April 14, 1935. Palm Sunday. The start of the holiest week of the year for Christians in Boise City, Oklahoma and all around the world. Dresses and suits were pulled from the closet and wiped free of dust, although years of drought and poverty had left most with frayed cuffs and thin fabric. But it … Continue reading Black Sunday
The Dust Bowl
The Plow That Broke The Plains
In the mid-1930's, Roy Emerson Stryker and his band of photographers were roaming the Dust Bowl, capturing images of the devastation in hopes of rallying support for Roosevelt's New Deal. This "documentary division" of the Farm Security Administration captured images, not of the dust storms, as news outlets across the country had done, but of … Continue reading The Plow That Broke The Plains
The Propaganda Experiment
By 1935, the Plains were in shambles. The crops were withering, the dust was swirling, and the drought showed no signs of slowing. Thousands of people were suffering in poverty, dying from from too much dust or not enough food. The war with Mother Nature was inherently lopsided, and the residents of the Dust Bowl … Continue reading The Propaganda Experiment
“This rusty car creaking along the highway to the west…”
In 1935, facing mounting pressure from Congress about the "Dust Bowl" problem, and thanks in part to Hugh Bennett's passionate plea to save the Plains, President Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration. The main purpose of this entity was to give a buy-out, about seven hundred dollars per family, for people affected by the drought and … Continue reading “This rusty car creaking along the highway to the west…”
The Winged Plague
A black cloud on the horizon races towards your homestead. In the life of an Oklahoma farmer during the Dust Bowl, this was not an unusual sight. You'd herd what livestock remained into the barn and gather your family inside your house, stuffing wet sheets into the cracks to keep out the incoming dust. Then, … Continue reading The Winged Plague
The Man Who Saved The Plains
In the 1930s, as drought and dust ravaged the Great Plains, many came forward with solutions to the "Dust Bowl" problem. New Jersey's Barber Asphalt Company offered to pave over the area for a bargain price of just $5 an acre...for the entire 100 million acres. Similarly, a Pittsburgh steel manufacturer suggested installing some of … Continue reading The Man Who Saved The Plains
Boise City: The Town That Wasn’t…Then Was
Paved streets lined with beautiful, mature trees. An artesian well in the middle of town, gushing cold, clean, abundant water. Rows upon rows of quaint, sturdy houses with manicured lawns and picket fences. Blocks of booming businesses connected to the larger cities by railroad and, just beyond the city limits, hundreds of miles of rich … Continue reading Boise City: The Town That Wasn’t…Then Was
jennwrightwrites.com 