Golden Allred, Bighorn Basin trapper

Golden Allred, born in 1910, was interviewed in December 1987 by volunteers from the Washakie Museum in Worland, Wyo. This excerpt was prepared for the museum’s summer 2012 exhibit about early settlers in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin, Voices of the Basin: History in their Own Words. Allred trapped beaver, bobcat and other animals for 22 years.

Transcript:

I done a lot of trapping.  Every year, every winter I think I have caught more beaver than anybody else in the United States, close to eight thousand.  I trapped every year and I went for 22 years with an average of 200 beaver a year.

I figured I had to have 200 beaver a year to make ends meet.  So when I’d get near the 200 I’d take up my traps, along with the other fur that I’d catch- bobcats. … I believe I’ve caught more bobcats in one year than anybody around here. One hundred and sixteen in one season.

There when I was trapping the best, I would have an auction sale out here at my place and have the buyers come here and buy.  Otherwise I’ve shipped to New York several times, and I sold here at home several times just to local buyers, and I shipped to Denver.”

Transcription by Washakie Museum and Cultural Center, Worland, Wyo.