Original subtitles

Narrator: HISTORY, AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF KEN BURNS,

IS JUST COLLECTION OF STORIES

ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE .

TO REFLECT ON HOW TO BUILD A STRONGER TOMORROW.

WE'RE PROUD TO SUPPORT HIS EFFORTS.

FUNDING FOR THIS IS PROVIDED BY:

MEMBERS OF THE ANGELS SOCIETY,

DEDICATED TO HELPING KEN BURNS TELL AMERICA'S STORIES,

INCLUDING THE DANA A. HAMEL FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST,

ROBERT BEVERLY GRAPPONE;

THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS,

DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S FUTURE

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES,

EXPLORING THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR;

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION;

THE WALLACE GENETIC FOUNDATION;

THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION

FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.

Wells: LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT WAS.

I DON'T CARE WHO DESCRIBES THAT TO YOU,

NOBODY CAN TELL IT ANY

THERE IS NO WAY FOR IT TO BE EXAGGERATED.

Pauline Robertson: IT WAS JUST UNBELIEVABLE.

IT'D BLISTER YOUR FACE.

IT WOULD PUT YOUR EYES OUT.

WELL, I GUESS I CAN'T DESCRIBE IT.

IT WAS JUST... IT WAS JUST CONSTANT,

JUST THAT STEADY BLOW OF DIRT.

Floyd Coen: FAR AS YOU COULD SEE,

THIS GIANT WALL JUST

YOU STILL THE FEELING,

WHETHER YOU WOULD ADMIT IT,

Williamson: IT WAS ALMOST SURREAL, THE DUST.

YOU TRY TO GET OUT OF IT

BUT IT'S AS IF IT FOLLOWS YOU, FOLLOWS YOU, FOLLOWS YOU.

LOOKING BACK ON IT,

I THINK IT CARRIED WITH IT

FEELING OF...

I DON'T KNOW THE EXACTLY, OF...

WELL, BEING UNREAL, BUT ALMOST BEING, UM...

EVIL.

Narrator: IT WAS A DECADE-LONG NATURAL CATASTROPHE

OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS--

WHEN THE SKIES REFUSED THEIR RAINS;

WHEN PLAGUES OF GRASSHOPPERS AND SWARMS OF RABBITS

DESCENDED ON PARCHED FIELDS;

WHEN BEWILDERED FAMILIES HUDDLED IN DARKENED ROOMS

WHILE ANGRY WINDS SHOOK THEIR HOMES,

PILLARS OF DUST CHOKED OUT THE MID-DAY SUN,

THE ITSELF-- THE SOIL THEY DEPENDED UPON

FOR THEIR SURVIVAL COUNTED ON FOR THEIR PROSPERITY--

TURNED AGAINST THEM WITH A LETHAL VENGEANCE.

IT WAS THE WORST MAN-MADE

WHEN THE IRRESISTIBLE

AND THE HEEDLESS ACTIONS

ENCOURAGED BY THEIR GOVERNMENT, RESULTED IN A COLLECTIVE TRAGEDY

BREADBASKET OF THE NATION.

IT'S A CLASSIC TALE OF HUMAN BEINGS PUSHING

TOO HARD AGAINST NATURE AND NATURE PUSHING BACK.

THEN IT'S AN AMERICAN BUBBLE STORY, TOO,

LIKE STOCKS LIKE ESTATE.

WE THINK THAT EVERYTHING THAT

AND THAT'S WHAT WE DID HERE.

Worster: THE DUST BOWL BELONGS ON THE LIST

OF THE TOP 3, 4, 5 ENVIRONMENTAL

BUT THOSE CATASTROPHES TOOK PLACE

OVER HUNDREDS AND EVEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF DEFORESTATION.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

INA MATTER OF 40 OR 50 YEARS.

Narrator: IT WAS AN EPIC OF HUMAN PAIN AND SUFFERING,

WHEN NORMALLY SELF-RELIANT FATHERS FOUND THEMSELVES

UNABLE TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR FAMILIES,

WHEN EVEN THE MOST VIGILANT MOTHERS WERE UNABLE

TO STOP THE DIRT THAT INVADED THEIR HOUSES

FROM KILLING THEIR CHILDREN,

WERE TORN FROM THEIR HOMES AND FORCED ON THE ROAD

IN AN EXODUS UNLIKE ANYTHING THE UNITED STATES HAS EVER SEEN.

BUT IT IS ALSO THE STORY OF HEROIC PERSEVERANCE,

OF A RESILIENT PEOPLE WHO SOMEHOW MANAGED TO ENDURE

ONE UNIMAGINABLE HARDSHIP ANOTHER

TO HOLD ONTO THEIR LIVES, THEIR LAND,

AND THE ONES THEY LOVED.

Egan: WHAT KIND

WHERE CHILDREN COULDN'T GO OUTSIDE,

WHERE THE ITSELF COULD KILL YOU,

THAT COULD ERASE THE SUN AT MIDDAY?

WHO COULD DO THAT?

WE DIDN'T THIS. WE DIDN'T SET OUT SAY,

"LET'S RUIN THE SECOND-GREATEST ECOSYSTEM IN NORTH AMERICA."

IT WAS A RESULT OF WHOLE BUNCH OF THINGS

THAT ARE JUST INNATE

[BIRD SINGING]

Woman: "APRIL 28, 1908.

"HERE I AM, AWAY OUT IN THAT NARROW STRIP OF OKLAHOMA

"BETWEEN KANSAS AND THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS.

"I WISH YOU COULD SEE THIS WIDE, FREE, WESTERN COUNTRY,

"WITH ITS REAL STRETCHES OF ALMOST LEVEL PRAIRIE,

"COVERED WITH THE THICK, SHORT BUFFALO GRASS,

"THE MARVELOUS GLORY OF

THE BRILLIANCY OF ITS STAR-LIT SKY AT NIGHT."

CAROLINE HENDERSON.

Narrator: FROM THE TIME SHE WAS A YOUNG GIRL

GROWING UP IN IOWA, CAROLINE HENDERSON DREAMED

OF HAVING A PIECE OF LAND SHE COULD CALL HER OWN.

WHERE SHE STUDIED LANGUAGES LITERATURE,

PROPHECY PREDICTED

THAT HER FUTURE WOULD BE FOUND "SOMEWHERE ON A WESTERN RANCH."

IN 1907, THE OF OKLAHOMA'S STATEHOOD,

SHE FOLLOWED THAT TO THE NEWLY CREATED COUNTY,

A HOMESTEAD CLAIM

MOVED INTO A ONE-ROOM SHACK, 14 FEET BY 16,

LATER, SHE MARRIED WILL HENDERSON,

HAD HIRED TO DIG HER WELL.

THEY SOON DAUGHTER, ELEANOR,

WILL BUILT ADDITION TO THEIR HOME.

GAINING TITLE TO THE FARM,

WHERE THEY RAISED BROOM CORN, MILLET, AND MAIZE,

TURKEYS, CHICKENS, FEW CATTLE,

PUTTING WHAT LITTLE CASH THEY EARNED INTO IMPROVEMENTS,

PARTICULARLY A NEW WINDMILL TO DRAW UP WATER

FOR THEIR ANIMALS, HOUSE, AND HALF-ACRE GARDEN.

TO BRING IN MONEY, CAROLINE BEGAN

SUBMITTING ARTICLES ABOUT LIFE ON THE PLAINS

TO MAGAZINES IN THE EAST.

SHE WROTE FOR "LADIES' WORLD,"

WHERE HER COLUMN ENTITLED "THE HOMESTEAD LADY"

BECAME A POPULAR FEATURE,

EVENTUALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE "ATLANTIC MONTHLY,"

THE NATION'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS PUBLICATION.

Henderson OUT HERE IN THIS WILDERNESS

MOST HOPEFUL HAPPINESS OF ALL MY LIFE.

Charles Shaw: YOU LIVE WITH THE WIND WHEN YOU'RE OUT THERE.

IT'S NOT SOMETHING

THAN IT DOESN'T BLOW.

THE TIMES THAT IT BLOWS REALLY

MAY NOT BE THAT OFTEN,

A LITTLE MURMUR OF THE WIND ACROSS THE FIELDS

AND IN THE WHEAT AND IN WHAT TREES ARE THERE.

YOU FEEL IT, YOU SENSE IT MORE THAN YOU HEAR IT.

YOU COULD SEE FOR JUST MILES.

THERE AND THE NORTH POLE.

BUT GOD, IT WAS GOOD GRASS COUNTRY.

MAN, IT WAS PERFECT.

Calvin Crabill: IT'S SAID THAT BUFFALO GRASS

WOULD HOLD THE MOISTURE

SO IF YOU WENT DOWN 12 INCHES, YOU WOULD FIND MOIST EARTH.

AND I REMEMBER US DIGGING DOWN,

AND THE EARTH WAS MOIST DOWN THERE.

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL SOIL.

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL SOIL.

Worster: NATURE TOOK SEVERAL MILLION YEARS

TO FIND A SOLUTION TO

THESE HIGH WINDS, THESE TURBULENT WEATHER CONDITIONS,

THEY EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION.

THEY WELL, FOR THE MOST .

THEY HAVE SURVIVED HERE FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS.

OUR AGRICULTURE HASN'T BEEN HERE FOR MUCH MORE THAN A CENTURY.

Narrator: THE GREAT PLAINS STRETCH

FROM CANADA TO SOUTHERN TEXAS,

FROM THE MISSOURI RIVER TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS--

OF FEW TREES, INFREQUENT RAINS, CONSTANT WINDS.

ONE OF THE EARLIEST AMERICAN EXPLORERS CALLED IT

"ALMOST WHOLLY UNFIT FOR CULTIVATION,

AND UNINHABITABLE BY A PEOPLE DEPENDING UPON AGRICULTURE."

THE PLAINS INDIANS CONSIDERED IT HOME.

SENT TANGLED ROOTS 5 FEET BELOW THE GROUND,

FORMING A DENSE SOD THAT COULD WITHSTAND THE REGION'S

PERIODIC DROUGHTS AND VIOLENT WEATHER EXTREMES,

NURTURING THE VAST HERDS OF BUFFALO

WHO GRAZED IN NUMBERS BEYOND COUNTING.

AFTER THE BISON WERE ELIMINATED

AND THE NATIVE AMERICANS HAD BEEN DRIVEN ONTO RESERVATIONS,

CATTLEMEN TOOK OVER IN WHAT

BUT SEVERE WINTERS IN THE 1880s KILLED OFF THEIR HERDS,

CONSIDERED UNSUITABLE FOR CROPS

BECAUSE IT AVERAGED LESS INCHES OF RAIN

UNSCRUPULOUS PROMOTERS PROMISED THAT

THE VERY ACT OF FARMING WOULD INCREASE THE PRECIPITATION--

"RAIN FOLLOWS THE PLOW," THEY SAID.

A SEVERE DROUGHT IN THE 1890s PROVED THEM WRONG,

AND COUNTIES THAT HAD TRIPLED AND QUADRUPLED IN POPULATION

EMPTIED JUST AS QUICKLY.

THEN, IN THE EARLY OF THE CENTURY,

ORIGINAL HOMESTEAD ACT,

ENTICING FARMERS TO SETTLE ON SOME OF THE LAST UNCLAIMED

THEM WHITE, CAME FROM EUROPE,

WHERE LAND WAS UNAVAILABLE,

AND PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES

IN THE SOUTHERN PLAINS,

ON A NARROW STRIP OF OKLAHOMA THAT BORDERED 4 OTHER STATES--

KANSAS, TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, COLORADO--

A FORMERLY LAWLESS AND UNGOVERNABLE PLACE

CALLED NO MAN'S LAND, THE PLACE WHERE

CAROLINE HENDERSON WOULD STAKE HER FUTURE.

