Snakes

When we lived on Star Lake in Alturas and I was probably 15 or 16, there was a snake migration and thousands of snakes of all kinds were on the move to the east. All of them were going in the same direction and they were everywhere within five miles of Alturas.  When Eddie would come out to Alturas to see me, he said it was like running over railroad ties. The snakes covered the roads, side by side, all lengths and kinds.  I never saw anything like it before nor again since. 

For about eight weeks, there were snakes everywhere. Mother got caught in the garage with two big snakes on the floor. She got up on the truck and held one down with a broom and one down with the mop. She just sat there and yelled for Daddy. They would come into the garage to eat the dog food. Daddy wouldn't let Connie go out to play in the yard for weeks. 

In the lake, you could see hundreds of snakes going across the lake. They were all laying in the hedges on the yard. In the morning sometimes, you would go out to school and see snake skins that had been shed the night before. I think they were traveling away from water and going to higher ground. I remember one night going into town and seeing snakes on the road everywhere. They covered the road for three or four miles. It was just awful. No one got bit but it is something you wouldn't forget. Daddy would take his gun and  shoot five or ten at a time.