I'm a Florida native myself, grew up on the shores of a lake not far from Gainesville. 1900 is the period of the cracker cowboys and Henry Flagler, a Standard Oil magnate who brought tourism to Florida when he built a railway along the coast all the way to Key West.
If you like Western novels, I can recommend Crackers In the Scrub, which tells the story of cowboys in Florida in the years immediately preceding the Spanish-American War. Author Lee Gramling has also written a fine handful of "Cracker Westerns," as they are called.
As for the pics - - wish I had an Eastern Diamondback skin from a snake that large, it would make one hell of a fine belt. ;)
built a railway along the coast all the way to Key West.
I remember this now that you mentioned it.
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Thanks for the book info and when I had a garage in San Clemente, there was a mechanic who would go behind the place and catch rattlesnakes with his bare hands as he said he could sell the skins for more if there were no marks. At any rate, he would give me the rest and we would grill them. I have a picture of my 4th daughter, Christine when she was probably 5, eating a hunk and the ribs are clearly visible. :) Once I was sitting at my desk when I glanced to the right to see a rattlesnake passing down the aisle and going into a wall. :)
I'm a Florida native myself, grew up on the shores of a lake not far from Gainesville. 1900 is the period of the cracker cowboys and Henry Flagler, a Standard Oil magnate who brought tourism to Florida when he built a railway along the coast all the way to Key West.
ReplyDeleteIf you like Western novels, I can recommend Crackers In the Scrub, which tells the story of cowboys in Florida in the years immediately preceding the Spanish-American War. Author Lee Gramling has also written a fine handful of "Cracker Westerns," as they are called.
As for the pics - - wish I had an Eastern Diamondback skin from a snake that large, it would make one hell of a fine belt. ;)
built a railway along the coast all the way to Key West.
DeleteI remember this now that you mentioned it.
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Thanks for the book info and when I had a garage in San Clemente, there was a mechanic who would go behind the place and catch rattlesnakes with his bare hands as he said he could sell the skins for more if there were no marks. At any rate, he would give me the rest and we would grill them. I have a picture of my 4th daughter, Christine when she was probably 5, eating a hunk and the ribs are clearly visible. :) Once I was sitting at my desk when I glanced to the right to see a rattlesnake passing down the aisle and going into a wall. :)