Bill Franklin
In history class the Dust Bowl was described basically as a period of severe drought leading to dust storms. I didn't read 'The Grapes of Wrath' in high school, but I remember pictures of people migrating west with meager possessions loaded onto Model T trucks. It was years before I realized that this was more than ordinary dust, and that the situation was far worse than I had thought. Almost a century later, few people with first-hand memories remain. Fortunately, Timothy Egan wandered the south-central plains, particularly the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico. He conducted interviews, examined local government archives and historical records, and crafted a narrative that goes beyond a dry historical account. What he discovered was surprising. While many books focus on the great numbers of people escaping, Egan was fascinated by the stories of those who chose to stay, even as their way of life crumbled before their eyes. Nearly two-thirds of the population remained, despite the lack of government assistance (at least until later) and their land's inability to produce food. The scale of the disaster is hard to grasp, even for us, accustomed to hearing about major catastrophes. However, it wasn't entirely natural. The extermination of the buffalo was deliberate policy to prevent Native Americans from returning to the plains. What to do with all that empty expanse? At the same time, there was an unusual wet period around the turn of the century and the federal government promoted farming. With newly developed tractors, it became easy to convert thousands of acres of grassland into wheat fields. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties led to significant grain production and wealth for farmers. The stock market crash was a distant problem, not theirs. When grain prices plummeted, farmers assumed they would rebound since people still needed to eat. They planted their crops as usual. Then, to add to their woes, the rain didn't come. Without plants to hold the soil, massive dust storms started, worsening each year. Dust storms became so severe that people had to seal their homes for shelter. Dust pneumonia emerged as a new disease, claiming thousands of lives. Livestock perished, and even fence posts were eaten by horses. Between 1930 and 1935, 750,000 farms went bankrupt or were foreclosed. Dust collected in attics, causing ceilings to collapse, and vehicles could be buried overnight. People were discouraged from touching each other due to static electricity, and some resorted to eating tumbleweed. FDR's election brought some relief, but there were no clear solutions to the problem. Millions of drought-resistant trees were planted to no avail. Ultimately, the only solution for much of the land was prairie restoration, which proved difficult with depleted topsoil. Hugh Bennet, director of the Soil Conservation Service, convinced Congress to appropriate funds for prairie grass replanting after a dramatic dust storm over the Capitol illustrated the issue. Egan weaves the stories of various people throughout the book, from their arrival to prosperous years, through the storms, and to their gradual recovery, though not to their previous way of life. Today some land still remains barren, and other areas rely on water from the Ogallala Aquifer, but that is rapidly depleting. In the epilogue, Egan warns against assuming that we've left such environmental disasters in the past. Groundwater is being depleted at alarming rates, but we often ignore potential environmental disasters until they're upon us. I enjoyed reading this book. Egan thoroughly researched the topic and humanized history through storytelling. I haven't shared the stories here to avoid spoiling the book, but they make it a compelling read. This is a story of people who endured. Maybe their stubbornness was foolish, maybe heroic, but they were also resilient, making the best of a challenging situation and supporting each other. The stories were the book's true value.
