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Marion and Goldie Tracy after a successful
day trapping, around 1928, Quijotoa. Photo courtesy of Marian Coplen
Futch.
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When the Depression hit, life became even more difficult for the Tracys. To
supplement their meager income, they turned to trapping. A coyote pelt brought $2-6;
a skunk, $1; a fox, $2; and a badger, $3. Goldie especially liked to trap badger,
which yielded some meat, and a lot of useful fat. She found buyers for all of the
desert critters that she trapped. Goldie also collected rattlesnakes, scorpions,
Gila monsters, and tarantulas.
One day as Goldie and Marion walked the long miles of
their trap lines, a bobcat jumped onto Marion's back and began clawing
him. Goldie ran up, put her hands around the cat's neck, and choked it
to death. She then skinned it and hung the dried pelt on the wall of her
house. For the rest of her life, Goldie's arms bore the deep scars from
her encounter with the bobcat.
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