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"Yours for Better Trapping" On September 18-21, 2008, members of the Missouri Trappers Association will gather at Cape Girardeau for their Fall Rendezvous. As usual, highlights of the meeting will be demonstrations, presentations, raffles, supplier displays, good food, the reunion of old friends, and the making of new ones. This year, as a special bonus, there will be a 50th anniversary celebration for the MTA. Formed only a few months before the National Trappers Association, the MTA shares the same purpose, and some of the same founders, that made both associations a reality. In 1958, Walter E. "Eddie" Stephenson, a young trapper from DeWitt, Missouri, advertised that a meeting would be held to form a trappers association. Eddie presided at the first meeting, and paid for postage and mailings to trappers throughout Missouri. To obtain a set of bylaws to use as a guide, he joined the Pennsylvania Trappers Association, which had been in operation for twenty years. Many names of early members and dates of events, along with Eddie's thoughts and passion, are documented in his correspondence, which is today a part of the MTA museum collection. Nearly all of the letters and articles he produced between 1960 and 1973 ended with the same closing remark: "Yours for better trapping, Eddie Stephenson" Eddie's personal attendance at association meetings was interrupted when he entered the U.S. Army in 1959, shortly after he helped start the MTA and became a charter member of the NTA. During his absence, the business of forming the MTA was taken up by Wallace W. "Wally" Schmieg of LeMay, who became the first president. Throughout his military service, from barracks in New York City to Straubing, Germany, Eddie continued to write. He urged trappers to join the associations by personally mailing letters and submitting articles to publications like Voice of the Trapper, The American Trappers Manual, Fur Fish and Game, and the Missouri Mountain Men Newsletter, which was created and named by Wally Schmieg. Eddie's writings ranged from passionate pep talks full of lofty goals and urgency, to impatient criticism, which displayed the eagerness of his youth. "It should be our goal to be No. 1 in the NTA and to have 100% membership in our own MTA. A dollar a year for the NTA and a dollar a year for the MTA is not asking much for the benefits that you will receive. But you ask what are the benefits? The main one is the uniting of all the trappers. You say that this is not a benefit, but just stop and think what could have happened just a short while ago with the leg-hold trap bill, if it had not been for the trappers getting together and defeating it. There is little the trappers can hope to accomplish without uniting into a strong force." - June 30, 1960 Membership to the MTA at the time was only fifty cents per year, but Eddie was having a hard time getting reliable information from "headquarters" back home. "I am ashamed of the trappers of Missouri. I thought that you would jump at the chance to join a state trappers association, but you have disappointed me. You have not only failed to join, but when you do join you sit back and let two or three do your work for you. The time to work is now if we intend to improve and enlarge our association." - July 16, 1960 On occasion, when addressing association members, his words were full of praise and encouragement. "I wish to extend my appreciation to every trapper that is a member of the MTA, and especially those that are also a member of the NTA. I also wish to extend personal thanks to Wallace W. Schmieg for the contributions and faithful assistance that he has given since I began the effort of forming a Missouri Trappers Association. Mr. Schmieg is almost solely responsible for forming the association as I turned the job over to him on entering the service in April 1959. I also wish to commend Ronald McNeely, Jameson, Missouri, for his unwavering faith in the Association … We now have a foundation, so let's put up the structure." - Eddie Stephenson, November 18, 1960 In 1961, while still a soldier in the U.S. Army, Eddie Stephenson became the NTA Director for Missouri. He continued his push for more members, now shifting more focus towards the national organization. "At present there is a MTA and NTA, because of a few hard working trappers, but do not fool yourself. They cannot continue to function if they do not receive more help … Some people feel that the NTA is a failure before it has even a chance to prove itself. But unless trappers start realizing that their lack of interest could and will destroy what has been started, the association will fail." - February 25, 1961 In October 1961, Eddie Stephenson returned to the states. In the meantime, President Wally Schmieg had grown the MTA into a small, but recognizable organization. John Barbee was elected president, Bill Prouhet, secretary/treasurer, Wally Schmieg NTA Director, and Eddie was elected vice-president and conservation director. A meeting was held at the home of John Barbee on March 3, 1962. The legality of conibear use and nutria trapping was discussed, and a question of whether the Conservation Commission was using poison to kill predators was brought up. For his April report, Eddie Stephenson contacted the Commission and found: conibear traps were legal; nutria were insignificant in Missouri, but legal to trap; and the Commission was not using poison to kill predators. Eddie's determination to stop the use of Compound 1080, a poison used as a rodenticide, and to raise trap thievery to a higher level of crime, consumed much of his time. He repeatedly contacted state representatives and Governor John M. Dalton about the matters. He also fought for the continuation of the bounty system on coyotes, while demanding stiffer penalties for those who crossed state lines to collect those bounties. As vice-president, Eddie inquired about setting up an exhibit at the State Fair. He reported that indoor booths run anywhere from $100 to $175 each, and were not within the range of MTA finances at that time. He