Henderson FARMING HERE OFTEN REMINDS ME

OF THE WHO, WHEN ASKED TO EMBARK UPON

SOME RATHER DOUBTFUL BUSINESS VENTURE, REPLIED

THAT IF HE WANTED TO GAMBLE, HE WOULD PREFER ROULETTE,

Worster: THE SOUTHERN PLAINS HIGH-RISK AREA

BECAUSE THEY'RE NEITHER DESERT NOR HUMID FOREST

HUMID GRASSLAND, EVEN.

THEY'RE ON THE EDGES OF VULNERABILITY.

THAT THE RAINFALL

IN SOME YEARS, YOU GET ENOUGH RAINFALL

YOu GOOD CROP;

THE NEXT YOU GET HALF THAT AMOUNT OF RAINFALL.

IT IS ONE OF THE RISKIEST AREAS IN THE WORLD

FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.

Hurt: THE FARM MEN AND WOMEN OF THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS

THE GREATEST "NEXT YEAR" PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

THEY REALLY LIVE THEIR LIVES WITH 3 LITTLE

"IF IT RAINS."

IF IT RAINS, THE DUST WOULD SETTLE.

IF IT RAINED, THE DROUGHT WOULD BE BROKEN.

IF IT RAINED, THE WHEAT

IF IT RAINED, THINGS WERE GOOD.

IF IT DIDN'T, THEY WERE A "NEXT YEAR" PEOPLE.

Narrator: NOT LONG AFTER CAROLINE HENDERSON MOVED

TO NO MAN'S IN 1907,

THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ENTERED A WET PERIOD,

THE PACE OF SETTLEMENT QUICKENED.

AND CARVED THEM UP

INTO SMALLER PARCELS FOR SALE AT 3 TIMES THE PRICE.

RAILROAD COMPANIES DID THE SAME THING WITH THE VAST TRACTS

THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN BY THE GOVERNMENT.

BROUGHT PROSPECTIVE BUYERS

TO THE REGION BY THE THOUSANDS.

SALESMEN ASSURED THEM THAT NONE OTHER

THAN THE FORMER CHANCELLOR

HAD DETERMINED THAT THE CLIMATE WAS UNDERGOING

PERMANENT SHIFT-- PRECIPITATION WAS INCREASING,

WHILE THE WINDS WERE SLOWING DOWN.

ANOTHER EXPERT DECLARED THAT

REMOVING THE COVER

ALLOWED MORE RAINFALL TO PENETRATE THE SOIL.

TOWNS SPRANG UP OVERNIGHT.

IN CIMARRON COUNTY,

THE DEVELOPERS OF BOISE CITY

WHO DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER

TO COME FOR AN INSPECTION.

NAMED FOR THE FRENCH

THERE WERE NO TREES. THIS IS IN THE PANHANDLE OF OKLAHOMA.

THERE WERE NO TREES. THEY ADVERTISED IT AS

BIG MAIN STREETS WHERE BANKERS COULD LIVE, AND STATELY ELMS AND MAPLES.

THERE WERE NO TREES,

BUT THEY SOLD LOTS HERE.

THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES IN AMERICAN REAL ESTATE

WHERE REAL-ESTATE PROMOTERS

SENT TO FEDERAL PENITENTIARY,

ONE OF THEM ROTTED DIED IN THAT PENITENTIARY

THE REAL-ESTATE THAT WAS BOISE CITY.

Narrator: "OKLAHOMA," ONE RAILROAD BROCHURE BRAGGED,

"GROWS CATTLE TEXAS,

"BETTER COTTON THAN MISSISSIPPI OR ALABAMA,

AND BETTER SWINE

BUT INCREASINGLY, IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA

THROUGHOUT THE SOUTHERN PLAINS,

WHEN THE GREAT WAR BROKE OUT IN EUROPE,

IN THE UNITED STATES,

FARMERS MOBILIZED TO FEED THE ALLIES.

UNDER THE SLOGAN, "WHEAT WILL WIN THE WAR,"

TWICE THE PREVIOUS RATE.

IN 5 YEARS, MORE THAN 11 MILLION ACRES OF VIRGIN SOIL

WERE PLOWED FOR THE FIRST TIME--

AN AREA TWICE THE

CONVERTED FROM GRASSLANDS TO WHEAT FIELDS.

WHEN THE WAR ENDED, WHEAT PRICES DROPPED,

BUT THE PLOWING AND PLANTING ONLY INCREASED.

IT WOULD COME TO BE CALLED "THE GREAT PLOW UP."

Riney-Kehrberg: IF YOU BEEN A WHEAT FARMER IN THE 1920s,

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RELATIVELY TO MONEY.

YOU NEEDED LESS TO GROW WHEAT

THAN YOU NEEDED TO RUN CATTLE.

I HAD A FARMER TELL ME THAT YOU JUST PUT SEED

IN THE GROUND BOOM, YOU CROP.

Imogene Glover: IT WAS REALLY ADVERTISED ALL OVER THE NATION

AND LIVE IN THE TWENTIES.

OH, IT WAS GREEN, LEVEL, PRETTY,

AND THE GRASS WAS BEAUTIFUL.

WE TALL GRASS,

I REMEMBER RUNNING BAREFOOTED ALONG IN THIS DITCH,

OF COOL, DAMP GROUND.

Narrator: IMOGENE GLOVER'S FAMILY MOVED

TO A 3-ROOM HOUSE ON LAND

NOT FAR FROM CAROLINE AND WILL HENDERSON.

HER FATHER RAISED CATTLE, TURKEYS, ESPECIALLY WHEAT.

Glover: HE WAS A GAMBLER,

BUT I THINK EVERY

THEY HAVE TO GAMBLE THAT WHAT THEY'RE PUTTING INTO THE GROUND

AND THEY'LL GET BETTER OFF.

THEY ALWAYS FEEL THAT WAY IF THEY'RE A FARMER.

Narrator: IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF KANSAS,

FROM A FAILED HOMESTEADER.

AT FIRST, HE MOVED HIS WIFE THEIR CHILDREN

INTO A ONE-ROOM 10-BY-12-FOOT DUGOUT

THAT EXTENDED ONLY 2 1/2 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND,

WITH SMALL WINDOWS TO LET IN A LITTLE LIGHT.

THE FAMILY GREW, EDGAR ADDED ROOMS,

THEN AN ABOVE-GROUND ENTRANCE BIG ENOUGH TO DOUBLE AS A KITCHEN.

HE WAS ABLE TO ACQUIRE 160 ACRES

AND BUILD A BARN

Coen: OH, IT WAS NICE.

SUMMERTIME WAS PRETTY BALMY--

A LOT OF TIMES, WE WOULD SLEEP OUT UNDERNEATH THE TREES

OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

IT WAS A REALLY GOOD ATMOSPHERE,

BEEN AN ARID COUNTRY.

IT NEVER BEEN LOTS OF RAIN.

BUT IT WAS A REALLY IDEAL PLACE TO RAISE A FAMILY.

Egan: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR FAMILY HISTORY,

MOST OF THESE PEOPLE OWNED A PIECE OF DIRT.

WHO'D BEEN KICKED AROUND, THE OLD CONFEDERACY.

POOR WHITE TRASH.

FROM THE RUSSIAN STEPPE.

CAME UP FROM THE SOUTH.

THEY WERE FOLKS THAT NEVER OWNED ANYTHING.

THEY WONDERFUL YEARS, 10, 12, 15,

Narrator: MODERN MACHINERY MADE WHEAT FARMING MORE EFFICIENT

AND STILL PROFITABLE EVEN AT PRICES OF $1.00 PER BUSHEL.

POWERFUL GASOLINE TRACTORS

PULLING ARRAYS OF DISC PLOWS

TURNED THE SOD WITH EASE.

Worster: IN THE 1920s, THERE WAS A CONCERTED MOVEMENT

AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS

TO TURN AGRICULTURE INTO AN INDUSTRIAL MODEL,

TO EVERY FARM INTO A FACTORY.

WELL, YOU COULD NEVER HAVE PLOWED UP

30-SOME MILLION

WITH HORSE WOODEN PLOW EVEN A STEEL PLOW.

TRACTORS WERE GOING ALL NIGHT LONG WITH HEADLIGHTS BURNING

TO PLOW UP THIS LAND, TO GET IT INTO PRODUCTION.

Narrator: IN SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO,

CALVIN CRABILL'S FATHER HOPED TO MAKE A LIFE

FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY

BUT TO GET AHEAD, HE TOOK A JOB

ON OTHER PEOPLE'S LAND.

Calvin Crabill: HE NIGHTS.

AND SO HE WORKED NIGHTS.

HE KNEW THAT BUFFALO GRASS WAS THE NATURAL TURF

OF THAT COUNTRY, AND IT

HE DIDN'T STAY WITH THE TRACTORING THING TOO LONG

BECAUSE I THINK IT JUST GOT HIS HEART.

HE COULDN'T STAND IT.

EVEN THOUGH HE NEEDED THE MONEY, HE QUIT DOING IT.

HE JUST COULDN'T STAND TO DOT.

HE WAS REALLY A STOCKMAN, HE KNEW IT WAS ALL WRONG,

HE THE PRICE FOR IT LATER.

Narrator: IN PREVIOUS YEARS,

FARMERS USED A PLOW CALLED A LISTER

THAT SPLIT THE SOIL IN DIRECTIONS DUG A DEEP FURROW

THAT CAUGHT HELD BLOWING SOIL.

WHICH WAS CHEAPER TORE THROUGH THE

AT A FASTER RATE.

Wayne Lewis: IN THE LATE TWENTIES,

THE THING TO DO WAS

TO OUT EVERYTHING GET IT IN WHEAT.

EVERYBODY DID THAT.

Egan: THIS BOOM WAS ONE OF THE GREAT CLASSIC AMERICAN BUBBLES.

WE'VE LOT OF THEM IN OUR HISTORY, THIS WAS ONE.

THEY THESE SUITCASE FARMERS WHO WOULD GET OFF THE TRAIN,

AND THEY CALLED THEM

THEY WERE JUST DANDIES FROM THE CITY.

THEY WEREN'T FARMERS. THEY HAD THEIR SUITCASES,

THEY'D GO OUT THEY'D CLAIM THEIR SQUARE MILE

THE HOMESTEAD ACT.

THEN THEY'D GET SOMEONE TO PLOW UP THE GRASS,

RED WHEAT INTO THE GROUND,

AND COME BACK IN THE SPRING AND HARVEST THIS THING.

IT WAS A FOOL'S GAME. YOU COULD LOT OF MONEY.

Henderson THE SUITCASE FARMERS HAVE HIRED

THE PREPARATION OF LARGE AREAS OF ALL AROUND US

WHICH NO LONGER REPRESENT THE IDEA OF HOMES AT ALL,

BUT JUST PARTS OF POTENTIAL FACTORY

FOR THE LOW-COST PRODUCTION OF WHEAT.

Narrator: DURING THE 5 YEARS OF THE 1920s ALONE,

ANOTHER 5,260,000 ACRES OF

AN AREA THE SIZE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE--

WAS TURNED OVER ON THE SOUTHERN PLAINS.

