Page 107 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

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ATHERINE C. REIDY , of Tucson, Arizona, became interested in snakes
while homesteading twenty-three miles from the town where Mr. Reidy
worked. She began studying the local wild life and vegetation as a pastime
and became so interested that she started to write on nature subjects. This
meant getting together more or less of a reference library, cameras and other
equipment. Then the depression came along and slashed the family income
rather badly. She wrote a few letters and found herself engaged to collect
bugs for several biological supply houses. She also sold cactus and wild
flower seed.

It was while collecting notes on native foods of the Indians that she found the
Indians not only use the meat of the rattlers for food, but they made
ornamental necklaces from the bones. This aroused her curiosity and the next
time she captured a rattler, she popped him into a kettle and the next day she
had a business. The ornaments include costume jewelry, buttons, buckles,
necklaces and bracelets. “The bones,” explains Mrs. Reidy, “resemble carved
ivory, and achieve a startling whiteness after a lengthy cleansing and
bleaching process. They are then matched carefully and strung in various
ways, some naturally and some in combination with colored beads of many
kinds and sizes.” The rattlers’ skins make lovely billfolds, bookmarks,
cigarette cases, check-book holders, pocketbooks and even boots and jackets.
During the Chicago World’s Fair, a tailored suit of rattlesnake skins made by
Mrs. Reidy was displayed in the Arizona exhibit, and attracted a tremendous
amount of attention.

Business became so good, the Reidys moved back to town and fitted up a
studio where their handicraft could be displayed more easily. She now has
several hunters to secure the snakes and has put in a stock of meat. She has
found that there is always a small demand for the skulls and fangs and the
rattles. In addition to maintaining the studio, Mrs. Reidy exhibits her wares at
tourist camps and dude ranches in the West.

He Specialized in “Hamburgers”