suggested that it was a goal they should work toward. The 1962 MTA Fall Meeting was planned for September 9th at the Brunswick City Park Shelter House, but the announcement in the MMM Newsletter, printed by Wally Schmieg, was changed to "District Meeting" at the last minute. Brunswick was too far away from St. Louis, where most of the members were located. There was a meeting at Lynn Merrill's house in Irondale. Voting by mail was discussed, but no elections took place. Soon after, John Barbee resigned as president. The newly born MTA had hit rock bottom … but it was soon to bounce back. In April 1963, Eddie Stephenson designed and ordered 50 state-shaped patches from Artcraft Manufacturing Company, velvetone on twill with plastic backing at 27 cents each, plus a $2.00 pattern charge, for a total of $15.50. That year, the MTA held their Fall Meeting at Fort Zumwalt State Park in St. Charles County on October 26th. It was attended by about 35 trappers, their families and guests. Ed Bauer, a fur buyer and trapping supply dealer from Smithboro, Illinois, brought a pickup load of traps and equipment for sale. Coyote set demonstrations were given by Jack Adams, a former government wolf trapper, and Eddie Stephenson. Each trapper received one steel trap. Other prizes were given away by Mesler Trappers Supply, Magee Fur Co., Woodward Trap Co., and Ed Bauer Fur Co. Wildlife films, donated by the Conservation Commission, were shown at the meeting, but agents were unable to attend due to a fire threat in southern Missouri. During the business session, it was decided that an executive board, including all officers and four other members, should be organized to make decisions between meetings. Trappers at the 1963 meeting were: Al Subert of Affton, Tom Prindiville of Arnold, Bill Prouhet of Bridgeton, Dale Gunn of Brunswick, Eddie Stephenson of DeWitt, Ray Bruedigam and Robert Duren of Festus, Monroe Strus of Hawk Point, Lynn Merrill of Irondale, W. R. Magee of Troy, Walter Hedrick of Maplewood, Wallace Schmieg of Mehlville, Bob Berry of Middleton, E. F. Haislip, Jack Adams, John K. Smith and Marvin Emge all of O'Fallon, Lloyd Klosterman of Portland, Ferd Dames and Richard Frederickson of St. Charles, Florence Eversmeyer of Troy, and two trappers from Illinois. In April of 1964, Eddie Stephenson was anxious to start planning the next fall meeting, and was still concerned about member participation. He wrote to Ray Bruedigam who was then serving as vice-president: "… too few of the guys do anything. They want the officers to do everything and then criticize them for trying to run the association. Seems a guy just can't win for losing." Fort Zumwalt State Park near O'Fallon, was again the location for the 1964 MTA Fall Meeting that was held October 17th. Eddie Stephenson gave a report and showed slides from the NTA Convention at Lydick, Indiana, along with a few pictures along his own trapline. He also arranged for a display of the NTA Fur Collection. Trapping seasons and regulations were discussed, and officers were elected by 23 voting members. Wallace Schmieg, St. Louis, was elected president; Bill Prouhet, St. Louis, secretary/treasurer; Tom Prindiville, Arnold, vice-president; Eddie Stephenson, DeWitt, conservation chairman. Five members were elected to complete the nine-member executive board: Fred Lednick, Lynn Merrill, Bob Duren, Ray Bruedigam and Bill Fonville. Others on the ballot were Al Subert, Ed Bergstadt, Murl Tally and Bob Berry. During the year of 1964, Eddie Stephenson wrote several more articles for publication: Return to the Chariton, a story about his beaver trapping adventures on the Chariton River with Russel Meyer and Ernest Limke of Brunswick; The Need For Unification, an essay on trapping associations; Who Has The Courage To Walk Alone?, a plea for trappers to speak up; The Versatile Pocket Set, an instructional trapping article; and Conservation And You, how trappers can take part in conservation. That same year and throughout the next, letters were flying back and forth between Eddie and Wally Schmieg in a heated dispute. Eddie was charged with pushing the idea of a spring muskrat season to the Commission, which the membership had voted against; leaving the NTA Director position off the ballot during an election; and conspiring to take over the MTA. Tom Prindiville was one of the members who stood up for Eddie: "Heart and soul you're a trapper, I know that, and I consider you what could be called an Anchor Man of the organization. These are the men we need in the MTA, not the come-once-a-year-to-the-meeting type." - Tom Prindiville, July 3, 1965 The new officers elected at the 1965 Fall Meeting, by 23 voting members, were Ray Bruedigam, president; Bob Duren, vice-president; Wally Schmieg, secretary/treasurer/NTA Director; and Jack Adams, conservation chairman. The new executive board included Bill Prouhet, Harry Morris, Eddie Stephenson, Bill Fonville, Lynn Merrill and Steve Baker. Others on the ballot were Monroe Strus, Fred Lednick, A. Meister and Doug Hogh. Bill Prouhet, who had served 4 years as secretary/treasurer, was not allowed to run for office again. He had recently become a fur dealer, and the MTA Constitution prohibited fur buyers from holding office. At the business meeting, decisions were made to order new letterheads, envelopes and membership blanks (as long as they didn't cost more than $12.00), raise dues to $1.50, print the MMM Newsletter once a year in September, divide Missouri into 4 districts and appoint a director for each. The financial report showed a $154.59 cash balance in the bank. The first few years of the MTA were tough. But, the trappers who went the extra mile to make it happen were even tougher. "You see, when you do something for the association, you are actually working for yourself. The only difference is that you have more votes and more power to accomplish the task that you are working on. You are no longer just one voice but a voice among many, and a member of a strong and well organized association." I remain, yours for better trapping,
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