Carroll Crouch (B)
(4:30) Mr. Crouch tells about his father's experience operating a ferry as a young boy and fishing with trot lines on the Tennessee River in the early 1900s. This interview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Dep...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/182 |
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Electronic |
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Oral Histories Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
| topic |
Oral histories -- audios and transcripts |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Carroll Crouch (B) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Ferries; Fishing |
| description |
(4:30) Mr. Crouch tells about his father's experience operating a ferry as a young boy and fishing with trot lines on the Tennessee River in the early 1900s. This interview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Carroll Crouch July 10, 2009 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Juliann Losey and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 2 of 14
Carroll Crouch: Another thing was, there was a ferry that was operated across the river, and this is probably one of the Colbert’s ferries. You know, they had, they had two places where they crossed the river, down at, you know, to Waterloo and back. My daddy operated that as a young boy. I don’t know whether you’ve ever seen one of those ferries or not, but they’ve got a rope or something, you know, and then have some way to snake their way on, or push, push their way with a pole or something. But there’s a circus, they didn’t call it a circus, they called it some kind of show you know, that crossed the river from Waterloo over to Eastport. I don’t know how many wagons or whatever they had, but the whole outfit you know, was ferried across one piece at a time, and so forth, and their animals. And they got on the other side of the river, they just kept going and they didn’t pay for their ferry charges. So there’s eleven miles from there up to Iuka and my granddaddy run a store up there. And he went up there, ran all, run all the way up there and he told his daddy what happened. And it was said that Granddad just reached under the counter and got a pistol that back then they had some long barreled pistols, you know. Got a pistol and was walking down the, they had a boardwalk, walking down the boardwalk where they were setting up the circus. And he said that some of the other merchants, as he passed by, saw him and they knew there was something up, so they got their pistols and followed him. And he got down there, and he said that Granddaddy laid the pistol up on the place where they’s selling tickets, and he told the guy, said, “ I want to know what you were doing by running off and not paying for your ferry fee.” And he said, “ Oh, we’re gonna pay him when we go back,” and he said, “ No, you’re gonna pay right now.” And he said, “ We haven’t got the money,” and then he said, “ I’ll just give you so many seconds to get it”. And he said the guy that was selling tickets went off in the tent or something and he come back with the money and he handed it out to him and said that the Granddaddy now said, “ Now, pay all these other gentlemen for their time.” He said that they closed up, they didn’t show, they just closed the thing up and come on toward Decatur, you know.
Another story he told me was about his fishing. He said that one time he figured somebody was running his— they had trot lines, if you know what trot lines are— and he was running his trot lines. So he stayed with it one night and he sat down on the bank, you know, and they, usually the trot line was tied to a limb or something, you know, and then goes out and there’s an anchor that held it down in the water and went to some other place where there’s an anchor. But he was close to where this anchor was, ah, and the tree was connected. And he said these, something come down the river, it was dark, and they said, one of them said, “ It ought to be pretty close in here somewhere,” He said to the guy, said, “ Don’t talk so loud.” And he said they went on up and two or three times the guy would say something and he said, “ Don’t talk so loud!” And he said they finally got up there and said, “ Here it is,” you know, they found the float that held the line down. And so they pulled the float up and pulled the line up and was working toward this place where he was, you know, where it was tied up. They couldn’t see him, he was kind of concealed in the bushes. But he said that every once in a while, he’d take the line and pull it down like that and let it go and that flops and, you know, and it feels like a fish. And the guy, the other guy said “ God, it’s a big one on here.” And he said “ Don’t talk so loud!” And he went on again, and Daddy was having fun, and he went on again and he pulled that line and let it go, you know, and the same thing went on. And they got right up to this bank where the branch of the tree that the line was held and he said he just raised up and said, “ Is it a big one, boys?” And he said they hit the water at the same time. He said “ Mister,” said, “ Don’t shoot us!” Said, “ We won’t run your lines no more!”