"THE SOIL," A FEDERAL AGENCY CONFIDENTLY PROCLAIMED,

"IS THE ONE INDESTRUCTIBLE, IMMUTABLE ASSET

"IT IS THE ONE RESOURCE THAT CANNOT BE EXHAUSTED,

Worster: THE GREAT PLOW UP GOING FOR IT

AMPLE RAINFALL FOR A PERIOD OF 10 OR 15 YEARS,

IT JUST KEPT ENCOURAGING MORE.

PEOPLE THOUGHT, AS THEY THINK AGAIN AGAIN,

THAT WE HAVE TURNED THE CORNER ON CLIMATE HERE.

WE SEE FAR INTO THE FUTURE, IT'S ALL WET.

THEY KNEW THAT THERE'D BEEN SEVERE DROUGHTS IN THE 1890s,

BUT PEOPLE FORGOT ABOUT THOSE.

THEY THOUGHT THAT WAS THE \

THIS IS NOW, AND THIS WILL BE THE FUTURE.

Narrator: A HANDFUL OF OLD-TIMERS,

ESPECIALLY THE CATTLEMEN,

WHO HAD BEEN THROUGH THOSE

TO THEM, THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WERE A GRASSLAND,

AND THE SOD SHOULD NEVER BE TURNED.

WHITE, WHO WAS HALF-APACHE, HALF-ANGLO COWBOY

LIVING IN THE PANHANDLE,

TO HIS SON WHO ASKED HIM WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM,

HE SAID, "LOOK AT IT.

WRONG SIDE UP. IT'S WRONG SIDE UP."

Henderson portrayer: A FEW DAYS AGO,

I RODE TO THE ST FOR THE MAIL.

THE WHOLE COUNTRY

TRANSFORMED IN THE SUNSET GLOW--

ALL THE BROWN PRAIRIE TURNED TO GOLD.

I COULD FEEL ONCE THE LURE OF THIS GREAT, LONELY LAND,

WAITING WITH ITS STORES OF FERTILITY ALL UNTOUCHED

FOR THOSE WHO SHALL ONE DAY LEARN TO MEET ITS DEMANDS,

TO GIVE TO IT THEIR PATIENT THOUGHT

Narrator: AMONG CAROLINE HENDERSON'S NEIGHBORS

WAS THE FAMILY OF HARRY FORESTER.

HE GROWN UP IN ARKANSAS EASTERN

BEFORE FILING ON A HOMESTEAD IN NO MAN'S LAND,

WHERE HE AND HIS WIFE RAISED 9 CHILDREN.

TIMES IMPROVED, HIS EXPANDED,

TO LEAVE AS A BEQUEST

TO EACH OF HIS SONS A SECTION-- THAT, IS A SQUARE MILE--

OF GOOD, ARABLE, WHEAT PRODUCTION LAND,

WHICH WAS SOMETHING THAT HE FELT WOULD GUARANTEE

THEIR HAVING A GOOD LIVING GOOD LIFE.

Narrator: IN 1928, TO FULFILL HIS DREAM,

FORESTER LEVERAGED THE HOMESTEAD HE ALREADY OWNED

WITH A MORTGAGE

TO BUY EVEN WHEAT-GROWING NEAR BOISE CITY.

Forester: HE USED ALL HIS PROPERTY ALL HIS

ALL HE ACCRUED FROM 1906 TO 1928.

BECAUSE OF HIS DREAM, HE ESSENTIALLY PUT IT ALL AT RISK,

AND ULTIMATELY, IT PROVED TO BE A BAD TIME TO MAKE A MOVE.

Narrator: ON OCTOBER 29, 1929--

THE DAY THAT WOULD BE REMEMBERED "BLACK TUESDAY,"

THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED ON WALL STREET,

PUNCTURING SPECULATIVE BUBBLE

THAT HAD BEEN BUILDING THROUGHOUT THE 1920s.

BY THE END OF THE YEAR, THE FINANCIAL PANIC BEGAN

TO SPREAD TO OTHER PARTS OF THE ECONOMY,

THROWING ONE HALF MILLION AMERICANS OUT OF

LATER, THAT NUMBER WOULD TRIPLE,

AND THE NATION DESCENDED INTO THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

BUT BACK IN NO MAN'S LAND, THE FUTURE STILL LOOKED BRIGHT.

PRONOUNCED THE SOUTHERN PLAINS

AS ONE OF THE MOST PROSPEROUS AREAS IN THE ENTIRE NATION.

AN ADVERTISEMENT IN THE "BOISE CITY NEWS" IMAGINED

MANHATTAN-STYLE SKYLINE, WITH THE PREDICTION,

"SOON YOU WILL HAVE YOUR OWN EMPIRE STATE BUILDING,

RIGHT ACROSS FROM

Pauline Hodges: THE FIRST YEARS,

THEY THOUGHT IT DIDN'T AFFECT THEM,

"THAT WAS NEW YORK. IT WASN'T HERE.

THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US."

Glover: WE HAD THE BEST CROP THAT WE IN 1929,

THAT'S WHEN THE MARKET WAS GREAT,

THE PEOPLE THAT DID WHEAT

THEY'D EVER HAD,

THEY JUST THOUGHT THEY'D GET WEALTHY.

IT WAS A GREAT TIME,

AND EVERYTHING

Narrator: IN THE PANHANDLE

TRIXIE TRAVIS BROWN'S FATHER DECIDED TIMES WERE RIGHT

AND BUILD A NEW HOUSE.

Trixie Travis Brown: HE HIS BROTHER

STORE IN FOLLETT.

FOLLETT WAS THRIVING LITTLE TOWN.

ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET.

IT WAS GREAT. THINGS SEEMED TO BE GOING WELL

FOR MY DAD, FOR GRANDPA.

Narrator: MOST OF WHAT PEOPLE KNEW

ABOUT THE MISERY GRIPPING THE REST OF AMERICA

THEY LEARNED FROM READING NEWSPAPERS

PALACE THEATER IN BOISE CITY

THE MISSION THEATRE IN DALHART, TEXAS.

BUT AS THE DEPRESSION DEEPENED ELSEWHERE,

PRICES OF FARM COMMODITIES COLLAPSED,

PLUNGING ALL OF RURAL AMERICA INTO CRISIS.

IN 1930, WHEAT DROPPED FROM A DOLLAR TO 70 CENTS A BUSHEL.

NOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BEGGED FARMERS

TO REDUCE THEIR ACREAGE.

INSTEAD, FARMERS DECIDED IF THEY COULDN'T MAKE

AS MUCH MONEY PER BUSHEL,

THEY WOULD SIMPLY HARVEST MORE BUSHELS.

SO THEY PLOWED UP MORE LAND-- HALF A MILLION MORE ACRES

IN THE COUNTIES AROUND NO MAN'S LAND.

THE WHOLE ONE AGRICULTURAL AGENT SAID,

Worster: THE ANSWER TO FARMERS' PROBLEMS ON THE GREAT PLAINS

IS BASICALLY ALWAYS MORE-- PRODUCTION.

IF YOU'RE HURTING FINANCIALLY, IF YOUR CROP PRICES ARE LOW,

YOU PRODUCE MORE TO MAKE UP.

IF YOU'RE DOING WELL, THE BUSHEL PRICES HIGH,

YOU PRODUCE MORE.

IS THE ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM.

IN 1930, DESPITE LOW PRICES,

MORE WHEAT THAN EVER BEFORE.

Egan: THIS BIG PLOW UP

THAT CAME WHEAT CRASHED.

AND YOU HAD TAKEN OUT

BANK LOAN TO SERVICE YOUR 10,000 ACRES,

GETTING ONLY HALF

WHAT YOU GOT THAT YEAR BEFORE.

THE ONLY WAY YOU COULD COVER YOUR NUT

WAS TO DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF LAND YOU PLOWED UP.

SO, IT SENT THEM INTO THE FIELDS

FOR THIS FRANTIC LAST-MINUTE EFFORT TO TURN THE LAND.

Worster: IT WAS A RECIPE FOR ECONOMIC DISASTER

IN THE SENSE THAT THEY WERE PRODUCING

AN ENORMOUS GLUT OF WHEAT THAT DIDN'T HAVE A MARKET.

IT WAS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER IN THAT IF A DROUGHT COMES ALONG,

THEY ARE LYING THERE VULNERABLE

WITH SO MUCH LAND

Narrator: IT SNOWED RAINED THAT WINTER,

THE SPRING OF 1931 BROUGHT ADEQUATE MOISTURE.

BY HARVEST TIME, THE WINTER WHEAT WAS SHOULDER HIGH,

AND FARMERS REALIZED THEY HAD A BONANZA ON THEIR HANDS.

Henderson portrayer: I HAVE NEVER SEEN

A MORE BEAUTIFUL HARVEST--

ONE OF THE BEST WHEAT CROPS THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER PRODUCED

Narrator: OVER THE YEARS, CAROLINE AND WILL HENDERSON

HAD INCREASED THEIR HOLDINGS TO 640 ACRES--A SQUARE MILE.

THEY HAD PURCHASED MECHANIZED EQUIPMENT

TO REPLACE THEIR HORSES

MADE STEADY IMPROVEMENTS TO THEIR PROPERTY.

THEY NOW HOUSE, WITH A FULL BASEMENT,

5 ROOMS ON THE FIRST FLOOR,

AND A BIG UNFINISHED ROOM ON THE SECOND.

THEY INDOOR BATHROOM--

BUT AS YET, NO RUNNING WATER INSIDE THE HOUSE--

PURCHASED TELEPHONE.

BUT WHEN THE BUMPER CROP OF 1931 WAS HARVESTED,

AND GIANT DUNES OF WHEAT WERE PILED OUT ON THE OPEN GROUND.

PRICES HAD ALREADY COLLAPSED TO 25 CENTS A BUSHEL OR LOWER--

ROUGHLY HALF OF WHAT IT COST THE FARMERS TO GROW IT.

TOO BIG TO CRY ABOUT IT," CAROLINE WROTE,

"AND IT HURTS US TOO MUCH TO LAUGH."

Hodges: I REMEMBER MY FATHER

TOLD HIM THAT PRICES CERTAINLY WOULDN'T GO LOWER

CENTS A BUSHEL, WHICH, TO

WHAT IT HAD BEEN IN THE

LAUGH IRONICALLY

SAY THE NEXT DAY IT DROPPED TO 23 CENTS A BUSHEL--

IT WASN'T UNTIL THE PRICE OF WHEAT DROPPED SO DRASTICALLY

THAT WE REALLY FELT THE DEPRESSION OUT HERE.

Narrator: LIKE SO MANY OF THEIR NEIGHBORS,

PAULINE HODGES' PARENTS BELIEVED

THE SITUATION WOULD NOT FOR LONG.

THEY WERE, AFTER ALL, "NEXT YEAR" PEOPLE.

LITTLE NOONTIME ON JANUARY 21, 1932,

DUST CLOUD OUTSIDE OF AMARILLO, TEXAS.

UNCOMMON IN THE AREA,

BUT THIS ONE ROSE 10,000 FEET INTO THE

CARRIED WINDS OF 60 MILES PER HOUR.

THE LOCAL WEATHER BUREAU DIDN'T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO OF IT,

CALLING IT "AWE-INSPIRING" AND "MOST SPECTACULAR."

EVEN OLD-TIMERS SAID

THEY'D NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT IN THEIR LIVES.

Robert "Boots" McCoy: SCARED US TO DEATH.

WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK.

WAS GONE, LOOKING FOR CATTLE.

