Tag Archives: fishing

May 5, 1938 (from Walter White* Dove)

533 West Magnolia
May 5, 1938

Dear Daddy

We are going to Uvalde Saturday and I think we are going to the river.

If so, I will cast some. I know how to cast pretty good.

And maybe, if papa will come I may be able to shoot my thirty-two.

May 5, 1938 (Walter White)

May 5, 1938 (Walter White)

* In case anyone reaches this post through a Google search and is confused, this is a letter sent by a little boy named Walter W. Dove to his father, Walter E. Dove, in 1938. Neither had anything to do with the characters in Breaking Bad.

April 23, 1938

Stationery from the Chicago & North Western Line railroad.

Saturday Night

My dear Ina,

Have been at Minneapolis since Monday night late. At present Mr. Dorward, Mr. Spencer and I are en route to Salt Lake City. Mr. Spencer is the business manager of the Bureau and seems to have found things in pretty good shape at our office. He is on his way to the Mormon cricket office. Mr. Gaddis will be back in Mpls this week but I hope that I can be there by the time he comes. From Salt Lake we go to Logan Utah, Moscow Idaho, Pullman Washington, Corvallis Oregon, Reno Nevada (I have a committee there) and perhaps to Denver on my return. I need the time at Mpls but can’t be in two places at the same time.

April 23, 1938

April 23, 1938

I sent the checks by airmail & I think they were on the way at the same time as your letter. Sorry that your bank acct. was so depleted. I had lost track. Did you get the Kehoe check? Will try to see that you are not almost embarassed again.

I am expecting Walter White to look after you and Lewis Dunbar while I am away. When you move to Mpls will teach him about fishing for pike. They are a game fish.

With love to the three of you.
Walter

September 25, 1925 (Ina)

Friday Night
Sept. 25, 1925.

My dearest Walter:

I did get it – the “sleepy” letter, you know. I was mighty glad to have it too, because I hadn’t “heard your voice” in two days. ‘Twas music to my ears again.

I know you were thoroughly tired out and sleepy when you wrote Monday, and I can imagine the sweet sleep you enjoyed that night. Your account of the trip was interesting, and I would consider myself quite a fisherman if I could catch as many fish as you did. One is all that I have caught in my whole life, and it was such a small perch that it would really be cruel to even use it for bait. There is quite an art in fishing and I hope I can learn it sometime, but I will have to start with my A B C’s. Dr. K.S. certainly seems to have it down to perfection. It just seems natural with some people. You promised to teach me, didn’t you?

September 25, 1925 (Ina)

September 25, 1925 (Ina)

It was too bad about Dr. Ransom’s death. Yes, you told me of him when you were here. Dr. White is a very faithful correspondent. You seem to have made a mighty good friend of him, and I think it’s nice, especially as he tried your patience so much during his stay with you. It speaks well for your disposition and tact to be able to retain his friendship during such trying circumstances. Besides the pleasure and satisfaction of knowing that you still have him as a friend, you may derive a material benefit from it. No doubt he will use his influence in helping you when he has an opportunity to speak a good word. We hope he does, don’t we? Every little bit counts, you know.

I love you an awful lot tonight, Dear. I never love you less, and it seems like I love you more all the time. Here’s looking forward to the time when I can be with you always. My! but that will be fine.

Lovingly, your
Ina.

September 21, 1925 (Walter)

The Beach. Monday 9/21

My Dear Sweetheart,

I came back this afternoon and of course I went to the Post Office the very first thing. There were two real good letters from you. Was getting hungry for them too, despite the fact that I am pretty sleepy now.

September 21, 1925 (Walter)

September 21, 1925 (Walter)

It was about 11 o’clock Sat. Night when we arrived at Orange Springs, about 100 miles from Jax. Then we found a Negro to row the boat, and early the next morning we started. Did not go upstream as we had planned as there was nothing to pull us up there. So we drifted down about 12 miles by water and then had a man to drive down for us. It was about a four mile drive & it had to be made with a one-horse wagon. It was slow enough in getting back. I really caught 3 this time, about 3 to 5 lbs. bass. Dr. K.S. caught about 12 bass, 1 cat fish weighing about 8 or 9 lbs., 1 pickerell & several brim (a variety of perch). We had a good time but we were about worn out when we returned to his home about 1:30 this AM. Mrs. KS had gone to the beach with some folks and on account of car trouble had not returned. There were a number of the neighbor children at his home asleep on the floor of the living room. They had been left with Elizabeth and all had gone asleep. The parents returned about 2 or 2:15 A.M.

