow" (or Santo Domingo) trout of Baja. I'm lucky to at least have that in common with these pioneers. Thanks for such a fascinating article from the past. And, I also have a Luger pistol and an old .30-30!

I think Nordhoff was possibly involved in transplanting the trout to a few other areas, some of which are accessible today. There's an article here on BN about that fortuitous project.

John

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by John Harper]


I bumped up the post with the Baja trout history. >> http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=59581

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by David K]

John Harper - 11-19-2021 at 08:48 AM

In 1903, that Luger would have been a "state of the art" firearm, probably quite rare in the west. The venerable Colt 1911 was still just a gleam in John Browning's eye.

John

[Edited on 11-19-2021 by John Harper]

AKgringo - 11-19-2021 at 09:24 AM

My grandfather was from San Francisco, and I have his Colt 380 Automatic. It is a hammerless fore runner to the 1911 45 caliber, and is still a good shooter!

Stamped into the slide is the patent date (April 20, 1897) and what might be the the manufacture date (Dec 22, 1903). He carried it the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, until he hopped a steamship to Nome during that gold rush.