290 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



wealthy class have cisterns. The soil is mostly red clay, and 

 terrible to get about in when the least damp. The roads are only 

 names for roads. 



South of the Tennessee River is what is called the Sand Moun- 

 tains; the soil is of a sandy nature, freestone water, and the people 

 are all white in fact, it is said that they will not allow a colored 

 man to live there. I heard it stated that they would not even 

 allow a negro to stop over night in that section. 



The Sand Mountain region is a piney country with a sandy 

 soil. The land is not as fertile as the bottom lands along the 

 Tennessee River, but they produce a finer grade of cotton, which 

 brings a cent or two a pound more than that of the bottom lands. 



As to game in north Alabama, there is but little large game 

 to be found. In the extreme northern part of Madison county, 

 well up to the Tennessee line, there are a few deer and wild hogs; 

 it was said that there were some bear, also plenty of wild turkeys. 

 There were plenty of ducks, and a good many quail. 



There is still some lumbering being done, mostly in oak of 

 different kinds, though a good part is white oak. The logs are 

 cut and hauled to the Tennessee River and taken by steamboat to 

 Decatur in Limestone County, and worked up into lumber and 

 manufactured articles. There is still quite large bodies of cugalo 

 gum left in the swamps, though this timber is not yet used to any 

 great extent. 



I wish to say that if the trapper expects to ship his camp 

 outfit by freight to any part of the South, he should start it from 

 four to six weeks in advance of the time that he will arrive at 

 the place where he will use it. The trapper, as. a usual thing, is 

 too shallow in the region of the pocket book to afford to ship an 

 outfit of camp stove, cooking utensils, tent and a hundred traps 

 or more of various sizes, by express. Of course, he can take his 

 bed blanket and extra clothing as baggage in his trunk. 



Now to make this matter plainer, I will give my experience of 

 the last two seasons. In 1910 I trapped here in Pennsylvania the 

 first two weeks of November before going south. So shipped 

 my camp chest by express to Cameron, N. C, started it four days 

 before I started so as to be sure that it would be there by the 



