Gone to the Swamp : Raw Materials for the Good Life in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta

In the hinterland behind the port of Mobile lies the vast swampy convergence of the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers, a delta rich in fish, game animals, hard and softwood resources. This book offers an account of a man who was artful in all the skills needed to survive and raise a family in this area where most people would be lost or helpless.

In the hinterland behind the port of Mobile lies the vast swampy convergence of the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers, a delta rich in fish, game animals, hard and softwood resources, and the beauty and solitude of the wild - but also rich in varmints big and little, including some human ones, and the manifold dangers of a world where land, sky, and water seem to blend together and one can become lost 100 paces in any direction, if not drowned or devoured first.To make a living here, one had to be capable, confident, clever and inventive, know a lot about survival, be able to fashion and repair tools, navigate a boat, fell a tree, treat a snakebite, make a meal from whatever was handy without asking too many questions about it, and get along with folks.This fascinating and instructive book is the careful and unpretentious account of a man who was artful in all the skills needed to survive and raise a family in an area where most people would be lost or helpless. Smith''s story is an important record of a way of life beginning to disappear, a loss not fully yet realized. We are lucky to have a work that is both instructive and warm-hearted and that preserves so much hard-won knowledge.