MOM AND SISTER AND I,

WE LOOKED AT THAT,

AND WE JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS GONNA BE.

FIRST STARTED WAY OFF, IT WAS DARK.

THE CLOSER IT GOT, IT GOT BROWN,

WHEN IT HIT IN 30 MINUTES,

YOU COULDN'T-- IT'S JUST LIKE MIDNIGHT.

JUST LIKE MIDNIGHT

WITH NO STARS--JUST DARK.

Narrator: BOOTS McCOY'S FAMILY LIVED IN COUNTY,

HE HIS BIG SISTER, RUBY PAULINE,

HUDDLED WITH THEIR MOTHER, WHO WAS PREGNANT.

IT'D BE STILL, BE JUST CALM AS IT COULD BE,

THEN WHEN THAT DUST GOT THERE, WHAM!

IT WOULD HIT YOU.

IT WAS JUST A-ROLLIN'.

IT WAS SCARY. IT SCARED THE HECK OUT OF US.

MOTHER WOULD PRAY ABOUT IT, YOU KNOW.

US KIDS, OF COURSE, WE WAS LITTLE,

WE STAYED CLOSE TO I GUARANTEE YOU.

Narrator: THE STORM PASSED QUICKLY,

BUT THAT WINTER OF 1931-32

THAT FOLLOWED.

THE FIERCE WINDS

BEGAN PICKING UP SAND AND SOIL FROM THE BARE FIELDS AGAIN

MOVING IT ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE.

THE WEATHER BUREAU BEGAN

BY THEIR SEVERITY.

FOR A FEW MILES BEFORE DISAPPEARING;

OTHERS CREATED LIGHT HAZE IN THE SKY.

REDUCED VISIBILITY

TO LESS THAN A QUARTER MILE.

NO MAN'S LAND HAD

Floyd Coen: THE DUST STORMS WAS THE MOST FEARSOME LOOKING,

BUT AS FAR AS DAMAGE, I WOULD SAY

THE SAND STORMS DID MORE DAMAGE TO OUR LAND

AND OUR CATTLE AND SO FORTH.

YOU DON'T HEAR MUCH ABOUT THE STORMS,

BUT WE LOT OF THOSE.

IT WOULDN'T GET VERY DARK,

BUT THEY WERE A NUISANCE TO BE OUT IN,

AND IT'D JUST PEPPER YOU, LIKE SAND A-HITTIN' YOU,

IT'D BE VERY ABRASIVE.

AND THEY MIGHT LAST

ONE TIME, MY MOTHER MARKED

THAT WE ST EVERY DAY.

Glover: I HAD TO RUN

WHEN WE'D SEE THEM A-COMIN',

IF I DIDN'T GET BACK TO THE HOUSE OR TO THE CELLAR IN TIME,

MY BARE LEGS WOULD REALLY FEEL THAT SAND AND GRIT.

BUT I KNEW THE WAY.

I THINK I COULD RUN BLINDFOLDED FROM THE CHICKEN HOUSE

TO THE HOUSE INTO THE CELLAR.

BY 8:00, THAT WIND WOULD BE HITTING, DIRT,

BY THE TIME I WOULD WALK FROM THAT HOUSE TO THAT ROAD,

WHICH WAS AS FAR AS FROM HERE ACROSS THE STREET OUT THERE,

MY LEGS WOULD BE BLISTERED,

THAT DIRT WOULD BE COMING AND HITTING THERE SO HARD.

Narrator: IN THE MIDST OF THE RELENTLESS STORMS,

WENT INTO LABOR.

IT TURNED OUT SHE

SHE NAMED THEM ROY TROY,

BUT THEY WERE IN TROUBLE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

THEY LASTED, BEST I COULD REMEMBER, ABOUT 12 HOURS.

AND, THE DOCTOR JUST COULDN'T SAVE THEM.

AND WHEN WE BURIED THEM, THE NEIGHBORS BUILT A COFFIN,

AND ONE OF THEM WENT

GOT SOME NUMBER 12 SHOE BOXES,

PUT THEM BOYS IN THAT-- PUT THEM IN THAT COFFIN.

THAT'S THE WAY THEY WAS BURIED.

Henderson portrayer: TIME,

I HAVE FOUND MYSELF TIRED OUT FROM HAVING TRIED,

TO BRING THE DISTANT RAIN CLOUDS NEARER

TO WATER OUR FIELDS.

I AM BEGINNING TO SEE

OF ONE'S OWN RESPONSIBILITY,

TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE THE THOUGHT OF SOMEONE

"HE THAT OBSERVETH THE WIND SHALL NOT SOW,

AND HE THAT REGARDETH THE CLOUDS SHALL NOT REAP."

Narrator; FOR CAROLINE AND WILL HENDERSON--

AND ALL THE OTHER FARMERS IN THE AREA--

PRICES FOR WHEAT PLUMMETED EVEN LOWER THAN THE PREVIOUS YEAR,

AND THERE WASN'T MUCH OF

Henderson JUDGING BY ANY STANDARDS

THAT THE WORLD

WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FURTHER AHEAD

IF WE COULD HAVE SPENT THE IN SLEEP.

Narrator: THAT FALL, FARMERS WENT BACK TO THE FIELDS

PLANTED WINTER WHEAT FOR NEXT

Henderson PEOPLE STILL TOIL AMAZINGLY

CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO KEEP CHEERFUL,

BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE EFFORT GROWS MORE APPARENT.

BEHIND THE CHARACTERISTIC AMERICAN NONCHALANCE,

ONE DETECTS GROWING ANXIETY,

THE COMING WINTER.

Clarence YOU KEPT THINKING

THAT TOMORROW THINGS WILL CHANGE,

YOU KEPT DOING WHAT YOU WERE DOING.

YOU THOUGHT, MAYBE THERE ARE

THAT WILL BEA LITTLE THE WAY THEY ARE.

WE COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT HOPING

THAT THINGS WERE GONNA CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.

Lewis: WE ALWAYS HAD HOPE.

NEXT WAS GONNA BE

AND EVEN THIS YEAR

WE LEARNED SLOWLY, WHAT DIDN'T

YOU TRIED IT HARDER THE NEXT TIME.

YOU DIDN'T TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT;

YOU JUST TRIED HARDER THE SAME THING THAT DIDN'T

Henderson BY SACRIFICING THE SMALL RESERVES

WE HELD AGAINST THE DAYS OF DROUGHT DISASTER,

WE HAVE SUCCEEDED SO FAR IN KEEPING ON A CASH BASIS.

WE HAVE DISCONNECTED THE TELEPHONE,

STOPPED THE DAILY PAPER,

SUBSTITUTED CHEAP LYE FOR WASHING POWDER,

THAT MY ROUGH UNCOMFORTABLE,

BUT OF ALL OUR LOSSES,

THE MOST DISTRESSING IS THE

HOW CAN WE FEEL THAT OUR WORK HAS ANY DIGNITY OR IMPORTANCE

WHEN THE PLACES LOW A VALUE

ON THE PRODUCTS OF OUR TOIL?

Narrator: THINGS WERE EVEN WORSE

FOR CAROLINE'S NEIGHBORS, THE FORESTERS.

HARRY FORESTER'S CROP HAD WITHERED IN THE DROUGHT,

AND WHAT LITTLE WHEAT HE HAD MANAGED TO HARVEST

BROUGHT IN ONLY

THE HE PURCHASED NEAR BOISE CITY

TURNED OUT TO HAVE A PRIOR CLAIM ON ITS TITLE

AND WAS TAKEN FROM HIM.

THE MORTGAGE ON HIS ORIGINAL HOMESTEAD,

WHICH HE USED TO BUY THE LAND,

COULD NOT BE PAID, HE LOST IT, TOO.

HE WAS FORCED TO MOVE HIS WIFE AND 9 CHILDREN TO RENTED LAND.

HARRY FORESTER'S DREAM OF

TO KEEP HIS LARGE FAMILY FED

AND WARM THROUGH THE WINTER.

Robert Forester: ONE THING,

FOR A YOUNGSTER LIKE ME

WAS RIDING ALONG ON THE WAGON AND PICKING UP COW CHIPS

AND COMING IN AND PILING THEM BEHIND THE HOUSE

THAT WE WOULD HAVE FUEL FOR THE FIRES.

OF COURSE, THEY DON'T SMELL AT THAT POINT IN TIME,

UNLESS YOU HAPPEN TO GET ONE THAT'S ALITTLE BIT FRESH.

Riney-Kehrberg: AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS WHOLE SITUATION,

MOST PEOPLE ARE THINKING THIS IS A SHORT-TERM PROBLEM.

WE'VE HAD HIGH WINDS BEFORE,

YEAR THINGS WOULD BE BETTER.

THEN...THE NEXT

THEY ASSUME THINGS WILL BE

AND IT DOESN'T GET BETTER.

Narrator: THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES,

AND BUSINESSES HAD FAILED.

IN JUST ONE DAY, ONE QUARTER OF THE ENTIRE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

WENT UNDER THE AUCTIONEER'S HAMMER.

FROM FRANCISCO TO NEW YORK,

WERE REDUCED TO LIVING

IN SHANTYTOWNS CALLED "HOOVERVILLES"

AFTER THE PRESIDENT THEY HAD COME TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING.

THAT NOVEMBER, VOTERS TOOK OUT THEIR DESPAIR

AND ANGER ON HERBERT HOOVER

AND ELECTED FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

TO LEAD THE NATION THROUGH THE CRISIS.

THE NORMALLY REPUBLICAN COUNTIES OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WENT DEMOCRATIC.

ROOSEVELT, THEY HOPED, WOULD AT LEAST TRY TO HELP THEM.

BUT EVEN A PRESIDENT COULDN'T CONTROL THE WEATHER.

THERE WAS NO RAIN AT ALL

IN CIMARRON COUNTY, IN MARCH OF 1933.

THE AGRICULTURAL AGENT THERE PREDICTED THAT, AT BEST,

FARMERS MIGHT HARVEST 4 BUSHELS OF WINTER WHEAT PER ACRE,

VERSUS THE PREVIOUS YIELDS OF NEARLY 30.

AND NOW THE DUST STORMS WERE BECOMING MORE FREQUENT.

INSTEAD OF THE 14 ST: OF 1932 CLASSIFIED AS THE WORST,

ONE STORM IN APRIL LASTED 24 HOURS.

Shirley Forester McKenzie: YOU COULD HARDLY AVOID

LOOKING TO THE WEST

THIS RIM OF DUST THAT WAS RISING ON THE HORIZON.

IT WAS EARTH COLORED.

WAY FAR AWAY, BEGINNING TO RISE,

THE NEXT DAY, PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BIGGER

AND COME QUICKER AND HIGHER,

THEN SUDDENLY, YOU WERE JUST ENGULFED.

IT WAS OVERHEAD, AND YOU COULDN'T SEE THE SUN.

THAT'S WHEN IT WAS REALLY DAY.

DAY DAY, IT WOULD BE THAT WAY--

DARK, BLACK, SCARY.

Robertson: THE EXPERTS COULD TELL

WHERE THE DUST CAME FROM BY THE COLOR.

COMING FROM THE OTHER DIRECTION,

HAD ANOTHER COLOR.

AND THEY WOULD SAY, "WELL,

"WELL, WE'RE GETTING VISITED

BY ALL THE NEW MEXICANS TODAY," FORTH.

Worster: THE BIG DUST STORMS WERE FINE PARTICLES OF SOIL.

