Old trapping photos

[KegRiver]

I thought some of you might like to have a look at some old trapping photos.

I don't have many. Film were a luxury we couldn't afford very often.

I have a couple with me in them as well but I couldn't find them in this electronic maze. Maybe later if I can find them.

So here's most of the old trapping photos I have.



Dad's trapping partner with a few Wolves and a couple of Coyotes



Uncle Eldon with a Lynx.



Not sure who this is. All I know is that it was taken in front of Jack Loftgardners house.



Dad on the homestead. Those are beaver stretchers in the background.




Dad fleshing a Beaver hide, circa 1976 or about then.



Dad sewing the hide into a loop stretcher.



Dad and my baby brother. Circa 1964. The ever present beaver stretchers hanging on the old log shack. This is the house I grew up in.

The Dogs are Jype and Ripper. Funny I can remember that after all these years and I can't remember what I did yesterday.




Well, that's all I have for now.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Excellent images Sir!

Thank you for taking the time and effort to bring such a poignant (In that things aren't quite such a way for the most part today) piece of your Family's past here to A.O. These are something special, much appreciated.

Thank You

[joeti7]

Thanks for sharing the awesome pictures Keg.

[nube]

cool

[mxz1997]

Thanks for sharing.

[alder]

great stuff!

[Red Bullets]

Thank you for sharing. The good old days. Wish they were still here.

[HunterDave]

Great thread/pictures, Keg! I'd add to the pictures but my oldest trapping photo is only less than a year old.....lol!

[Bigwoodsman]

Awesome Keg.

Thanks for posting up.

BW

[scottymac]

Thanks for sharing.

[elkdump]

Great pictures, thanks for showing them,

I like the Savage 99 leaning against the log wall.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by elkdump

Great pictures, thanks for showing them,

I like the Savage 99 leaning against the log wall.

That gun is the first rifle my dad ever bought. It was in .250 3,000 Savage.
Later just called the .250 savage. It was the first cartridge that managed to exceed the 3,000 fps barrier, which is why they added the 3,000 to the name.
It was quiet an accomplishment in it's day.

The rifle was bought brand new in Edmonton in 1938. Dad was 30 years old and at the time he was working for Gainers Meats on the North side.
He bought the rifle to use on Moose in the Codotte Lake area east of the town of Peace River, which is where his brother Eldon trapped.
The cabin is Uncle Eldon's line cabin.

Dad shot his first Moose with that rifle around Christmas that year, but he wasn't impressed with the rifles performance on Moose so he sold it in the spring.

Because of his experience with that 250 3000, dad never bought another small caliber rifle for big game. For the rest of his life he stuck to .303 in one form or another. He did own a .22 mag he used for Beaver. I own that rifle now.

A few years after that photo was taken uncle Eldon returned to Nova Scotia where he and Dad was raised. Shortly after he returned he took ill and died. I don't recall now what disease he had but I remember that it was one of those diseases that we get inoculated for. But back then there was no immunization and a lot of folks died from it, including my uncle.

He died long before I was born. I never got to know him except through stories my dad used to tell.

Its kinda strange too because almost the same thing happened to me and my brother. Only he died of exposure on the trap line.
He was my best friend and constant companion. We hunted and fished and trapped together till I left home to go to high school.
I was in high school in Wetaskiwin when my brother died. That was on January 20 1973.
I will never forget that day.

This is Ben, the year before he died. As always, he's clowning around.
This time with a Weasel and Fisher that dad had trapped.

[drake]

this is a great thread...thanks for sharing

[Wolftrapper]

My favourite thread this year.
Thanks very much for it.
Very sorry to hear the story about your Brother.

[coy coyote]

Really like to read your posts Keg. Something I start to look forward to everyday. A Lot of great knowledge being shared. Thanks.

[JackB]

Awesome pictures and story, thanks for sharing.

[Ditchdoc]

Thanks cool pics

[Bigwoodsman]

Keg this thread gets better and better with each of your posts.

Thanks again

BW

[openfire]

Sounding like a broken record but it is s great post. Thank you.

[bill9044]

From what I have read you have forgotten more about trapping and the line than I have learned. Great info great pics.

Thanks

[jim summit]

Great pics and story to go with it, really enjoy hearing
of the past in the north country.
Found it interesting the Wolf pelts in summer. Did they not sell them
to a fur buyer, or kept the pelts for their own use?

