I thought this book by Timothy Egan was difficult to review, and perhaps I should refer you to the 402 reviews on Amazon. Saying that, I am of compelled to write my review. The book provides an incredible history of the greatest environmental disaster in the history of the U.S., but the focus is on the people who endured the “Dust Bowl.” Were they brave and tough or just insane to continue to hang on while dust storms destroyed everything including their health and that of their children? I tried to imagine how we would react today. We whine when we are inconvenienced by road detours or when the price of gasoline increases. The people of the Dust Bowl endured while their children died of dust pneumonia and their crops blew away into to next state or even to the East Coast of the U.S. and left them penniless and in debt.
The book describes how the government and developers lured settlers to take advantage of the Homestead Act, settle on 160 acres of prairie, build a shack or dugout, rip up the sod, and plant wheat. There are several of the tough, brave, stubborn people that are followed throughout the book, which gives a sense of connection with them. The problem for someone looking for a less serious read is that the feelings are despair, fear, sadness, loneliness, and several other negative descriptions of desperate people living in poverty and misery.
Between 1925 and 1930 there were 5.2 million acres of native sod that had fed huge herds of buffalo and later cattle that was turned under to make wheat fields. All went well when above normal rains nurtured their crops and allowed the farmers to make what they thought were incredible profits. The price of wheat began to drop, and more land was plowed to try to retain profits by growing more wheat. Then the Great Depression hit, an eight year drought (called “drout” by the farmers) began, the grassless land dried, and fierce and frequent winds ripped off the top soil by millions of tons. The pictures of the rows of dirt collected around houses, fences, or any other obstruction are startling. The only business that seemed to be prospering was bootleg alcohol.
People and animals caught in the open when a dust storm struck often died or were blinded. Those who made it into their meager homes would hang up wet sheets as a last defense. One woman awakened and noted the only part of her pillow that wasn’t covered in dust was where her head had rested. There is even the sorrow for the animals that were often blind and died from malnutrition because their digestive tracts were filled with dirt.
The government had a direct role creating the conditions for the disaster. The 160 acres of prairie land was too little land to make a decent living with average rainfall. Then the government through the Federal Bureau of Soils proclaimed about replacing native grass with wheat land that the soil “…is the one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up.”
The story of the people who were attracted to the plains is interesting and well told. Many were Germans who had immigrated to Russia and then were driven to immigrate to the U. S. during World War I. They brought the hard wheat that still flourishes in Kansas farms. The book called it “turkey red,” although I had always heard it called “Russian red.” The Germans also brought a few seeds of a thistle mixed in with their belongings. These thistles are well known as tumbleweeds in the plains, and they still pile up and obscure fence lines. The tumbleweeds were one of the few plants that survived the drought, and were mixed with salt to provide the last food many farmers could give their emaciated cattle. The farmers even began canning the tumbleweeds in brine to make food for them and their families.
There are interesting facts about politics. Herbert Hoover won the Presidency in a landslide in 1929 and then became one of the most disliked presidents in the history of the country as the Great Depression deepened and he refused to take government action while advocating that the free market would solve problems. One problem was that nature and not the free market was in charge of at least the center of the country. Even Joe Kennedy was scared by the depression. He told a friend, “I’m afraid I’m going to end up with nine kids, three homes, and no dough.”
I was interested in several aspects of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency mentioned in the book. I’ve often wondered why my parents, who were farmers in the early part of their lives, were “Roosevelt Democrats.” Some economists argue that Roosevelt extended the Great Depression with his policies. My parents only knew, as the book portrays, that Roosevelt tried to do things that would make things better for desperate people. All manner of food sources were destroyed in an attempt to stabilize commodity prices while people were hungry in the cities. My mother often lamented, “I don’t know why they would just kill and bury the baby pigs.” No matter whether the actions of the FDR administration were wise; they gave people such as my parents hope. We moved off the farm for my father to take a government job designing the planting of rows of trees as windbreaks around farmsteads. FDR was a big fan of creating what he called “shelterbelts.”
FDR indeed tried just about everything to avert the poverty being created. The government did buy emaciated livestock to slaughter and bury them after people were allowed to try to salvage some of the meat. He paid farmers $498 to not plant their fields. He established the Civilian Conservation Corps to begin implementing ideas by Hugh Bennett on how to begin restoring grasslands. He was a hero to the poor because he provided money and jobs to millions that had nothing else. Late in the book Will Rogers is quoted as saying, “If Roosevelt burned down the Capital we would cheer and say, ‘Well, we at least got a fire started, anyhow’.”
One effect of the massive dust storms was the static electricity they created. Men avoided shaking hands, because the shock would knock them down. Cars were grounded by dragging chains to keep from shorting out electrical systems.
A man named Bam White settles when a horse dies and strands him and his family. He is eventually hired to be filmed with his horse pulling a plow around for the unheard of sum of $25 for two hours of plowing. He is the star of the movie The Plow That Broke the Plains. The movie was even played in the White House for FDR.
A newspaper writer described the dilemma of the plains saying “Three little words…rule life in the dust bowl of the continent—if it rains.” The term “Dust Bowl” stuck, and was even adopted by Hugh Bennett’s conservation project as “Operation Dust Bowl.” One of his ideas was to tap the “endless” Ogallala aquifer with 500 feet deep wells.
There was enough rain in 1937 to allow some crops and grass to begin to grow. Then grasshoppers arrived and ate everything. They ate every plant to the ground and were even chewing on the handles of rakes and hoes. It was estimated there were fourteen million grasshoppers per square mile.
The book ends with the death of the people followed throughout the story, including Bam White. I couldn’t help but think that they were finally released from their misery.
