The Zaragossa Saga By Joe’s Old Lure Bulletin Board The story has been told many times. How a lure to Dexter, Michigan to marry Merrel Louise Tozer. They that’s been catching fish for over 100 years got its start. returned to Pensacola in July. Who was the first person to design and use the Zaragossa? What was its true origin? The complexity of one of the key player’s family, their repeated use of same or similar names, and the confusion of how to spell a street name make the journey even more difficult. Through solving those questions we’ll try to find the lure’s origin. Along the way there will be stories of famous fishermen and unknown anglers. It’s an American story and it’s worth hearing. Roswell Bayard King Roswell Bayard King was born near Marietta, Georgia in 1870. His father was also named Roswell and so was his grandfather who founded the town of Roswell, Georgia. In June 1899 Roswell Bayard King, partner of Roswell Bayard King and daughter Marjorie circa 1906-1909 Bruce & King Sporting Goods in Pensacola, Florida, went 1 In the 1910 Pensacola, Florida census Roswell B. The ad further stated “We manufacture and King, 37, was listed with his wife Merrel 27, son Warren, control the famous reel brake and will teach anyone to 9, Marjorie 7 and Ruth 2. The Pensacola Directory also cast free in ten minutes”. included an early Florida fishing lure maker Zaragossa A January 13, 1917 Pensacola News Journal collectors might recognize, Grover C. Cox. notice showed “Mr. Roswell B. King expects to leave, Another Pensacola sporting goods store, this coming Monday morning for Minnealo [sic], Wilson-Biggs, opened in 1913. The March 2, 1913 Florida, where he will visit at the beautiful winter edition of the Pensacola News Journal noted W. E. home of Mr. W.T. Heddon.” Wilson, formerly of Gulf Machine Works and Walter F. It further stated “King is the inventor of a Biggs, of the H. W. Gibbs Hardware Company bought patent reel brake which Mr. Hiddon [sic] will make the sporting goods stock of F. B. Bruce, former partner practical test of”. Heddon must have liked the idea of R. B. King. The notice said the purchase had occurred because several Heddon Auto-Thumbers have been several weeks before. found in the correct box. The November 1, 1914 edition of the Pensacola This event no doubt signified the start of a News noted R. B. King had invented a new fisherman’s relationship between Heddon and Roswell Bayard King. reel known as King’s Balanced Reel. The reel was sunk into the rod handle making it perfectly balanced and more in line with the rod itself. No other reference of “King’s Balanced Reel” has been found and so far there is no known example of such a reel. On March 10, 1916 Roswell Bayard King of Pensacola filed for a patent for a “Reel Brake for Fishing Rods”. The device was a metal, spoon-shaped handle that could be attached to any fishing rod. Two different versions were included in the patent drawings. (Patent 1,227,273 granted May 22, 1917) John Savu Photo A notice in the September 18, 1917 Pensacola News Journal shows Ben F. King sold his sporting goods stock to Walter F. Biggs, formerly of Wilson-Biggs, and Chas H. Kupfrian, formerly of the Watson Agency, a real estate and insurance business. They formed a company called The Sportsman’s Supply Store. On October 28, 1917 the Miami Herald states expert angler R. B. King, a representative of James Heddon’s Sons, is in Miami demonstrating casting at Burdine Sport Shop. This was the first time King was specifically mentioned as a Heddon representative. The next day the Miami News shows “B. R. King [sic], representing the James Reddon [sic] factory”, was in town three days of last week demonstrating a “new style of artificial minnow”. It also noted King would return in the winter. In August 1916 R. B. King’s invention of the reel The January 6, 1918 edition of the Tampa brake was highlighted in an advertisement for tailor B. Tribune noted New Port Richey had “the coldest F. King Co, Inc. 34 South Palafox Street. The ad noted R. weather in the history of Florida” according to their B. King had joined the firm after working for the Wilson- oldest inhabitants. Biggs Company. 