This morning (a few hours later) after having had breakfast with Dr. KS at home, I used his car for a little work near Jax. Incidentally, I drove by the recent purchases and looked at the 10 acre tracts again. They look mighty good. A new grade has been made on a road leading from the paved road to a point below these tracts, leaving about 1 1/4 miles of unimproved road leading to them. They can be driven over with a car – some pine bushes and palmetto, but no real big trees.

Had two letters from Dr. White today. One enclosed clippings giving an account of Dr. Ransom’s death. You probably remember that I mentioned Dr. Ransom when I was in Uvalde. We had planned to invite him down here when the time was ripe, but had not reached the point of asking him. He was one of the very best research men in the Dept.

I am going to mail this tonight so that it will go on the early train to Jax. It has been two days since I have written to you and I am anxious to get this one going. If it had been possible I would have written you while on the trip, but Dear, it was practically impossible.

I love you and I only wish that you knew how much. With a sweet goodnight.

Your
Walter.

September 18, 1925 – Evening (Walter)

The Beach, Friday Nite.

My Dear Sweetheart,

Yours of Sunday and Monday came tonight. As usual they were good ones, too. Also had a letter from Dr. White tonight, telling me that our engagement had been announced in Washington. Mr. Webb gave out the news when he returned. No doubt he visited Uvalde on his trip. Dr. White did not know of it until he returned to Wash. He wrote a very nice letter.

September 18, 1925 - Evening (Walter)

September 18, 1925 - Evening (Walter)

Am taking the early train for Jax. Dr. K.S. and I will leave about noon. It will hardly be possible for me to write you tomorrow night as we will stop at a private home on the river & it will be late by the time we will have arranged for a boat and a Negro to row. But I’ll be thinking of you just the same and I’ll wish for you a great many times. I will spend Sunday night at Dr. K.S. home. We will probably get there about 2AM. Monday. Will write again Monday night, Dear.

I have some mighty interesting work going just now and I don’t like to leave it even for a few days, but the change will do me good. We always have a good time.

I hope that Claudelle is getting settled in school by now. Give her my brotherly love and say hell-o.

With lots and lots of love, I am

Always your,
Walter.

September 18, 1925 (Walter)

The Beach, 9/18-25
Friday Morning.

My Dear Sweetheart,

I did not write last night but am doing so the first thing this morning. Have just had breakfast and now I am on the porch of the cottage. Today, I want to get everything in shape so that I can leave it over Sat & Sun. Will go to Jax on the early train tomorrow AM & will finish some work up there so that Dr. K.S. and I can leave at noon on our fishing trip. I always have a good time with him.

September 18, 1925 (Walter)

September 18, 1925 (Walter)

We are going to the same point near Orange Springs, but will go up the river this time & have a Negro to run the boat as we drift back. The last two times we were down there we drifted down the river & then had a gasoline boat pull us back. I do not know whether anyone else will go with us or not, I hope not, for two men casting from one boat is about as many as can fish conveniently. At that the Negro will probably dodge the Dowdgiacs* some.

The material I am working with since Dr. White left looks very encouraging. I don’t intend to tell him about this until I get somewhere with it. He has plenty of the other to keep him busy and if he knew of this it might get him away from the other. The other should be worked up anyway and he can go to it.

Will write you again tonight, Dear, and will post it in Jax tomorrow A.M.

I love you, and love you and love you,

Your,
Walter.

*Probably a phonetic spelling of “Dowagiac.” The Heddon lure company was originally headquartered in Dowagiac, MI, and their earliest products were branded “Dowagiacs.”

July 26, 1925

Sunday Night 7/26

My Dear Sweetheart,

We had a real good time and returned at 6PM so I have time to write my “daily dozen” lines to you. It was a mighty good feeling to find a letter here from you, and it was an especially good one. When I read it, I had a bath and shaved. I felt like a different person. The fishing was enjoyable, and the drive a good one, but there was a tired feeling when we returned. I did not expect to get back until 2 AM (Monday) and was mighty glad that Dr. K.S. came in early.

July 26, 1925

July 26, 1925

Dr. Sandusky, an eye ear & nose specialist, went with us. He and I fished from one boat, while Dr. KS and Dr. White went in the other. We were on the lakes near Dr. Pridgeon’s and stopped at his home for a while this morning. He had an extensive case of creeping eruption last summer and I was anxious to have Dr. White see the location of its origin. We did not catch any real fish as they were not biting, but had fun catching brim (which are a perch). The outing was the principal thing and we enjoyed it. Had breakfast at 5 o’clock this morning. Dinner at 9 o’clock last night. Meals came close together and were big ones too, but they were thoroughly enjoyed. Dr. KS is a prince of a host for a fishing party.

