Volume 18 , Issue 15

NW Okie's Journey

Ever heard your ancestors speak of the "dust bowl" or "dirty thirties?" About the dust storms that hit the western states in the 1930's when the sun was blocked during mid-day with black clouds of dust that reached 10,000 feet?

Found on Newspapers.com

It was in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, dated 18 February 1937, Thursday, that we found this front page headline: "Dust Turns Day Into Night, Closes Schools, Blocks Roads."

Guymon, Okla., Feb. 7, 1937 -- Swirling "black blizzards" bringing threats to crops and health, turned day into night in parts of Oklahoma while wind blown top soil spread its haze over sections of Kansas, Texas and Colorado.

Several Oklahoma Panhandle farmers demanded government relief as the dust storm, fourth in as many days, reached serious proportions.

Schools were closed as the dust gloom enveloped Texas county, in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Visibility was zero. Busses were stranded. Highway traffic was paralyzed. Street lights burned dimly throughout the day. There was a shortage of dust masks. Guymon stores sold out their supply the day before. Southwestern Kansas residents donned the masks for the first time that season at Liberal. Hugoton schools were closed.

Health authorities banned all public gatherings and the Stevens county Red Cross Chapter wired a request for nurses to help doctors handle flue and pneumonia which, aggravated by dust, had caused 11 deaths in the last few days in Hugoton, a town of 1500. The blowing top soil moved into Lamar, Colorado, but the dust area of New Mexico reported clear skies.

C. D. McBratney, farmer, living near Guymon, said four days of continual dust had filled up wheat lands between hard ridges thrown up to prevent the soil from blowing.

Layers of dust settled in Guymon school rooms as students were dismissed. Teachers said the gloom of the "black blizzard' made it impossible for the pupils to study.

As Oklahoma wheat blew out farmers called on the government to "give us jobs so we can eat while we battle the dust."

"Texas county gave more than $1,000 for flood relief when it needed the money itself," said J. S. Palmer, a farmer living near Tyrone. "The government comes in after foods to rebuild homes. Now we are as bad off as the flood sufferers and nothing has been done for us."

Back in the 1930's "Black Blizzards," or "dust storms" had again had caused distress in Western states with Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and cColorado having received the brunt of the red brown haze, which darkened a prairie town, top. In 1936 the storms were so severe that pedestrians in Kansas City, Missouri, were forced to resort to dust masks.

Good Night! Good Luck!
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