OTHERS WERE SANDIER BLOWS

THAT BLEW ALONG THE HIGHWAYS AT LOW ELEVATION,

AND IT TOOK COULD TAKE THE PAINT OFF YOUR AUTOMOBILE

OR YOUR HOUSE, LIKE SANDPAPER BEING RUBBED AGAINST IT.

THE MOST TERRIFYING

WERE THE ONES THAT WERE BASED ON THESE VERY FINE PARTICLES

THAT ROSE UP INTO THE 7,000, 8,000 FEET

IN THIS KIND OF BOILING WALL OF DIRT COMING AT YOU

60-MILE-AN-HOUR WINDS.

THESE WERE THE BLACK BLIZZARDS

THAT FRIGHTENED PEOPLE SO MUCH DURING THOSE PERIODS.

Egan: WHEN ONE OF THESE DUSTERS WOULD APPROACH FROM AFAR

THEY WOULD SEE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME,

BECAUSE SOME CASES, THE ST WERE 100 MILES,

150 MILES, 200 MILES WIDE AND A MILE OR MORE HIGH.

SO IMAGINE DRIVING ON A FLAT LAND

AND LOOKING OFF AND SEEING

MOUNTAIN RANGE ITSELF STARTING TO MOVE.

DAYLIGHT ITSELF WOULD BE OBLITERATED.

SOMEONE TOLD ME IT WAS LIKE "TWO MIDNIGHTS IN A JUG."

Kleffman: ONE PARTICULARLY BAD STORM WE HAD,

IT WAS IN THE DAYTIME,

IT ROLLED IN, IT WAS SO BLACK

THAT YOU COULDN'T SEE YOUR IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE.

SO WE ALL GATHERED IN THE KITCHEN, THE WHOLE FAMILY.

WE LIT THE KEROSENE LAMP, THAT DIDN'T HELP VERY MUCH.

AND MOTHER HAD TEA TOWELS THAT WERE MADE OUT OF FLOUR SACKS

IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

WE JUST TOOK THEM DRAPED THEM OVER OUR HEAD,

DOWN THE FACE--YOU KNOW, JUST THE WHOLE HEAD.

YOU SAT THERE, YOU COULDN'T TALK

VISIT WITH ANYBODY VERY MUCH,

SOMETIMES THOSE TOWELS WERE BLACK

BY THE TIME WE TOOK THEM OFF.

Ina Kay Labrier: IT'D GET SO BAD,

YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE TO DRIVE.

YOU COULDN'T SEE THE SIDES OF THE WITH YOUR LIGHTS ON.

YOU COULDN'T TELL WHETHER YOU WAS ON THE

ON THE SIDES WHERE YOU WERE.

Glover: SOMETIMES WE WERE CAUGHT IN THE HOUSE OR IN THE

UNTIL IT ALL BLEW OVER.

IT JUST WAS OLD BROWN DIRT A-BLOWIN' ALL AROUND THE

AND WE JUST SAT THERE UNTIL IT KIND OF CLEARED UP ENOUGH

IT WAS GRITTY DIRTY,

YOU TO WASH YOUR MOUTH OFF

WHENEVER YOU GOT IN THE HOUSE SO YOU WEREN'T EATING DIRT.

IF YOU'D GO OUT PICK UP HANDFUL OF DIRT

AND STICK IT IN YOUR MOUTH,

Egan: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPENED JUST BEFORE A DUSTER HIT WAS

STATIC ELECTRICITY IN THE AIR.

A CHAIN IN THEIR CAR

TO GROUND THE ELECTRICITY.

YOU DIDN'T DRIVE ANYWHERE WITHOUT HAVING THIS CHAIN

THAT YOU'D THEN THROW OUT AND DRAG IT ALONG THE GROUND

TO GROUND THE ELECTRICITY BECAUSE YOUR RADIO WOULD GO OUT,

YOUR ELECTRICAL STUFF WOULD SHORT.

HOW YOU LITERALLY COULDN'T SHAKE ANOTHER PERSON'S HAND

BEFORE ONE OF THESE

IT WAS THE KINETIC ENERGY THAT WAS IN THE JUST BEFORE A DUSTER HIT.

I CAN REMEMBER FEELING IT IN MY HAIR.

YOUR HEAD TINGLES SOMETHING, YOU KNOW.

YOUR HAIR GETS KIND OF WIRY.

Beck: MORE DUST AND THE LONGER THE RIDE,

THE HIGHER THE CHARGE,

UNTIL FINALLY IT'D GET SUCH A POWERFUL CHARGE

THAT IF YOU REACH OUT TO TOUCH YOUR

THE ELECTRICITY WILL JUMP OUT ABOUT 6 INCHES TO MEET YOU

KNOCK YOU FLAT ON YOUR BUTT.

DON'T FORGET, THIS IS A STORM,

WHICH MEANS IT HAD A BEGINNING AND AN END.

AND IN BETWEEN STORMS, COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE BEAUTIFUL.

THE SKIES WERE CRYSTAL-BLUE, THE CLOUDS WERE

THOSE PUFFY WHITE SUMMERTIME CLOUDS,

WITHOUT OF WATER IN 50 OF THEM.

BUT I CAN STILL REMEMBER MY FATHER LOOKING UP AT THE SKY

AND PRAYING THAT IT'D RAIN.

BUT NATURALLY, IT NEVER WOULD

BECAUSE THOSE WEREN'T RAIN CLOUDS NEVER WOULD BE.

Narrator: IN THE TIMES

THE FARMERS TOWNSPEOPLE TRIED THEIR BEST

TO CARRY ON WITH THEIR LIVES,

BUT THE THEY CALLED HOME

WAS BEING REARRANGED BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES.

DIRT AROUND ANYTHING,

LIKE THE FENCE ROWS OR SOMETHING LIKE A PLOW IMPLEMENT

ANYTHING OUT IN THE YARD,

IT MIGHT BE NEARLY COVERED UP WITH DIRT.

ANYTHING LOOSE BANKED UP AROUND

Kleffman: IT WOULD DRIFT UP THE SIDE OF THE BARN.

YOU JUST WALK UP LIKE YOU LADDER THERE,

Narrator: THE STORMS PUSHED

DRIED-UP RUSSIAN THISTLES-- TUMBLEWEEDS--

THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS.

WHEREVER THEY PILED UP

THEY CREATED EDDIES IN THE WIND, AND THE DIRT ACCUMULATED.

IN THE FENCE,

AND THEN THE SAND GOT IN THE

EVERY PLACE THERE WAS A FENCE,

OVER MOST OF THEM.

Narrator; WHERE THE DIRT AND SAND HADN'T PILED UP,

THE BEEN SWEPT CLEAN OF TOPSOIL.

Kleffman: IT WAS BARE. IT WAS HARD.

YOU COULD TAKE SWEEP IT

JUST LIKE YOU COULD FLOOR.

IT WAS HARD, JUST LIKE CEMENT.

Worster: SO YOU COULD WALK OUT ONTO YOUR FARM,

INSTEAD OF FINE DIRT,

YOU FOUND THIS LAYER ON THE TOP.

IMPOSSIBLE TO CULTIVATE.

YOUR DIRT WOULD BE IN SOMEBODY

Glover: YOU KNOW, THE DUST WAS SO BAD THAT THE CATTLE DIED.

THEY FOUND SMALL HERDS OF CATTLE THAT WERE JUST FILLED UP

WITH DIRT IN THEIR LUNGS THEIR NOSES.

I CAN REMEMBER SEEING

MUD ON THE END

WHERE THEY TRIED TO BREATHE COULDN'T.

Worster: THEY DIED OF SUFFOCATION.

WILDLIFE WAS OUT THERE DIED OF SUFFOCATION.

BUT ANIMALS ALSO SIMPLY WANDERED AWAY

NOT KNOWING WHERE THEY BELONGED

AND WOULD CLIMB OVER THESE DUST DRIFTS AND BE LOST.

IT WAS REALLY DEVASTATING

FOR LIVESTOCK IN TERMS OF LOSS OF LIFE.

Narrator: HOUSEWIVES NURTURED THEIR GARDENS WITH WELL WATER,

BUT THE ABRASIVE WINDS, THE SHIFTING DIRT--

EVEN, SOMETIMES, THE CHARGE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY IN THE AIR--

OFTEN KILLED THE VEGETABLES THEIR FAMILIES WERE COUNTING ON.

Virginia Frantz: A STORM WOULD COME, AND THERE WOULD BE

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LEFT OF IT.

AND MOTHER TRIED HER BEST TO KEEP THAT FROM HAPPENING.

SHE WOULD DIG POSTHOLES TO PLANT TOMATOES IN

THAT THE WIND WOULDN'T CUT THEM OFF

UNTIL THEY GOT BIGGER STRONGER

TO WHERE THEY MIGHT HAVE

SHE DUG DEEP ROWS TO PUT ANYTHING IN.

OF COURSE, SOMETIMES THEY WOULD FILL UP WITH DIRT.

Narrator: AFTER SURVEYING THE RESIDENTS OF MEADE, KANSAS,

A REPORTER CALCULATED THAT THE AVERAGE DAMAGE

FROM A SINGLE STORM

WHAT COULDN'T BE MEASURED, HE SAID,

WAS "THE LOSS OF DISPOSITION OF THE HOUSEWIVES."

Kleffman: MY MOTHER

AND SHE TRIED TO

SHE WOULD TAKE ALL HER CURTAINS DOWN ONE DAY

AND WASH THEM AND HANG THEM BACK UP.

A DIRT STORM WOULD COME IN THAT NIGHT,

AND THEY WERE JUST LIKE THEY WERE BEFORE SHE WASHED THEM.

THAT WENT ON DAY DAY DAY,

ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU WOULD HEAR OF SOME WOMAN

THAT JUST COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE,

AND SHE'D COMMIT SUICIDE.

Robertson: IT BLEW THAT DIRT INTO THE ATTIC OF THE HOUSE.

LOT OF TIMES WHEN WE WOULD GET UP OF A MORNING,

YOU COULD LOOK UP AT THE CEILING

IF THERE WAS A SPLIT BETWEEN BOARDS

THAT DIRT WOULD JUST BE COMING RIGHT DOWN

LIKE THIS ON THE TABLE.

WHEN WE'D GET UP IN THE MORNING, A LOT OF TIMES

THERE WOULD BE, SAY, FROM AN INCH

TO 5 INCHES OF DIRT JUST PILED LIKE THAT.

YOU CLEANED THAT OFF, YOU EAT,

YOU EAT THE DIRT IF IT'S THERE.

IF IT ISN'T, WELL, YOU DO GOOD.

Floyd Coen: WHEN WE SET THE TABLE,

WE ALWAYS SET THE PLATE UPSIDE-DOWN--

GLASSES OR CUPS, IT WAS, UPSIDE-DOWN.

AND STILL I THINK YOU'D TURN THEM OVER AND SHAKE THEM,

LOOK AT THEM BEFORE YOU PUT ANYTHING IN THEM.

MY FAMILY THINKS THAT I'M KIND OF STUPID, I GUESS I Al,

BUT I STILL--IF I GET GLASS OUT OF A CABINET,

I RINSE IT OUT BEFORE I DRINK OUT OF IT.

Kleffman: WHEN WE WOULD GO TO BED AT NIGHT,

SOMETIMES A DUST ST WOULD COME IN,

WHEN WE GOT UP THE NEXT MORNING,

OUR COVERS WOULD BE COMPLETELY COVERED WITH DUST,

AND THE ONLY CLEAN PLACE ON OUR PILLOW

Henderson portrayer: DUST TO EAT,

AND DUST TO BREATHE, AND DUST TO DRINK.

