HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY!
This humorous real photo postcard – FISHING FOR ROCK TROUT – seems an appropriate post for April Fool’s Day!
There is considerable writing on this 1910 real photo postcard, but we are left guessing about its exact meaning. Along the top is scribbled in ink, “Uncle Bill Tracy.” More legibly in white is “Davis Phots” inscribed on a beam supporting the bridge behind him. Also, in white along the beam is “OUT OZARKS MTNS Fishing for Rock Trout.” Indeed, the nattily dressed gent has a stick with a line attached dangling down to some stones on the streambank. Other inscriptions are “Fish Point” and “Bate Date May 14th, 1910.” Perhaps these refer to some absurd event known only to Uncle Bill and the photographer. That still leaves us guessing about what stream this is. Without a location or some other information our Google search fell short.
It isn’t surprising there are jokes about Ozark angling. Sport fishing and hunting are pastimes that have the raw material of humor – men engaging in activities of little economic benefit while consuming intoxicating beverages. The Ozarks is famed for the sarcastic, self-effacing humor of its native. The hillbilly persona, drawn from its inhabitants’ lighthearted indifference to propriety, created its pop culture portrayal in the media. Legendary mountaineers may have been indifferent to game laws, but they relished being in nature, were skilled with rod and gun, and were valued guides for urban sportsmen.
Vintage Ozarks is a column we provide to River Hills Traveler monthly magazine. We are Leland and Crystal Payton at Lens & Pen Press, publishers of all-color books on the Ozarks. Our book, “See the Ozarks: The Touristic Image” showcases many of the primary tourist destinations across the Ozarks. It is available for $22.50 (10% off retail), postage paid