Interviewer(s): T. McGuire. Boothville, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

Bud Latham and Sam Pizzolato both recommended Earl Armstrong, a cattleman born in 1944 down at Pilot Town, now living in Boothville. I hooked up with Earl at the Fill-A-Sack convenience store in Boothville, as arranged, and we went next door to the house his father keeps when he's not down in Pilot Town. Earl himself owns a house, barn, and pasture across the highway. Dressed in cowboy hat and boots, Earl looked the part. He was articulate about environmental deterioration in the delta.

Earl Armstrong was born in 1944 in Pilot Town, and now lives in Boothville. He is a cattleman and runs 1,200 head on a dozen islands his family owns. His father and grandfather grew up at Pilot Town, as trappers, fishermen, and tenders of the Coast Guard's navigation lights along the channels. He and three partners bought four crewboats and a 160' supply boat in the 1980's, and "lost money for seven years" before selling the boats, two to Chevron and two to buyers in Venezuela.