Dad bought a farm on Red River in 1947 and started fishing, trapping and truck farming. I was 7 years old and Dad took me with him every where he went. I followed in Dad’s footsteps for the next 12 years.
He taught me how to read Red River: How to navigate a boat up and down the river’s shallow waters and how to read the deep water for places to set nets and trotlines. I learned how to trap furbearers. I learned how to recognize native plants and trees and “their duty in life.” He taught me how to recognize the season for doing things, like fishing, trapping, and hunting and when to eat certain animals and plants. I learned how to tie nets, build boats and make trotlines.
I graduated from High School in 1959 and moved away from Red River. My formal Red River education began in 1986 when I started designing and building twig furniture and display articles. From 1986 until 2002 I spent 2 and 3 days a week (every week) on Red River gathering material. I interviewed the people I met on the river and diligently studied Red River's Geography, her temperament and her place in nature. June 1, 2001 my son and I launched the schooner and struck out for Fulton, Arkansas. Fourteen days and 400-miles later we arrived at the mouth of Little River and pitched camp. We weathered a storm there and spent some time in Fulton. Along the way I added to a Red River education that I had spent a lifetime accumulating.
My studies cover a period from 1790 through 1994 when the Red River Waterway project was completed adding a series of five lock and dam complexes between Shreveport and the Mississippi River making her navigable to the Mississippi once more.