Source: Timothy Egan. The Worst Hard Time - The Untold Story of
Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2006)
Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (2006)
Many members of Congress wondered why those in the Dust Bowl should get special attention, while other members simply thought those in the Dust Bowl were ignorant inbred hicks that were too stupid and undeserving of any government assistance. The famous journalist H.L. Mencken referred to people in the Dust Bowl as “inferior men”, and that the best thing to be done would be to sterilize them. While Black Sunday tipped the scales to Bennett’s advantage, he wanted to give Congress a dose of reality. On 19 April 1935, five days after Black Sunday, Bennett entered Room 333 in the Senate Office Building and started his presentation, this time knowing that a dust storm was once again heading towards DC. Soon enough, a senator that had been gazing out the window tuning out the presentation, interrupted Bennett saying it was getting dark outside. Very soon thereafter there was enough dust in the air that sunlight disappeared, and the air took on a coppery color. For the second straight year, a dust storm from the Great Plains fell on Washington, D.C; Bennett told the assembled senators “there goes Oklahoma”.
Within a day, Bennett had his permanent agency plus funding, and then Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, making the US the first nation to pass a law centered on conserving the soil. 150 Civilian Conservation Corps camps were reassigned to Bennett’s Soil Conservation Service, and 20,000 CCC personnel were sent to the Great Plains. At about the same time, FDR had created the
Resettlement Administration, and had also signed Executive Order 7028 which gave the federal government the ability to buy back homestead land from the previous 73 years. To many, it seemed like the government was trying to depopulate the Great Plains, especially the Dust Bowl. By late-1935, 20% of Cimarron County had left since the start of the drought four years prior, numbering about one thousand. Over the next two years in the Great Plains, around 220,000 would had to California, most of them from OK, AR, and TX, all called “Okies”; but only 16,000 were from the Dust Bowl (by that time, the government had classified a tiny sliver of southwest Nebraska as part of the Dust Bowl).
Within a day, Bennett had his permanent agency plus funding, and then Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, making the US the first nation to pass a law centered on conserving the soil. 150 Civilian Conservation Corps camps were reassigned to Bennett’s Soil Conservation Service, and 20,000 CCC personnel were sent to the Great Plains. At about the same time, FDR had created the
Resettlement Administration, and had also signed Executive Order 7028 which gave the federal government the ability to buy back homestead land from the previous 73 years. To many, it seemed like the government was trying to depopulate the Great Plains, especially the Dust Bowl. By late-1935, 20% of Cimarron County had left since the start of the drought four years prior, numbering about one thousand. Over the next two years in the Great Plains, around 220,000 would had to California, most of them from OK, AR, and TX, all called “Okies”; but only 16,000 were from the Dust Bowl (by that time, the government had classified a tiny sliver of southwest Nebraska as part of the Dust Bowl).
During 1935, after the movie industry in Hollywood refused, Congress funded a documentary which would be the first-and-only wide theatrically-released commercial movie during peacetime from the government, which was titled “The Plow That Broke the Plains”. The documentary was filmed in MY, WY, CO, KS, OK, and TX. The film portrayed the Great Plains as a mythic place in a lost world, where the land and the elements raged against the inhabitants. The documentary flat-out blamed the farmers that had plowed up the grasslands for causing the Dust Bowl. The documentary was edited, and then awaited a release date scheduled in 1936.
Over 850 million tons of topsoil had blown off from the lands in the Dust Bowl in 1935 alone, which equaled eight tons of soil for each US citizen. Dust Bowl farmers lost 480 tons of soil per acre, and where all that soil had gone was anyone’s guess. The five million acres in the Dust Bowl were in a coma, unable to be cultivated, and another 100 million acres would most likely never again be cultivated no matter how much it rained in the future. Just as the grass had been stripped from the land, now people and whole towns seemed to be stripped from their land. FDR was torn whether to abandon hope or dig in and try to save those in the Dust Bowl. To Congress, it was cheaper to pay people to leave their land in the Great Plains instead of subsidizing them to remain, but FDR believed in the big restoration dream in the region.