DUST IN THE BEDS IN THE FLOUR BIN,

ON DISHES WALLS WINDOWS,

IN HAIR AND EYES AND EARS AND TEETH AND THROATS,

TO SAY NOTHING OF THE HEAPED-UP ACCUMULATION ON FLOORS

AND WINDOW SILLS AFTER

THIS WIND-DRIVEN DUST, FINE AS THE FINEST FLOUR,

PENETRATES WHEREVER GO.

Narrator: IF THE WIND DUST

WEREN'T ENOUGH TO WITH,

HORDES OF JACKRABBITS, DRIVEN BY HUNGER,

Kleffman: THEY ATE EVERYTHING GREEN THERE WAS.

THE FARMERS KILLED OFF THE COYOTES,

THAT UPSET THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS,

THE RABBITS JUST EXPLODED,

THEY WOULD EAT ANYTHING GREEN THEY FOUND,

THEY WOULD EAT YOUR GARDEN UP.

McCoy: THERE'D BE THOUSANDS OF RABBITS.

THEY'D EAT EVERYTHING--EAT THE

PUT NEW POSTS UP ON OUR PLACE WHEN HE'D DONE IT,

IT WAS CEDAR POST THAT BARK ON IT,

THEY ATE THAT BARK OFF OF IT.

Narrator: TO COMBAT THE INVASION,

ENTIRE COMMUNITIES BEGAN ORGANIZING "RABBIT DRIVES."

YOU'D ADVERTISE IT WITH FLYERS ALL OVER THE PLACE IN ADVANCE--

"ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON ON THE FARM OF JOE SMITH

"WWOULD BE A RABBIT DRIVE.

BRING THE FAMILY."

ON THAT AFTERNOON,

THERE MIGHT BE TO 100 FAMILIES SHOW UP.

Wells: THE PEOPLE WOULD GO OUT IN A SEMI-CIRCLE

AND THEN BRING THEM IN.

THEY CLUBS,

THEY'D USE WAGON SPOKES FOR CLUBS.

WHAT STARTED OUT AS A PEACEFUL PICNIC

SORT OF TURNED INTO A RIOT--

DOGS BARKING YIPPING, PEOPLE YELLING,

SCREAMING, RABBITS HOPPING IN THE

THEY JUST--WE'D KILL THEM UNTIL WE JUST GIVE OUT.

THEN MORE KIDS WOULD GET IN AND GO FIGHTING THEM.

THEY'D KILL THEM

Coen: YOU'D CLUB THE RABBITS TO DEATH,

IT WAS A HORRIBLE THING TO DO.

THEY WOULD SCREAM, I STILL HEAR RABBITS,

THE NOISE THEY'D MAKE.

I WENT ON ONE, AND THAT

Narrator: IN THE EARLY SPRING OF 1934,

SNOWSTORM BLANKETED NO MAN'S LAND.

THE FLAKES, MIXED WITH AIRBORNE DIRT, WERE DARKENED--

LOCALS CALLED IT "SNUSTER"--

A LITTLE MOISTURE.

IN THE PANHANDLE, LIGHT RAIN FELL.

MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT THE DROUGHT HAD BROKEN.

A LOCAL NEWSPAPER REPORTED.

WITH BRIGHTER DAYS IN SIGHT AND A SONG IN THEIR HEARTS."

Robertson: I REMEMBER ONE TIME IT RAINED,

WE WERE ALL JUST THRILLED,

AND THE CHILDREN WENT OUT IN THE STREETS

BAREFOOT DANCING IN THE RAIN

AND LET THE RAIN FALL ON THEIR TONGUES.

WE WERE JUST ECSTATIC,

AND THE MOTHERS CALLED THAT IT WAS TIME TO COME IN FOR SUPPER,

AND NOBODY WOULD GO IN.

SO FINALLY THE NEIGHBORS ALL BROUGHT SUPPER

TO THE FRONT PORCHES,

AND WE HAD SUPPER ON THE FRONT PORCHES

AND DANCING IN THE STREETS.

AND WE THOUGHT MAYBE THE TIDE HAD TURNED.

BUT, YOU KNOW, AFTER THAT, HERE CAME THE DUST AGAIN.

TO BE EVEN DRIER AND HOTTER

THE YEARS BEFORE-- OF A NATIONWIDE DROUGHT

THAT AFFECTED 46

IN MAY, THE TEMPERATURE HAD

IN NORTH DAKOTA, WHERE THE

PARTS OF NEBRASKA, WHERE TEMPERATURES HIT 118,

WEATHER FRONT MOVING EASTWARD

BEGAN PICKING UP LOOSE SOIL FROM WYOMING AND MONTANA,

THEN NEBRASKA

ULTIMATELY 350 MILLION TONS OF IT,

LIFTED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FEET IN THE

CARRIED BY HIGH-LEVEL WINDS,

IT CROSSED IOWA, MINNESOTA, WISCONSIN,

AND AS IT PASSED OVER CHICAGO, IT DEPOSITED

ESTIMATED 12 MILLION POUNDS OF DUST--

4 POUNDS FOR EACH RESIDENT OF THE CITY.

ON MAY 10th, IT DARKENED THE SKIES

OVER DETROIT, CLEVELAND, BUFFALO.

BY THE MORNING OF THE 11th, THE STORM ENVELOPED

THE EASTERN SEABOARD

IN NEW YORK CITY, STREET LIGHTS WERE TURNED ON AT MID-DAY,

THE THICK HAZE OBSCURED TOURISTS' VIEWS OF CENTRAL

FROM THE TOP OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING,

AND A SHIP DELAYED ITS ENTRY INTO THE HARBOR

BECAUSE THE CAPTAIN HAD TROUBLE SEEING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.

THE NATIONAL MALL,

EVEN SIFTED INTO THE WHITE HOUSE,

WHERE PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

PROMISING RELIEF TO THE DROUGHT-STRICKEN GREAT PLAINS.

MILES FROM THE COAST

REPORTED DIRT FALLING ONTO THEIR DECKS.

Worster: PEOPLE WERE SHOCKED IN THE EAST,

THEY BEGAN, FOR THE FIRST TIME, TO ASK QUESTIONS--

WHAT IS HAPPENING OUT ON THE GREAT PLAINS?

Narrator: THOUGH IT ORIGINATED ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS,

EASTERNERS REFERRED TO IT ALL AS "KANSAS DUST,"

AND MANY OF THEM QUICKLY

HOW TO STOP IT FROM BLOWING ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

ONE PROPOSED COVERING THE PLAINS IN CONCRETE,

WITH HOLES CAREFULLY PLACED FOR PLANTING SEEDS,

WHILE A STEEL MANUFACTURER IN PITTSBURGH THOUGHT

ITS WIRE NETTING MIGHT WORK BETTER.

THE BARBER ASPHALT COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY ESTIMATED

IT COULD SPREAD ITS PRODUCT

WOMAN FROM NORTH CAROLINA SUGGESTED

WOULD SIMULTANEOUSLY BEAUTIFY HER STATE

WHILE STOPPING THE WIND EROSION ON THE PLAINS.

WELL, EASTERNERS IN PARTICULAR,

ANYONE WHO DIDN'T LIVE ON THE GREAT PLAINS,

HAD NO IDEA OF THE SCALE OF THIS PROBLEM

HOW TO GO ABOUT SOLVING IT.

THEIR FIRST IDEA WAS BASICALLY

TO COVER THE GREAT PLAINS SOMEHOW, COVER THESE SOILS--

BRINGING ROCKS FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,

I GUESS ROLLING THEM DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE--

THEY HAD NO IDEA THAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT

A HUNDRED MILLION ACRES.

Narrator: PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

HIS SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, HENRY WALLACE,

HAD IDEAS OF THEIR OWN-- FROM ENCOURAGING FARMERS

TO PLANT FEWER CROPS

THE LOOSE SOILS THROUGH BETTER PLOWING TECHNIQUES--

STILL IN THEIR INFANCY.

DURING A STOP IN DROUGHT-RAVAGED NORTH DAKOTA THAT SUMMER,

ROOSEVELT ADMITTED AS MUCH.

"I WOULD NOT TRY TO FOOL YOU BY SAYING

WE KNOW THE SOLUTION" TO THE CRISIS, THE PRESIDENT SAID.

DON'T. BUT WHAT I TELL YOU

"FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART IS THIS--

"IF IT IS POSSIBLE FOR US TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM,

SOME OF THE PEOPLE LINING THE ROUTE OF HIS MOTORCADE

HELD UP SIGNS THAT NOTED HOW ROOSEVELT

ALREADY ENDED PROHIBITION.

"YOU GAVE US BEER," THE PLACARDS SAID. "NOW GIVE US WATER."

ROOSEVELT ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR

A SERIES OF RAINS FELL SHORTLY AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S VISIT

AND HELPED EASE THE DROUGHT ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS.

PEOPLE THERE CALLED IT

BUT FARTHER SOUTH, THERE WAS NO SUCH RELIEF.

WHILE THE OUTLINES OF THE WORST-HIT

WOULD SHIFT OVER THE YEARS,

SOMETIMES BROADENING NARROWING,

BY THE SUMMER OF 1934, THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALLY

IDENTIFIED THE GEOGRAPHIC HEART OF THE DUST CRISIS.

IN CIMARRON COUNTY,

THE WESTERN TIP OF IN NO MAN'S LAND.

ONE THIRD OF THE COUNTY'S WAS BLOWING.

NATIVE BUFFALO GRASS

THAT NOT BEEN PLOWED BEEN BURIED

UNDER DRIFTS OF DIRT AND SAND, SOME 10 FEET HIGH.

FEW OF ROOSEVELT'S OTHER NEW PROGRAMS,

AIMED AT EASING THE HUNGER JOBLESSNESS

OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION,

HAD NOW REACHED THE SOUTHERN PLAINS.

IN CIMARRON COUNTY ALONE, NEEDY RESIDENTS RECEIVED

2 TONS OF SMOKED 16 TONS OF BEEF,

17 TONS OF FLOUR, 33 TONS OF COAL

THROUGH A SURPLUS COMMODITIES PROGRAM.

ONE QUARTER OF THE

NOW DEPENDED ON NEW DEAL JOBS.

BUT NONE OF THAT ADDRESSED THE MAIN CALAMITY.

GETTING DEEPER DEEPER IN DUST,"

THE "BOISE CITY NEWS" REPORTED.

THE SAME WAS TRUE IN ALL THE OTHER SURROUNDING COUNTIES

IN TEXAS, NEW MEXICO,

AND THE REST OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE.

Worster: BY 1934, THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE

ON THE GREAT PLAINS

IT WOULD HAVE, AT THAT POINT, CLASSIFIED

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS

IN AMERICAN HISTORY ALREADY.

Henderson WE TRYING TO HOPE

THAT THE WORST IS OVER, YET TODAY, WE THOUGHT

THE DROUGHT HAD BEEN EFFECTIVELY BROKEN,

WE ANOTHER TERRIBLE DAY OF VIOLENT WIND,

DRIFTING CLOUDS OF DUST,

AND RUSSIAN THISTLES RACING LIKE MAD ACROSS THE PLAINS

PILING UP IN HEAD-HIGH IMPASSABLE BANKS.

WE FEEL AS IF THE ADMINISTRATION IS REALLY MAKING

SINCERE EFFORT TO IMPROVE GENERAL CONDITIONS,

BUT THEY HAVE TREMENDOUS TASK,

MADE HARDER, OF COURSE,

TO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES OPPORTUNITIES OF THE .

