282 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



Tryanna, I made a trip up Indian Creek every day by boat to a fish 

 trap dam, which I was unable to get the boat over so was com- 

 pelled to leave it at the dam and hoof it up the creek to the end of 

 the line. On the way back down the creek each day I would gather 

 up a boat load of drift wood to last for the day. The water being 

 at a very low stage, it caused several rapids, which made it tight 

 nipping to paddle the boat over. I had occasion to stop paddling 

 often as I was continually making sets for mink ; rats, coon and 

 opossum, first on one side of the stream and then on the other, so 

 that I had abundance of time to rest. But, comrades of the trap 

 line, this kind of work is much better for an old played-out trapper 

 than pills. 



While I found trapping conditions here in Alabama different 

 than they were a year ago, I nevertheless got a mink, rat, 'possum 

 or coon nearly every day, but two mink at a single round of traps 

 was the best that I did at any time. There was no otter or beaver 

 in this part of Alabama and but very few fox or skunk, and I 

 found far more trappers than there were a year ago. Many of 

 the trappers were from other states, and last season [ did not see 

 or hear of a colored man trapping, but this fall I heard of the 

 dark man and his works daily. One of the worst and most foolish 

 things that the trappers did was their early trapping before furs 

 were any where near in a prime condition. This unwise work was 

 indulged in by the white trappers as well as the negroes. 



I was unable to get out into the swamps or sloughs to any 

 great extent and it is in the swamps that the coon are found more 

 plentifully. The mink does not take ko the swamps as readily as 

 the coon, nevertheless he is found in the swamps as well as along 

 the rivers and smaller streams. If we could only keep down the 

 trapping fever and the desire to get that mink before the other 

 fellow did, it would help us out in a financial way. We saw many 

 mink that were offered for sale here that were over three feet from 

 tip to tip, from 75 cents to $2.00, and the skins went a-begging at 

 that price. Now, comrades, just think of the difference in what 

 those skins would have brought when in a prime condition. The 

 price then would have been from $3.00 to $7.00, and this same rule 

 applied to the coon and muskrats and other fur-bearers, and you are 



