Ok, I took a jab at all the AI photos showing up and suggested that we post some real photos along with the story behind them so here goes.




This is yours truly around 1976. The age seems right and all the mines shut down unexpectedly then and everyone lost their jobs. Mom took to making our own clothes and apparently bought the material that wasn't suitable for inmate uniforms or something. I am sure my Dad caught the rat and I was just tagging along. The photo was taken on my Grandparents place back on the "Little Field on the Crick". We have no creeks in these parts, only cricks. I have only caught one black Beaver in my life and I caught it at this same spot. There has been a Beaver dam here forever, even back when Beaver were rare around here in the 50's. Someplace I have a picture of my Dad (about the same age as me in this picture) along with my Grandfather and a family friend with 3 Beaver in one day. That was quite an accomplishment in the early 50's around here. In this spot for all of my life the family goes back and dip nets suckers in the Spring. In the mid 70's when times were REALLY lean, we took 3,500 suckers one spring. We smoked them, canned them, ground them up into patties.........I don't think I actually enjoyed eating fish for many years after that stretch.
I remembering "finding" a few Victor #4 DBL LS hidden on the crick bank many years ago. After looking at the tags, they were Dads and he just hid them back there each year so he didn't have to carry them a 1/2 mile each way.
My parents own that property now and Dad and I both still set a trap or two back there each year for old time sakes. Anyway, real photo and a real story.

Great story and I love those britches. Only a real man could pull of wearing pants like that

It was that or nothing! I mean we were BROKE then. We went to town once a month and if we forgot something, it had to wait until the next month.

Them style of pants were all the rage back in '72. I sported me a pair at that time. I was done growin by then, so they never became highwaters like yourn. I wiped out on my bike and ripped a huge hole in the knee of them. I almost cried because that meant that I had to go back to wearing hand me downs, but all I had was older sisters...

Awesome story rob

Dang! I bet your buddies made fun of you when you showed up wearing blouses and underwear with a little red rose on the front.

I had a pair of pants just like that.. probably 1969.

Our little town ..had what they call ..a sidewalk Bizzaah.

Which was ...all the clothes that did not sell in the stores..

Was set outside on a table...and heavily discounted...

So us not so well off...could have some new clothes.

… good post partner

… but y’all hadn’t discovered blue jeans back then ?

… looks like Saturday night fever meets Jeremiah Johnson

This was the most popular masculine/rebel icon of the Soviet cartoon universe. This particular episode first aired in 1976.

That picture brings back memories. And yup had a pair of two of those britches in the early 70's.

Hey Rob I even sported a nice pair of pants like that back in those days. They were hip!

Great photo and story

Mom made a lot of our clothes too.

Tatiana thanks for posting that cartoon to give us a look into your world.

Great story and great picture!!!! We were so poor never had a camera. Thanks for sharing that and a great thread.

Nice picture and story.

That photo is also AI. 160 ain't never caught a muskrat in his life.

I had a pair of britches exactly like those in 1972! Only I had them purely by accident. I have a photo of me in them as I'm holding a dead rooster pheasant in one hand.....while the other held the rock I killed it with........that was a bigger accident than those britches. I literally just went through my one old photo album and couldn't find the picture. Saved you folks the agony.

"but y’all hadn’t discovered blue jeans back then ?"

Things change....... At one time "jeans" were not looked upon with approval in some circles. I remember being sent home from school because of wearing blue jeans. That was '68 or 69. Just gave me another way of getting a day off when I wanted it. A dab of skunk essence on the bottom of my shoe worked well also. Only teacher that caught on was Mrs. Savu, her husband bought my fur

I shudder when thing of all the Levis big E and Selvedge jeans I trashed from logging. Worth a small fortune now but weren't back in the day. I remember having a winter Carhartt that had no material left from the chest down in front from hugging trees hooking up- just the zipper swinging around. Kids that dont work anymore buy them up giving them the illusion of "working".

Pants like those were my dress up for game day pants in the early 70s. We had to wear a dress shirt, tie and nice pants on days we had football or basketball games.