Narrator: THAT SUMMER, FARMERS GATHERED

AT THE PALACE THEATER IN BOISE CITY

TO HEAR DETAILS ON NEW GOVERNMENT

DESIGNED TO STABILIZE BEEF PRICES

BY REDUCING THE SURPLUS OF

IN THE GREAT PLAINS, IT WAS ALSO MEANT TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM

LACK OF ADEQUATE PASTURAGE.

ALREADY, HOMESTEADERS LIKE CAROLINE AND WILL HENDERSON

TO HARVESTING RUSSIAN THISTLES

OR BURNING OFF THE NETTLES OF PRICKLY PEARS IN AN EFFORT

TO GIVE THEIR CATTLE SOMETHING--ANYTHING--TO EAT.

Robertson: DADDY SAID, DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY

"TO BUY FOOD FOR THE CATTLE,

"BUT IF WE CUT THISTLES STACK THEM,

THERE'S MORE FOOD VALUE IN THAT THAN NEARLY ANYTHING."

BAD JOB, THAT'S ONE.

THOSE THISTLES GET DOWN YOUR LEGS INTO YOUR SHOES,

THOSE LITTLE STICKERS, YOU STAND IT ABOUT SO LONG,

BUT SOON YOU GOT TO STOP, GET OUT A STICKER.

Narrator: TO ENCOURAGE

TO CULL THEIR HERDS,

THE NEW GOVERNMENT PROGRAM WOULD PAY THEM UP TO $16 A HEAD

BE SHIPPED TO A PACKING HOUSE,

WHERE IT WOULD BE

FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE

CATTLE DEEMED UNFIT FOR CONSUMPTION

WOULD BRING A MINIMUM OF $1.00 A HEAD

BUT WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY KILLED BURIED.

GOVERNMENT AGENTS FANNED

PAY MEN TO PUT THEIR HERDS UNDER THE DRIFTING SOIL.

NATIONWIDE, THE WAS A SUCCESS.

$111 MILLION WAS SPENT TO PURCHASE 8.3 MILLION CATTLE,

AND PRICES WERE STABILIZED.

IN CIMARRON COUNTY,

THE GOVERNMENT PURCHASED 12,499 HEAD OF CATTLE IN 1934,

PAYING $164,449 IN MUCH-NEEDED

DESPERATE AS THEY WERE FOR SOME INCOME,

IT WAS PILL FOR TO SWALLOW,

HARDER STILL ON THEIR CHILDREN.

WHAT THEY DID WAS, THEY TOOK A BULLDOZER

MADE A MAMMOTH DITCH, MAMMOTH DITCH,

DROVE ALL THE CATTLE DOWN IN THERE.

THEN THERE WERE MEN ABOVE WITH RIFLES,

I WOULD SAY MAYBE 10 MEN WITH RIFLES,

AND THEY SHOT THE CATTLE.

MY FATHER, WHEN OUR CATTLE WAS DRIVEN INTO THIS DITCH

TO BE SHOT, HE SAID, "THERE'S A LITTLE CALF.

I BUTCHER THAT CALF FOR FOOD FOR US?"

THEY SAID, "NO. THEY ALL HAVE TO BE DESTROYED."

I'LL NEVER FORGET TO MY DYING DAY

STANDING THERE AS A LITTLE BOY,

WHEN THEY STARTED

IT'S A SIGHT TO THIS DAY THAT,

THE AVERAGE PERSON COULDN'T ST. IT,

BUT LITTLE KID,

IT WAS VERY ROUGH BECAUSE THAT WAS OUR STOCK.

YOU GOT SOME MONEY FOR IT.

BUT THAT DIDN'T MATTER.

THEY KILLED THE STOCK.

Robertson: AND THEY SAID,

"TO GET THOSE CATTLE TOGETHER, WE'LL JUST RUSH THEM,

"AND THEY'LL FALL IN THAT DITCH,

THEN WE'LL KILL THEM COVER THEM UP."

COULD HARDLY...

[CHOKING UP]

BUT HE COULD HARDLY DO THAT.

AND I NEVER WILL FORGET MY BROTHER AND I STANDING THERE

WATCHING THEM SHOOT THOSE LITTLE CALVES,

AND WE COULD HARDLY STAND IT.

BUT THAT'S WHAT THEY DID.

Riney-Kehrberg: ANYBODY WHO HAD LIVED ON THE SOUTHERN PLAINS

FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME KNEW THAT THERE WERE PERIODIC DROUGHTS,

KNEW THAT THE WIND BLEW IN THE SPRING,

KNEW THAT THERE WERE

WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THE 1930s IS HOW LONG THE DROUGHT LASTS.

BATTLING AGAINST HOPE

THAT MAYBE THERE WAS

SOME RAIN ON THE HORIZON, BUT IT WOULD FALL

ON SOMEBODY ELSE'S FIELD NOT YOURS.

GATHER, AND YOU WOULD HOPE

THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE GOOD NEWS,

BUT INSTEAD IT WAS GOING TO BE DIRT.

HOPE KEPT THEM GOING, BUT HOPE ALSO MEANT

THAT THEY WERE BEING CONSTANTLY DISAPPOINTED.

Brown: MY DAD COULD TELL IF IT

BY LOOKING OUT THE BACK AT THE SUNRISE,

IF THE SUN WAS RED,

HE'D SAY, "OH, IT'S GONNA BE DAY."

THAT DISCOURAGED ME EVEN WHEN I WAS LITTLE

IF I HEARD HIM SAY THAT.

Narrator: BY 1934, PROPERTY VALUES AROUND BOISE CITY

HAD DECLINED BY 90%,

AND MORE THAN HALF OF THE LANDOWNERS

WERE DELINQUENT

EACH WEEK, THE LOCAL PAPER CARRIED NOTICES

OF FARMS BEING PUT ON THE AUCTION BLOCK

EVERY FAMILY, EVERY FARM,

THE TELEPHONE THAT OPENED

IN THE RURAL OF NO MAN'S WENT UNDER.

THE PALACE THEATER SHUT ITS DOORS--

UNTIL ENOUGH PEOPLE PERSUADED THE OWNER TO REOPEN.

THEY NEEDED MOVIES TO HELP

THEM TAKE THEIR MINDS OFF THEIR TROUBLES.

NEXT CALAMITY WOULD BE

OR WHEN THE HARD TIMES MIGHT END.

WHEN HE LOST YET ANOTHER CROP TO THE DROUGHT,

PAULINE HODGES' FATHER FOUND HIMSELF

HARD UP AGAINST

Hodges: I THINK HE MUST HAVE BEEN SCARED TO DEATH

BECAUSE HE LITTLE EDUCATION.

FARMING WAS ALL HE KNEW HOW TO DO, ALL HE'D EVER DONE,

AND TO LOOK OUT AND SEE THAT FIELD

SOLID DUST, MOUNDS OF DUST.

HE'D SAY, "OH, IT'S GOING TO GET

IT'LL GET BETTER."

HE WOULD TALK ABOUT HIS BANKER IN LIBERAL,

HE'D SAY, "OH, MR. IGO

FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER."

HE CARRIED US FOR

BEYOND WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE, KEEPING THE HOPE

AND TIMES WERE GONNA GET BETTER

IF WE JUST CROP, WE COULD PAY OFF THAT MORTGAGE.

FINALLY, THE BANK

IN THE WINTER OF '34-'35, THEY FORECLOSED.

Narrator: THEY MOVED INTO VACANT 3-ROOM HOUSE IN TOWN,

AND HER FATHER MANAGED TO FIND A GOVERNMENT JOB

BUILDING ROADS THAT HELPED KEEP THE FAMILY FED.

Hodges: HE MADE $3.00 A DAY TO START WITH,

AND WHEN HE BECAME

BUT EVEN AS YOUNG AS I WAS,

I REMEMBER SEEING THE CHANGE IN HIM

FROM THE SELF-CONFIDENT PERSON THAT HE'D BEEN

REALLY DEFEATED.

FRANKLY, HE NEVER RECOVERED.

Narrator: OVER IN FOLLETT, TEXAS,

TRIXIE TRAVIS BROWN'S FATHER AND GRANDFATHER

WERE TRYING TO HOLD ON TO THEIR HARDWARE BUSINESS.

AMONG THOSE HAVING TROUBLE PAYING THEIR BILLS WERE

A PAIR OF BROTHERS, VALUED

Brown: THE OF THEM CAME IN TO THE HARDWARE ST

AND SAID, "I DON'T KNOW

"WE'RE WIPED OUT, AND WE CANNOT PAY THIS BILL

HE SAID, "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

"WE'LL CARRY THIS. YOU'LL BE JUST FINE.

AND IT WAS NO TIME BEFORE THE TRAGEDY HAPPENED.

ONE OF THEM, HE HAD A FAMILY WITH CHILDREN

HE HANGED HIMSELF AT HOME.

THIS OF AGONY WAS GOING ON.

Narrator: SOON ENOUGH, TRIXIE'S FATHER GRANDFATHER

COULDNT PAY THEIR DEBTS, EITHER.

Brown: THE HARDWARE ST: WENT BANKRUPT.

WE LOST IT, AND THE BANK TOOK THE HOUSE.

THE BANK FORECLOSED ON GRANDPA TRAVIS,

HE LOST HIS CATTLE, HE LOST HIS SECTION OF LAND,

HE LOST HIS HOME, HE LOST HIS HEALTH.

Narrator: IN BAZINE, KANSAS, A DOCTOR TOOK HIS OWN LIFE.

"HE TOLD US JUST

THAT MONEY WAS IMPOSSIBILITY NOW,"

THE LOCAL PAPER REPORTED, "AND THE LETTERS INDICATE

THAT FINANCIAL TROUBLES

IN DODGE CITY, 13-YEAR-OLD BOY,

SAID TO BE WORRIED THAT HIS PARENTS COULDN'T AFFORD

COMMITTED SUICIDE.

CIMARRON COUNTY DOCTOR KILLED HIS WIFE THEN HIMSELF.

IN BOISE CITY, MILLARD FOWLER

AND READY TO BUILD A FUTURE.

HE HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE DAUGHTER

OF A MAN WHO UNTIL RECENTLY HAD BEEN ONE

PROMINENT BUSINESSMEN.

FOWLER AND HIS SWEETHEART DECIDED TO GET MARRIED,

BUT FIRST HE WANTED TO GET HER FATHER'S BLESSING.

FOWLER FOUND HIS FUTURE FATHER-IN-LAW SITTING

IN HIS CAR IN FRONT OF THE FAMILY HOME.

Millard Fowler: WHEN I OPENED THE

I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS UP TO.

BUT I DIDN'T KNOW WHY.

BUT WHEN I OPENED THE I SAW THAT RIFLE,

POINTING AT HIS HEAD.

I OPENED THE DOOR AND GOT IN THE SEAT BESIDE HIM AND...

TOOK THAT RIFLE UNLOADED IT...

WITHOUT CONVERSATION, I REMEMBER.

BUT I FINALLY GOT AROUND AND ASK HIM

IF IT'D BE ALL RIGHT IF WE GOT MARRIED,

A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER, HE COMMITTED SUICIDE.

Narrator: IN 1935, THE NUMBER OF "BLACK BLIZZARDS" DOUBLED

AROUND NO MAN'S LAND,

IN THE FIRST 4 MONTHS.

IN THAT TIME, 7 DIFFERENT ST:

REDUCED VISIBILITY TO ZERO IN AMARILLO.