Over 850 million tons of topsoil had blown off from the lands in the Dust Bowl in 1935 alone, which equaled eight tons of soil for each US citizen. Dust Bowl farmers lost 480 tons of soil per acre, and where all that soil had gone was anyone’s guess. The five million acres in the Dust Bowl were in a coma, unable to be cultivated, and another 100 million acres would most likely never again be cultivated no matter how much it rained in the future. Just as the grass had been stripped from the land, now people and whole towns seemed to be stripped from their land. FDR was torn whether to abandon hope or dig in and try to save those in the Dust Bowl. To Congress, it was cheaper to pay people to leave their land in the Great Plains instead of subsidizing them to remain, but FDR believed in the big restoration dream in the region.
By March 1936, the situation hadn’t improved in the Dust Bowl. During that Spring, “The Plow That Broke the Plains” was in theaters, and the documentary wasn’t the only one blaming the farmers for the Dust Bowl, with cowboys, scientists, and Bennett arguing the same point in their own ways. Bennett’s agency was busy using trial-and-error in order to find the best grass to reseed the Great Plains, mapping out areas that could actually be reseeded. The main problem was how to hold down the remaining soil long enough for those grass seeds to sprout.
During the months of July and August 1936, there were two days in each month where the temperature reached a record 118 degrees in No Man’s Land; that August was the hottest month of the 20th Century for Oklahoma. Whatever rain fell came in torrents and washed away, creating flash floods, and then it was as if no rain at all had fallen. During August 1936 near Dalhart, Bennett had created the biggest soil conservation project in history, dubbed “Operation Dust Bowl”. His plan was to slow the formation of the drifts of soil by contour plowing, followed by planting grass seed from Africa. Bennett’s goal was to create a living ecosystem from scratch, but not by planting crops (yet). Bennett experienced a great amount of difficulty getting enough people in the area to join in with his soil conservation efforts. Basically, most in the area bitterly complained about how awful everyone else was other than themselves. Bennett, with FDR’s blessing, informed them that he was also working on an investigation into the causes of the Dust Bowl.
During the months of July and August 1936, there were two days in each month where the temperature reached a record 118 degrees in No Man’s Land; that August was the hottest month of the 20th Century for Oklahoma. Whatever rain fell came in torrents and washed away, creating flash floods, and then it was as if no rain at all had fallen. During August 1936 near Dalhart, Bennett had created the biggest soil conservation project in history, dubbed “Operation Dust Bowl”. His plan was to slow the formation of the drifts of soil by contour plowing, followed by planting grass seed from Africa. Bennett’s goal was to create a living ecosystem from scratch, but not by planting crops (yet). Bennett experienced a great amount of difficulty getting enough people in the area to join in with his soil conservation efforts. Basically, most in the area bitterly complained about how awful everyone else was other than themselves. Bennett, with FDR’s blessing, informed them that he was also working on an investigation into the causes of the Dust Bowl.
By the end of the Summer of 1936, Bennett was convinced that the Southern Plains could be saved. Bennett often heard from people in the Dust Bowl that there just had to be a way to drill down far enough to access the newly-discovered Ogallala Aquifer. With no way yet to access the vast underground reservoir, Bennett believed that the solution to save the Southern Plains was a great plow-up in reverse: contour plowing + crop rotation + soil conservation districts, and for all other areas of the Great Plains that were not going to be used for agriculture, bring back grasslands.
FDR wanted to know, before committing to any more government spending, if the region could be saved, and if so, how. FDR also wanted to know the role the federal government played in the Great Plow-Up that caused the Dust Bowl. On 27 August 1936, the Great Plains Drought Area Committee report was delivered to FDR, signed first by Bennett. The conclusions of the report were stark, stating that the Dust Bowl was not caused by changes in nature. With rainfall less than 20 inches a year west of the 98th Meridian, it simply had not been smart to plow up grasslands to plant crops, no matter how many agricultural gimmicks were used. The report also stated that mistaken public policies stimulated by wartime (WW I) demands for food led to over-plowing, over-planting, overgrazing, and that the government shared in the blame. For FDR, a President that wanted the government to be the solution to problems, this report was a bitter pill to swallow: people were the cause of the Dust Bowl, and the federal government was complicit.