That’s a pretty good story. |
| title |
Carroll Crouch (B) |
| titleStr |
Carroll Crouch (B) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLoral_hist182 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/182 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/182 |
| _version_ |
1782468788348780544 |
| spelling |
Carroll Crouch (B)Ferries; Fishing(4:30) Mr. Crouch tells about his father's experience operating a ferry as a young boy and fishing with trot lines on the Tennessee River in the early 1900s. This interview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryCarroll Crouch2009-7-10sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library collectionContact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence- Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Carroll Crouch July 10, 2009 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Juliann Losey and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 2 of 14
Carroll Crouch: Another thing was, there was a ferry that was operated across the river, and this is probably one of the Colbert’s ferries. You know, they had, they had two places where they crossed the river, down at, you know, to Waterloo and back. My daddy operated that as a young boy. I don’t know whether you’ve ever seen one of those ferries or not, but they’ve got a rope or something, you know, and then have some way to snake their way on, or push, push their way with a pole or something. But there’s a circus, they didn’t call it a circus, they called it some kind of show you know, that crossed the river from Waterloo over to Eastport. I don’t know how many wagons or whatever they had, but the whole outfit you know, was ferried across one piece at a time, and so forth, and their animals. And they got on the other side of the river, they just kept going and they didn’t pay for their ferry charges. So there’s eleven miles from there up to Iuka and my granddaddy run a store up there. And he went up there, ran all, run all the way up there and he told his daddy what happened. And it was said that Granddad just reached under the counter and got a pistol that back then they had some long barreled pistols, you know. Got a pistol and was walking down the, they had a boardwalk, walking down the boardwalk where they were setting up the circus. And he said that some of the other merchants, as he passed by, saw him and they knew there was something up, so they got their pistols and followed him. And he got down there, and he said that Granddaddy laid the pistol up on the place where they’s selling tickets, and he told the guy, said, “ I want to know what you were doing by running off and not paying for your ferry fee.” And he said, “ Oh, we’re gonna pay him when we go back,” and he said, “ No, you’re gonna pay right now.” And he said, “ We haven’t got the money,” and then he said, “ I’ll just give you so many seconds to get it”. And he said the guy that was selling tickets went off in the tent or something and he come back with the money and he handed it out to him and said that the Granddaddy now said, “ Now, pay all these other gentlemen for their time.” He said that they closed up, they didn’t show, they just closed the thing up and come on toward Decatur, you know.
Another story he told me was about his fishing. He said that one time he figured somebody was running his— they had trot lines, if you know what trot lines are— and he was running his trot lines. So he stayed with it one night and he sat down on the bank, you know, and they, usually the trot line was tied to a limb or something, you know, and then goes out and there’s an anchor that held it down in the water and went to some other place where there’s an anchor. But he was close to where this anchor was, ah, and the tree was connected. And he said these, something come down the river, it was dark, and they said, one of them said, “ It ought to be pretty close in here somewhere,” He said to the guy, said, “ Don’t talk so loud.” And he said they went on up and two or three times the guy would say something and he said, “ Don’t talk so loud!” And he said they finally got up there and said, “ Here it is,” you know, they found the float that held the line down. And so they pulled the float up and pulled the line up and was working toward this place where he was, you know, where it was tied up. They couldn’t see him, he was kind of concealed in the bushes. But he said that every once in a while, he’d take the line and pull it down like that and let it go and that flops and, you know, and it feels like a fish. And the guy, the other guy said “ God, it’s a big one on here.” And he said “ Don’t talk so loud!” And he went on again, and Daddy was having fun, and he went on again and he pulled that line and let it go, you know, and the same thing went on. And they got right up to this bank where the branch of the tree that the line was held and he said he just raised up and said, “ Is it a big one, boys?” And he said they hit the water at the same time. He said “ Mister,” said, “ Don’t shoot us!” Said, “ We won’t run your lines no more!”
That’s a pretty good story.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/oral_hist,182 |