Western Ingenuity Part 2

Continued from Part 1


David “Att” Aldridge was always looking for creative ideas to bring in money. Like many people of that time, by age twelve Att had to go to work to help out.

To supplement their meager food cache, the oldest Aldridges would hunt wild hogs in the surrounding hills every year. They‘d fatten the hogs up, slaughter them, then store the meat for the hard winter ahead.

In 1875, Att noticed an over-abundance of wild acorns and had an idea. Why not hunt a really large number of wild hogs, fatten them on corn and the wild acorns, then herd them to Anderson (thirty miles away) and sell them at the stockyards. In those days, Anderson was a major railroad hub. Att figured if they drove enough hogs there, they would make more money then they’d ever had!

A skillful hunter, Att first organized his younger siblings to help gather acorns. When they were through, the pile was ten feet high! Then, to make sure there was a secure place to herd the hogs into, Att recruited his younger brother, Bill, to help reinforce their corral.

The next day, they proceeded to hunt and herd wild hogs down from the hills. Over a period of days, with his younger brother and 3 yapping dogs, they managed to catch 542 wild hogs!

The task of driving wild hogs to market was a daunting one. But Att wasn’t discouraged. He had another brilliant idea in mind.