FDR wanted to know, before committing to any more government spending, if the region could be saved, and if so, how. FDR also wanted to know the role the federal government played in the Great Plow-Up that caused the Dust Bowl. On 27 August 1936, the Great Plains Drought Area Committee report was delivered to FDR, signed first by Bennett. The conclusions of the report were stark, stating that the Dust Bowl was not caused by changes in nature. With rainfall less than 20 inches a year west of the 98th Meridian, it simply had not been smart to plow up grasslands to plant crops, no matter how many agricultural gimmicks were used. The report also stated that mistaken public policies stimulated by wartime (WW I) demands for food led to over-plowing, over-planting, overgrazing, and that the government shared in the blame. For FDR, a President that wanted the government to be the solution to problems, this report was a bitter pill to swallow: people were the cause of the Dust Bowl, and the federal government was complicit.
The report chronicled a chronology of collapse. In 1879, 10 million acres were plowed; by 1929 the total reached 100 million acres, and the removal of the buffalo grass was cited to be particularly devastating. Grasslands had been in existence for eons, and the Cattle Boom and the Wheat Boom had shattered the ecosystem. What happened was the agricultural equivalent of the Gold Rush, where the new farmers arrived en masse lacking the knowledge or incentive to stop the destruction of the grasslands, and the Homestead policies from the government were a huge reason for the nightmare. FDR loved action plans, but the report stated that there were no easy solutions, that the land would not cure itself, and that the nation could not allow the farmer to fail.
FDR wanted to know what was next in terms of the future of the Great Plains, but he did not wait to further accelerate his plan of planting trees to stop the wind, check erosion, and to continue to employ thousands in the Civilian Conservation Corps (an 11 man team in the CCC could plant 6000 trees a day). In effect FDR ignored the report, trying to re-engineer the Great Plains. Bennett was allowed to continue his agency, but FDR went ahead with planting trees, which was an idea that had captivated him for many years. By early-1937, Bennett’s “Operation Dust Bowl” was in full swing with 47k acres, with the goal of expanding ten times that area. For many in the Dalhart area, it felt good to try and heal the land. People across the TX Panhandle had finally agreed to strict soil conservation practices, and to set up sanctions against landowners that allowed their soil to blow.
FDR wanted to know what was next in terms of the future of the Great Plains, but he did not wait to further accelerate his plan of planting trees to stop the wind, check erosion, and to continue to employ thousands in the Civilian Conservation Corps (an 11 man team in the CCC could plant 6000 trees a day). In effect FDR ignored the report, trying to re-engineer the Great Plains. Bennett was allowed to continue his agency, but FDR went ahead with planting trees, which was an idea that had captivated him for many years. By early-1937, Bennett’s “Operation Dust Bowl” was in full swing with 47k acres, with the goal of expanding ten times that area. For many in the Dalhart area, it felt good to try and heal the land. People across the TX Panhandle had finally agreed to strict soil conservation practices, and to set up sanctions against landowners that allowed their soil to blow.
The land started to soften and green started to show in the areas where Bennett had set up shop for his project. Bennett made sure that he was photographed in a field of waist-high alfalfa, which aided him in his insistence that the people in the TX Panhandle needed to keep up with their soil conservation efforts. The early part of the Summer of 1937 had a couple of decent rainstorms, and there was also some rainfall that didn’t lead to flash floods.
During July the rains stopped, the temperatures reached 110 degrees, and then swarms of grasshoppers descended on the region, and everything that had grown was consumed. Estimates had 23,000 grasshoppers per acre, 14 million per square mile. Large numbers of grasshoppers had come from the Rocky Mountains and laid eggs in the Great Plains; with the drought, there hadn’t been any rain that produced the fungus that would have killed most of those eggs. Also, snakes and birds ate grasshoppers, but there simply weren’t enough of either in the Dust Bowl.
States called up their National Guard to exterminate grasshoppers by any means, such as burning fields, trying to crush them with contraptions pulled by tractors, and using poison, spraying up to 175 tons per acre. Arsenic and a few other preferred poisons killed pretty much every living thing in its wake. And then the dust storms kicked up again: the year of 1937 featured 134 dust storms, the highest number yet.