Had my first letter from Mr. Bishopp yesterday which was an answer to one I had written to him. He told of a request from Florida which had been made to Dr. Howard that we locate a man in his locality for some work. According to Bishopp his tract is five hundred thousand acres. It seems too large to believe, but it sounds encouraging and especially since the study comes in our line. He is located in the South-Western part of the state, where the problem is probably that which I have had in mind, and which I intended looking up this summer. If his holdings are this extensive he should be interested sufficiently to offer an inducement for me to do the work in that section, which incidentally is probably less than 100 miles from Miami but nearer the West Coast. If it looks as good as the east coast for living conditions it might be better to locate our station there. I am not going to take you to an out of the way place, Dear, but will locate where I believe you will like it. I’ll tell you all about it before deciding, as I will have quite a bit to say as to where the station will be. I am assuming that there will be one, for that’s what I am going after.

You are going to like Florida, not simply because I am here, but I really believe that it will strike you about right. The amount of work to be done in our line has no limit as far as I can see, and I have no doubt but that we can count on Florida as our permanent home. The southern portion of the state, especially the East coast, is the coming portion and I don’t believe there is a place anywhere which offers the possibilities that this section does. I mean in growth and development. A business lot in Miami sold for twenty-two thousand dollars per front foot a few weeks ago. The highest price ever paid for business property at any place was on 5th Ave. N.Y. and it sold for 25,000 per front foot. Real estate values are higher than in the eastern cities.

The farm land and every other piece of property has increased since last year. The proportions are hardly believable as much of it is selling for several times what it could have been bought for last year. The farmer I told you about who asked $5000 last fall, refuses $10000 now and if he holds it he will get more. His location is off the highways, or it would be worth much more.

I wonder if the boom is one which will have a reaction, but I hardly think so, for the Northern tourists will always come during the winters. This summer the travel on railroads is just as heavy as last winter, and autos can be counted several per hour – all on their way to South Florida before the winter season. Don’t think I am crazy, Dear, as I don’t want it to be too much of a shock when you come down with me. You would then wonder why I hadn’t told you. Our lot at Fulford was bought at the right time and at the right price. I don’t know what it would sell for now, but I sincerely believe that it will be worth at least three times what we bought it at, within two years from now. I intend to familiarize myself with the values when I am down there this summer and may see where I can handle an option or two to good advantage. Your caution would be “don’t be reckless” and Dear, I won’t.

This is getting to be a lengthy letter, so I’ll bring it to a close.

I love you, Dear, with all my heart and I wish for you real often. No one else interests me, and Sweetheart, I feel that I couldn’t get along very well without you. I have never had such a feeling before. I am real glad that we are young enough to feel some of the romance of it, for if we were older we would probably miss much of it.

With a sweet goodnight and all my love,

Your
Walter.

September 22, 1924

Monday P.M.
Sept. 22, 1924

Dear Walter:

Thelma, Bob and the children have just left, so I want to have a few minutes conversation with you. I wish it could be several hours real conversation instead of one with pen and ink.

Your account of the fishing trip was interesting, and I know you had a good time. Yes, I would have enjoyed it the best in the world, and I appreciate your thinking of me. That makes me feel good even though I couldn’t be there. I know I’d just love to be down in Florida, and would be a mighty happy girl if I loved you. Guess I’ll know some day whether I do or don’t. There isn’t a doubt in my mind about your being good and kind and considerate because I feel sure that such is your disposition. If I find that I do love you, I feel perfectly sure that you can make me happy, and I will try my very best to make you just as happy. I appreciate your love more than I can tell you, and I hope I shall never be guilty of doing anything that would show lack of appreciation.

September 22, 1924

September 22, 1924

We had an inch of rain last night. Can you imagine such a thing? It has been terribly hot for the past few days, but has been so cool and pleasant today. Everyone seems to feel so much better. I hope you have had enough rain to make your work better.

No, up until a few days ago when Mr. Parman was here, he hadn’t heard a word from Mr. Bishopp, and had no idea about who was to take his place while he was on his vacation. He doesn’t know why Mr. Bishopp doesn’t write. However, he says now that he can’t get as long a vacation as he had hoped to get, so he and Mrs. Parman are going to leave here the last of this month, going by rail instead of in their car since he can be gone only two weeks. I am very much disappointed that it looks like you can’t come this time, but maybe it’s all for the best. I try to look at things that way, and I usually find sooner or later, that it all …

The remainder of the letter is missing. I just found the final leaf misfiled with the letters from July 1925. Here it is:

works out right after all. If we do our best and have faith I feel sure it will.

