Conversation with male, Pettigrew, Arkansas
Oral history of work during the Great Depression in Arkansas
Excerpts
Well back in the late 30s a [man?] from Kingston came over here, and he got me….to help him buy cattle. And we bought up about 214 head. We was about 2 weeks a-getting everything lined up and we started to Alpena with them, and we got on the way and sold….and that left us 200 head. And we lost 8 head on the drives down in the canyon and he come back later and got those and we got way back about 40 miles this side of Alpena – yeah we was a-horseback, and it was 80 miles to Alpena from where we left our place here…. And we drove them cattle to his place and stopped and stayed two days and let them rest and he butchered one…and I got $2 a day for me and my horse.
Questions:
Locate the places mentioned in this interview on a map. What type of physical geography do you see?
What was the job of the man who was being interviewed?
Is this still an occupation in Arkansas today?
How was work like this changed by technology?