During July the rains stopped, the temperatures reached 110 degrees, and then swarms of grasshoppers descended on the region, and everything that had grown was consumed. Estimates had 23,000 grasshoppers per acre, 14 million per square mile. Large numbers of grasshoppers had come from the Rocky Mountains and laid eggs in the Great Plains; with the drought, there hadn’t been any rain that produced the fungus that would have killed most of those eggs. Also, snakes and birds ate grasshoppers, but there simply weren’t enough of either in the Dust Bowl.
States called up their National Guard to exterminate grasshoppers by any means, such as burning fields, trying to crush them with contraptions pulled by tractors, and using poison, spraying up to 175 tons per acre. Arsenic and a few other preferred poisons killed pretty much every living thing in its wake. And then the dust storms kicked up again: the year of 1937 featured 134 dust storms, the highest number yet.
A large tree was cut down in Nebraska in 1936, probably the oldest tree in the state. When the tree’s rings were analyzed, it was discovered that the tree had experienced 20 droughts in 748 years (a drought of some level every 30-or-so years); the drought of the 1930s was the tree’s 21st.
On 11 July 1938, FDR visited the Southern Plains, choosing Amarillo since it was the biggest city in the Dust Bowl (over 100,000 greeted the President at the railroad station, and ironically rain started to fall just after his arrival). Bennett had suggested Amarillo, since FDR would also be able to see the results of his soil reclamation project, which by then had over one million acres under his guidance. FDR had come to believe that the Dust Bowl could have been prevented, that it was a catastrophe caused by people, both citizens and the government. FDR wisely kept those thoughts to himself as he addressed the crowd in Amarillo in his trademark optimistic manner. FDR would never again return to the Great Plains, since the War in Europe was close at hand.
By that time, there was an increasing number of people in the region that were all-in drilling for water in the Ogallala Aquifer, and saying the hell with Bennett; those farmers were added to a long list of those in history that hadn’t learned a thing from their nightmare. Vast areas of the Great Plains never fully recovered from the clutches of the megadrought of the 1930s; to this day, some of the land is still sterile and drifting. In the heart of what was the Dust Bowl are three national grasslands run by the US Forest Service, and the trees from FDR’s planting spree have mostly disappeared, in part because when the rains returned, farmers ripped the trees from their roots to plant crops. Since the 1930s, the farm population on the Great Plains has shrunk by 80%. Corporate agribusiness takes water from the Ogallala Aquifer eight times faster than it can replenish itself. In parts of the TX Panhandle, the Aquifer is getting close to being tapped out. What saved the region that was in the Dust Bowl when droughts returned was Bennett’s vision and soil conservation techniques: Bennett died at the age of 79 in 1960, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
On 11 July 1938, FDR visited the Southern Plains, choosing Amarillo since it was the biggest city in the Dust Bowl (over 100,000 greeted the President at the railroad station, and ironically rain started to fall just after his arrival). Bennett had suggested Amarillo, since FDR would also be able to see the results of his soil reclamation project, which by then had over one million acres under his guidance. FDR had come to believe that the Dust Bowl could have been prevented, that it was a catastrophe caused by people, both citizens and the government. FDR wisely kept those thoughts to himself as he addressed the crowd in Amarillo in his trademark optimistic manner. FDR would never again return to the Great Plains, since the War in Europe was close at hand.
By that time, there was an increasing number of people in the region that were all-in drilling for water in the Ogallala Aquifer, and saying the hell with Bennett; those farmers were added to a long list of those in history that hadn’t learned a thing from their nightmare. Vast areas of the Great Plains never fully recovered from the clutches of the megadrought of the 1930s; to this day, some of the land is still sterile and drifting. In the heart of what was the Dust Bowl are three national grasslands run by the US Forest Service, and the trees from FDR’s planting spree have mostly disappeared, in part because when the rains returned, farmers ripped the trees from their roots to plant crops. Since the 1930s, the farm population on the Great Plains has shrunk by 80%. Corporate agribusiness takes water from the Ogallala Aquifer eight times faster than it can replenish itself. In parts of the TX Panhandle, the Aquifer is getting close to being tapped out. What saved the region that was in the Dust Bowl when droughts returned was Bennett’s vision and soil conservation techniques: Bennett died at the age of 79 in 1960, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