I am glad you liked the pictures, and I appreciate the nice things you, the nurse, and your landlady said about them. I don’t feel a bit badly that the landlady insisted that I was Irish. I am afraid though that I can’t boast of any Irish blood. As far as the temper is concerned, I must have “lost” most of mine when I was a baby, because I only have fragments of it left. I sometimes wish I had more. Some people seem to get so much satisfaction out of “flying off the handle,” that I believe it woiuld help my feelings a little sometimes if I could do it.

I am sorry your work didn’t come out just like you expected. I know you were disappointed, but you shouldn’t be discouraged, because you have spent a comparatively short time on that particular thing, while others have spent years without satisfactory results, so you really couldn’t expect to solve it all in two or three months. I feel that you will solve it sometime if they will let you continue working on it.

We are getting a little busier every day at the office. We have about six thousand tax receipts to write which are supposed to be finished by the first of October, so you can see that we will not have much idle time. You see, after the 1924 tax rolls are made, we have to write up each person’s receipt, now describing his property, and then, when he comes in to pay his taxes, all we will have to do will be to date and sign the receipt, and take the money. If we waited until tax-paying season, which begins October first, to write the receipts, it would be practically an impossibility to handle the crowd. It takes a long time, you know, to describe every tract of land in Uvalde County.

It is getting late and so I had better get some sleep.

Remember that I enjoy your letters lots & lots.

Sincerely,

Ina

September 15, 1924

Monday PM

Dear Ina,

I have thought of you real often, even though I have neglected to write during the past few days. I have felt that I wanted to see you and would welcome the opportunity to spend a while in Uvalde. Mr. Bishopp has not written to me regarding it and I presume that he feels that it is hardly wise to pull me off the job here. It has been very dry and cases have been scarce, but today it is raining and no doubt we will have lots of material soon.

September 15, 1924

September 15, 1924

Dr. K.S. and I went fishing last Friday. Drove to the St. John’s River about 100 miles south, where it is about the width of the Nueces at the point we visited. Had a negro row the boat and we covered about twelve miles, then at 5PM a motor boat pulled us back to where we had left the auto. It was my first attempt with casting and I only caught one which weighed about 1 3/4 lbs. Dr. K.S. had about 23 ranging from 1 to 5 lbs. He didn’t consider that his luck was good as he often gets twice that many in one day and occasionally a 12 pounder. That was the first day I didn’t work and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Had a late drive in returning which put us at home 3:30 Sat. A.M. This partly accounts for my not writing. I wonder if you would have enjoyed such a trip, just you and I with a negro to row.

I didn’t care for the late drive but the fishing was quite cool and the sun didn’t bother. We stopped twice to make coffee and have a lunch. I believe you would have had as much fun as climbing the mountain at Regan’s Wells, and I doubt if you would have been as tired the following day. Had you been along probably I would not have caught the one fish, as some one couldn’t kill any squirrels when you went hunting with them. But I can assure you that the pleasure in having you on the trip would have been greater than any fish catching and that I would have tried to have you enjoy it.

It was mighty fine of you, Dear, to tell me just how you felt toward me and I appreciate the frankness and encouragement. I only wish that I could be with you lots and we could know one another better. I feel that I have known you always and there is no doubt in my mind, but I certainly want you to be sure of yourself and continue to have confidence in me. To know that you believe in me is mighty encouraging, and I am very happy to know that you haven’t had occasion to doubt me. I hope it will always be that way. I am sure that I’ll always love you, and there is no doubt in my mind. There isn’t another like you.

A man can tell if he loves a girl if he is sure of it before breakfast, and it was interesting to me that I met you at that time. Your last letter was written before breakfast and it was a real sweet one, which shows your disposition real well. As a rule folks don’t feel good until they have eaten and they are apt to show their ill feelings at an early hour. Should I have the opportunity I would try to be as good at that time as any other, and would want to be just as much of a sweetheart when I am old. I would always be proud of you and would try to always be good and kind.

It is raining quite hard now and I certainly hope that I’ll have lots of cases during the next two to three weeks so that my work will be in good shape and such that I can be in Uvalde. You don’t know how much I want to be with you, and I am hoping that Mr. Bishopp will ask me to come down there.

I love you,
Walter.