Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The most backwater place you ever spent time in.

Uncertain, Tx. Took the wife fishing up there near Lake Caddo, and the fisherman's cabins had doors that didn't latch. I don't mean lock, I mean, they didn't latch She vehemently objected, so we stayed in the nearby Metropolis of Marshall.

Then there's the Yangtze river:

Diomede is unique, that's for sure...







...but hardly scary/weird like some of the places we've probably been or seen described here. Good folks out there!

Ross River,Yukon Territory - The bar was mostly drunk natives (First Nations Peoples} with a few white trash who were shacked up with some of the native gals. The bartender was behind a screened in area - you ordered, slid the money through a small opening and she slid a drink back.

My only reason for being in the place was because I was with a friend who knew quite a few of the locals and he felt that I needed to experience the "real" Yukon. We spent most of the evening there - Once was enough.


drover

You reckon...??

Some of those family trees don't branch a lot, either.

Researchers find those isolated populations rich in unique recessive genetic disorders. Not much outside blood...

DF

Uncle's AF sent me to some really crappy places with two overseas deployments but my early years in the coal fields of Southern West Virginia were by far the worst experience as I reflect today..

The timeline was 1954 I was six just didn't realize how deplorable the little town of Maybeury was! [ that's right Maybeury not Mayberry as in the Andy Griffin show].

This Methodist church was my Dad's second charge after Seminary moving us from Neelys Bend Tennessee which was NE of Nashville to the Southern WV conference.

Maybeury was a typical coal town in those days folks barely scraping by for the necessities of life but nobody starved and all us kids had no clue how really poor we were.

The church provided Dad with a meager salary subsidized by furnishing the church parsonage [a company tract house built in the mid 30's] ,paid electric/water bills and all the coal for our winter heating needs. Summer brought fresh produce by parishioners,baked goods and gas cards for the local filling station.

Just a slice of my history in a different time and place to remember and relate to my children, grandchildren and future generations.

Always be thankful for the blessings God has granted, don't ever judge the poor or downtrodden as their shoes may have walked a thousand miles.





We lived in a row house similar to these built in 1939 by the coal Co.



The Company store before it was demolished.But where everyone shopped in those days.



Generally what I remember as a kid...dirt, soot and foul smelling air.

funny some of ya'll mentioned louisiana. i didn't want to offend any of our louisiana members but theres some places betwixt shreveport and baton rouge that seem like a different country. swamps with houses growing out of them on stilts.

Agreed. I didn't mean it in the scary weird way. More of the extremely remote/isolated kinda way. Have been to virtually every corner of our state, and have never been scared of any of the people. Big cities in the Lower 48 are another matter!

Thanks for the photos BTW!!

Jeff

On my way home from a hunt with Greg W a few months ago, I went out of my way to drive thru Boron. I wanted to see where Pancho Barnes used to live.

Well Flyer, you have me there.

mmm, gonna have to look that one up, Pancho Barnes. never heard of him..

Geno

Miles,
I live not too far from Mt. Judea but I would have to say that Witts Spring is more backwater IMHO. Most backwater place I've been is desert along the Iraq-Iran border near a little town called Badra. Really slow going until an Iranian border jumper stepped on a land mine. He isn't half the man he used to be!

All the third world countries I've been in, including rural India and Nepal, nothing prepared me for Romania under communism (pre-1989). Of all the Soviet Block, only Albania was as bad. Russia wasn't anywhere near as bad...

here's a large metropolis in N Cal.

Tionesta, CA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tionesta,_California

and the one it was named for:

Tionesta, PA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tionesta,_Pennsylvania

Yep, I've been to both and they mostly qualify as "backwater" types of places.

Geno

Got a call to do a small job at China Lake. When I signed in and identified the company I worked for, the lady at the desk asked me if I was with "the Oak Ridge group."
I wasn't, I was with another division, but that pretty well verified some things I was pretty sure of.

Flyboyflem---Great post and pics. An interesting look back in time when hard work and toil was normal.

East St. Louis

Been to Point Lay, just didn't spend any time there.

Too much time in Point Hope. Never made it to Stebbins. Dad and I hunted in around McCarthy before the Pipeline, so it was even lonelier.

Ed

First time I spent the night in Tetlin was in the early 60's with my Dad on a bunny/ptarmigan hunting trip. We went back a number of times over the years. Definitely "backwater".

Ed

You fellas reminded me I spent a day or two at friends home in Altus, AR in the 70's. quite the backwater town then. Still only listed at 750 folks there.

Those places you mentioned seem awfully "rural" too.

Geno

PS, for those that don't recognize the name:
"Altus was the location for the first season of the television show The Simple Life, starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie."
from the wikipedia Altus AR page

Jeff, meant to be clearer in not aligning you with that idea. I know many - like with the Stebbins, or Point Hope references- sometimes think some of these places are a bit "off". (And one can't totally overlook legends/stories...) But nearly always, people are only scary when they are a bit scared themselves....or inebriated, and scared/bold.

It was kind of funny (and eye-opening) one time after running the first 500 miles or so of the lower Yukon. My boat had the commercial fishing number painted on the side as required by law. However, instead of simply free-hand spraying the number as many village boats do, I stenciled the number neatly. To make matters worse, I had a VHF radio on board and the antennae erect. Out on the coast where we usually run our boats, nearly everyone (who isn't foolish) has an antennae and VHF on board. Not so upriver. Anyhow, I tried to converse with a fellow up around Anvik, and he really didn't want to say anything in response to my query. Finally he just asked,"Are you Fish and Game?" He was totally cool after I said "no". When I realized how he was looking at my boat, I knew I better lower the antennae to help avoid further communication difficulties.

Sometimes there are still lingering issues of distrust or initial uncertainty among various ethnic factions within the Native community however when they cross traditional boundaries.