2 The article went on to say: “fishing is excellent in the Cootee [Pithlachascotee] river here” and “Catches up to forty trout have been recorded by a single fisherman on one tide.” Also, “The new Zaragossa Dowagiac lure is much in favor of the fisherman, both for salt and fresh water fishing, superseding the porpoise hide minnow or the spinner or any form of gang inanimate bait.” This is the first known instance the lure was recorded as the Zaragossa Dowagiac. Another Tampa Tribune article, a week later on Janauary 13, 1918, notes “Fishing continues to be fine in First version, No-Chin, cup rig Heddon Zaragossa. Jimmy Pettis the Cootee river. Some mackerel and “snooks” are Photo running now. All the fishermen have the Zaragossa Dowaigac [sic] craze and are fishing with nothing else. This lure catches the fish when nothing else will entice them to hook.” The article went on to say “The word zaragossa means “movement” and this lure has a movement of its own.” It also noted the lure worked equally well in fresh water and said a party at Moon Lake had taken thirteen black bass with the Zaragossa, while the vaunted pork rind bait went fishless. Correct box type for the Heddon No-Chin Zaragossa Minnow. Box A couple weeks later Knight & Wall Co. of end would be marked Zaragossa. Joe Stagnitti Photo Tampa included the Zaragosa [sic] Minnow in their ad of January 26, 1918. If anglers were fishing the lure and sporting goods stores were selling the lure in early January 1918, it must have first been made sometime in 1917, most likely after R. B. King’s meeting with Will Heddon right after Monday, January 15, 1917 when he left on his trip and before October 29, 1917 when R. B. King was demonstrating a “new style of artificial minnow”. A newspaper note stated R. B. King arrived in Tampa from Dowagiac, Michigan in March 1918. In the April 28, 1918 edition of the Tampa Tribune a story about F. C. Calkins, insurance agent, and Gerben M. DeVries, postmaster of New Port Richey, talked about the very unusual catch DeVries made while Calkins repeatedly brought in 5 to 10 pounders using his reliable Zaragossa. DeVries’ catch was never identified but they told quite a story about their adventure with it that day. An October 2, 1919 article in the Tampa Tribune includes a Tavares, Florida report by W. B. Powell about a trip fishing with A. L. Cashwell and family for black bass. According to Powell the Cashwells were winners of the Field & Stream fishing contest for black bass several times. Powell asked Cashwell what bait he normally used for his fishing expeditions to which Cashwell That’s 3 different references to the Zaragossa replied, “Wooden minnows, altogether.” He further Minnow in the month of January 1918. 3 stated “Some times they take a red-head, sometimes a Stolley was often the highest ranking employee Zaragossa, others a Dowagiac, - some days they are at the Heddon plant because Charles and Will Heddon hungry for silversides, another time plain white, and on were frequently away in Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin other days multi-colored.” or California. An item in the October 21, 1920 Tampa As documented above Heddon made the first newspaper reported R. B. King of Dowagiac, Michigan Zaragossa in 1917 so why was it not included in a arrived Thursday in Tampa and expects to winter there. catalog until 1922? It was not unusual in those days, nor today, for people Don Lyons’ book The Heddons and Their Bait from the north to winter in the south and for people in gives us the answer. Lyons noted Heddon reprinted the the south to summer in the north. 1916 catalog with a few minor changes and called it the November 2, 1920 finds R. B. King, James 1917 catalog. Heddon Sons representative, in Eustis, Florida. It was He also notes there are no Heddon catalogs reported King caught enough fish at West Crooked Lake printed in 1918, 1919 or 1920 for several reasons, to provide a fish fry for a number of people at including World War I and the Spanish Flu. He also Interlachen, summer camp of H.R. Ferran. states the Zaragossa was not included in the 1921 A special to the Miami Herald from the St. Lucie catalog even though it was probably in production in County News in a report from Ft. Pierce on November 1921. That moves the first appearance of the Zaragossa 19, 1920 noted that Mr. King, representative of a in a Heddon catalog to 1922, reinforcing that year as Dowagiac fishing tackle house, caught 28 saltwater the introductory year along with the patent date. trout between 2 and 6.5 pounds each from the Indian By March 1922 King had become so closely River off the new Ft. Pierce hotel dock. associated with the Zaragossa Minnow that he was William A. Stolley, Heddon’s long-time plant even referred to as “Zarragossa” King in an Orlando manager, filed for a patent for an Artificial Bait on newspaper. January 17, 1921.