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by jim summit

Great pics and story to go with it, really enjoy hearing
of the past in the north country.
Found it interesting the Wolf pelts in summer. Did they not sell them
to a fur buyer, or kept the pelts for their own use?

I believe that photo was taken in the spring, just after things turned green.
And that would have been in the 1940s

Because travel was so time consuming it was normal for a trapper to spend the winter trapping and then haul his take to town to sell it in the spring.
Back then roads didn't exist up here. Travel routes were wagon trails through the bush.
Those wagon trails would be a mess in early spring making travel next to impossible, plus rivers had to be forded (no bridges) which made travel difficult at best for many trappers, until things dried up a bit.

I remember the first real road in to Carcajou, which is where we lived back then. They started construction in 1964, they reached the flat in 1966.
The flat was what we called the river valley. It was rich soil and when the first settlers arrived it was natural prairie ground, all be it a very small prairie.
It was such areas that the first settlers developed for farming, (homesteads) because there were no trees to clear. All one had to do was plow the ground and plant a crop.
No one had brush clearing equipment back then. farm equipment had to be pulled in by horses or shipped down the river on the D.A. Thomas. The D. A. was a paddle wheel river boat that run the Peace River for many years.
It was retired a few years before I was born. Last I heard the motor (steam engine) and boiler from the D. A. were at the Provincial Museum in Edmonton.

A lot of trappers would ride the D. A. to their trapping area in the fall and then catch her on her first trip south in the spring, to get to town to sell their furs. That was usually in late may from what I remember. Stories I heard.

Hence the fur in hand with green grass and leaves on the trees.

[RockyMountainMusic]

Great thread, love reading stories like this of the past.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I believe that photo was taken in the spring, just after things turned green.
And that would have been in the 1940s

Because travel was so time consuming it was normal for a trapper to spend the winter trapping and then haul his take to town to sell it in the spring.
Back then roads didn't exist up here. Travel routes were wagon trails through the bush.
Those wagon trails would be a mess in early spring making travel next to impossible, plus rivers had to be forded (no bridges) which made travel difficult at best for many trappers, until things dried up a bit.

I remember the first real road in to Carcajou, which is where we lived back then. They started construction in 1964, they reached the flat in 1966.
The flat was what we called the river valley. It was rich soil and when the first settlers arrived it was natural prairie ground, all be it a very small prairie.
It was such areas that the first settlers developed for farming, (homesteads) because there were no trees to clear. All one had to do was plow the ground and plant a crop.
No one had brush clearing equipment back then. farm equipment had to be pulled in by horses or shipped down the river on the D.A. Thomas. The D. A. was a paddle wheel river boat that run the Peace River for many years.
It was retired a few years before I was born. Last I heard the motor (steam engine) and boiler from the D. A. were at the Provincial Museum in Edmonton.

A lot of trappers would ride the D. A. to their trapping area in the fall and then catch her on her first trip south in the spring, to get to town to sell their furs. That was usually in late may from what I remember. Stories I heard.

Hence the fur in hand with green grass and leaves on the trees.

Keg you need to write a book about this. Your writing skills and story telling abilities are second to no one.

Thanks again,

BW

[Red Bullets]

BigWoodsMan is right Keg. You most likely do have a book full and best of all you have pictures to relate your stories to. Save some of your stories for the book.

The thing is that most young people today can't even fathom the hardships and triumphs of those past times. You have come from some of the biggest transitions in time...From the newhouse to the conibear. From your full moon in the honey closet to the first man on the moon, from the radio days to the computer age, from trail to pavement.

Those times become forgotten if they aren't written down. (hint hint) I would enjoy coming to your book signing at a bookstore.


just in fun...
(You mention going to school in Wetaskiwin back in the early 70's... any stories about the live bands and dances at Mameo beach? haha )

[thunderheart]

thanks so much jim

[alder]

awesome of you to share the story and photo of your brother

[Sooner]

Great thread Keg. Your brother sounds like he was a lot of fun. If you feel like sharing some stories of you and your brother please do, I bet you could write a book about you and your brother growing up in that era.

[nube]

Great stuff here Keg. I think a book would be a great idea if not for us but for your family before all the stories dissapear over time. My wife scrapbooks mine so I imagine 200 years from now people will have a good read and some interesting pictures to look at.

[sureshot]

This is an awesome thread. Some great pics and stories.