DODGE CITY, KANSAS, ONLY 13 DUST-FREE DAYS.

QUARTER OF THE WHEAT CROP IN

IT BLEW OUT 5 MILLION ACRES OF FIELDS,

IN THE SPACE OF A DAY, CARRIED OFF TWICE AS MUCH DIRT

BY THE UNITED STATES

IN THE DECADE IT TOOK TO DIG THE CANAL.

Worster: THIS WAS MORE FRIGHTENING

THAN WINTER SNOW BLIZZARDS

IT WAS IN THAT SENSE LIKE A WINTER BLIZZARD

WHERE THEY TIED, YOU KNOW, ROPES FROM THE HOUSE TO THE BARN

TO MAKE YOUR WAY BACK AND FORTH.

BUT PEOPLE WEREN'T FOR

THIS KIND OF BLIZZARD, BLACK BLIZZARD.

THEY DIDN'T THINK ABOUT IT IN THE SAME TERMS AT FIRST.

THEY THOUGHT, "WELL, THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT'S GONNA KILL ME."

BUT IT DID. I MEAN, IT CHOKED PEOPLE.

PEOPLE DIED IN DUST DRIFTS.

Narrator; DURING A "BLACK BLIZZARD" IN FEBRUARY,

FARMER'S WENT OFF THE MILES FROM HIS HOME,

HE GOT OUT TO WALK THE REST OF THE WAY.

HE NEVER MADE IT.

IN MARCH, A 7-YEAR-OLD

GOT CAUGHT ALONE IN A STORM.

SEARCHERS FOUND HIM THE NEXT MORNING,

SUFFOCATED, SMOTHERED IN DIRT.

FARTHER WEST, A 9-YEAR-OLD WANDERED OFF ALONE

IN THE SAME STORM.

HE WAS TANGLED IN BARBED WIRE BUT STILL BREATHING.

THE TRAIN FROM CITY TO DALHART, TEXAS,

WAS FORCED TO STOP

WHEN ITS PASSENGERS COMPLAINED THEY WERE CHOKING.

IT PAUSED LONG ENOUGH TO LET THE DUST SETTLE,

WHILE PEOPLE SCOOPED OUT THE DIRT ON THE FLOORS AND SEATS.

THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE

THEN THE TRAIN DELIVERING

WRITING FROM GREAT BEND,

"LADY GODIVA COULD RIDE THROUGH THE STREETS

WITHOUT EVEN THE HORSE SEEING HER."

THAT SPRING, A WAVE OF ILLNESSES

SWEPT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS,

WITH SYMPTOMS OF COUGHING SPELLS HIGH TEMPERATURES,

AND SHORTNESS OF BREATH.

PEOPLE CALLED IT "DUST PNEUMONIA."

THE SOIL THEY HAD TURNED OVER DURING THE GREAT PLOW UP

ALREADY KILLED THE SODBUSTERS' CROPS LIVESTOCK.

NOW IT SEEMED TO HAVE ZEROED IN

ON SOMETHING MUCH MORE PRECIOUS--THEIR CHILDREN.

White: THERE WERE TIMES WHEN

IT WAS HARD TO BREATHE BECAUSE OF THE DUST.

WE LITTLE THINGS,

LITTLE STRIPS OF SHEET,

SOMETIMES OVER OUR NOSE AND MOUTH

WE WOULDN'T BREATHE SO MUCH OF IT.

I'M SURE MOM AND DAD WERE CONCERNED

ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD DO TO US.

YOU DIDN'T KNOW.

EACH PARTICLE OF SOIL IS ABOUT A TENTH OF THE SIZE

OF A PERIOD AT THE END OF A SENTENCE IN A BOOK--

BARELY VISIBLE TO THE HUMAN EYE.

AND THAT'S JUST SMALL ENOUGH OF A PARTICLE

Frantz: ANYTIME YOU TOOK A BREATH, YOU HAD DIRT.

IF YOU WERE COUGHING, AND... I CALL IT GUNK.

IF YOU COUGHED BUNCH OF GUNK UP,

THE GUNK YOU'D COUGHED UP WAS MUD.

Hodges: THERE WERE DAYS WHEN MY MOTHER PUT A DUST MASK

IT FRIGHTENED ME, AT LEAST AT FIRST.

AS I REMEMBER, I GOT OVER THAT

I THOUGHT IT WAS UNCOMFORTABLE I HATED IT,

BUT IT WAS COUGHING CHOKING ALL THE TIME.

GET A GOOD BREATH

IT'D BE SOAKED UP, THE DIRT ON THE OUTSIDE OF THEM...

WHAT I HEARD ANYTHING ELSE,

"FLOYD, PUT YOUR MASK BACK ON."

I COULD GET A BETTER BREATH WITHOUT IT

I COULD WITH IT, I THOUGHT.

Narrator: THE CROSS ISSUED A CALL

IT WASN'T NEARLY ENOUGH.

MORE PEOPLE GOT SICK.

YOU DIDN'T GO TO THE DOCTOR

THE FOLKS DOCTORED US THEMSELVES.

WITH KEROSENE AND LARD

AND TURPENTINE THAT WAS RUBBED ON YOUR CHEST.

FOR COUGH SYRUP, YOU SUGAR

WITH A DROP OR TWO OF KEROSENE IN IT.

White: MY TEMPERATURE GOT HIGH,

THEY KNEW THAT IT WAS PROBABLY PNEUMONIA.

THERE WAS NO DOCTOR NEAR US.

BUT I KEPT GETTING WORSE,

AND IT WAS HARD FOR ME TO BREATHE WITH THE DUST.

Narrator: IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS,

DECIDED THEIR ONLY HOPE

WAS TO MOVE THEIR DAUGHTER TO RELATIVES FARTHER EAST,

AWAY FROM THE EVER-PRESENT DUST.

HER MOTHER WOULD GO WITH HER,

BUT HER FATHER NEEDED TO STAY AND TRY TO MANAGE THE FARM.

White: THE DAY THEY CAME TO GET ME, THE DUST WAS TERRIBLE.

AND I REMEMBER DAD WRAPPED ME IN A BLANKET...

AND HE CARRIED ME TO THE CAR.

HE TOLD ME THAT WHEN HE CARRIED ME TO THE

HE THOUGHT HE WOULD NEVER SEE ME ALIVE AGAIN.

BUT FROM THEN, I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING.

Narrator: AT HER RELATIVES' HOME,

HER TEMPERATURE

BUT HER COUGHING

AN OPERATION THAT DRAINED

THE FLUID IN HER INFLAMED LUNGS.

White: ONE DAY, I WAS LYING ON THE COUCH,

AND I LOOKED INTO THE KITCHEN,

YOU KNOW THERE'S LITTLE CRACK

AND I WAS LOOKING,

NO TELL YOU HOW TICKLED I WAS TO SEE MY DAD.

Narrator: BACK IN NO MAN'S LAND,

THE CROSS DECLARED MEDICAL CRISIS.

EMERGENCY HOSPITAL WARDS WERE OPENED

COULD BE FOUND,

INCLUDING THE BASEMENTS OF TWO

THE HIGH SCHOOL'S SENIOR PLAY

NOW COVERED THE GYM FLOOR.

Floyd Coen: WITHIN A TWO-WEEK PERIOD,

THERE WERE 3 LITTLE GIRLS DIED OF DUST PNEUMONIA.

THEY WAS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

OVER IN OKLAHOMA,

AND ONE OF THEM

BUT THERE WAS-- THERE WAS QUITE A FEW.

IT SEEMED TO GET ABOUT THAT AGE, YOU KNOW,

JUST BEFORE THEY WENT TO SCHOOL OR A LITTLE YOUNGER.

Narrator: BY 1935, EDGAR AND RENA COEN HAD 8 CHILDREN.

YEARS EARLIER, COEN STARTED BUILDING

A PROPER HOME FOR HIS FAMILY,

BUT BECAUSE OF

CONSTRUCTION ENDED AT THE BASEMENT.

THEY COVERED IT WITH SHEET IRON ROOF MOVED IN.

IT WAS LARGER THAN THEIR OLD HOME--

SPACE FOR TWO BEDROOMS AND A LARGE ROOM

THAT SERVED KITCHEN, DINING ROOM, LIVING

BUT IT WAS STILL UNDERGROUND.

IN 1932, TWINS ARRIVED-- RALPH MARIE,

THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER, WHO QUICKLY BECAME THE FAMILY FAVORITE.

Dale Coen: RENA MARIE

HAD BEEN TRYING FOR A GIRL ALL THE TIME.

WAS A PRETTY LITTLE GIRL.

Floyd Coen: SHE WAS JUST THE SWEETEST LITTLE THING

SHE WAS SMALLER RALPH,

DOING THINGS, JUST ALL THE TIME.

SHE WAS JUST A JOY FOR ALL OF US.

AT NIGHT, SINCE LOT OF WORK TO

ON THE BOARD AND STUFF,

SHE NEEDED HER REST,

SO RENA MARIE WOULD

I'M GLAD I WAS ABLE TO DO IT.

I SPENT AN AWFUL LOT OF TIME WITH HER.

Narrator: THAT SPRING, 4 OF

FLOYD, RICHARD, AND THE

ONE NIGHT, RENA MARIE'S

Coen: WE WERE SITTING AT THE TABLE EATING,

AND SHE JUST IMMEDIATELY

SHE JUST SWEAT-- HER HEAD JUST WAS...

WATER RUNNING OFF HER FACE AND HEAD.

Narrator: SHE BECAME TOO WEAK TO BE MOVED

FROM THE BED IN THE PARENTS' ROOM.

AND USHERED IN TO SEE HER.

Dale Coen: WE WAS ALL AWAKE, ALL SETTING AROUND THE FIRE.

I REMEMBER I WAS SETTING IN BEHIND THE STOVE,

BETWEEN THE STOVE THE WALL-- PLENTY OF THERE--

FOR ME TO COME TO HER.

SHE CALLED FOR ME--NOT NOT DAD, BUT FOR DALE.

l...l HAVEN'T REALLY EVER GOT OVER IT.

IT WAS BAD, BAD, BAD.

Floyd Coen: MEREDITH WAS THERE,

OF US DUST PNEUMONIA AT THAT TIME.

I AND RALPH RICHARD WAS IN BED ALSO.

IN BED OUT IN THE FRONT ROOM,

WHEN I HEARD THE DOCTOR SAY, "DO YOU HAVE A BOARD?"

MY SAID, "WELL, WE HAVE LEAVES FOR THE TABLE."

AND HE TOOK THE LEAF TO THE TABLE AND TOOK IT IN THERE

AND PUT HER LITTLE BODY ON THAT LEAF AND BROUGHT IT OUT

BEFORE HE TOOK HER.

AND THE DOCTOR PUT HER IN THE REAR SEAT OF HIS CAR

TOOK HER INTO THE MORTUARY.

BUT THAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ON ME...

AND STILL IS.

SHE WAS SUCH A PERFECT LITTLE THING.

Narrator: TWO WEEKS LATER, THE COENS' FIRST GRANDCHILD,

HE AND RENA MARIE WOULD BE TWO OF THE 31 PEOPLE

WHO PERISHED FROM DUST PNEUMONIA THAT SPRING IN MORTON COUNTY,

POPULATION 4,092.

THE TOWN OF LIBERAL LOST 9 TO THE ILLNESS.

IN THE 7 SOUTHWESTERN COUNTIES,

NEARLY 1,500 PEOPLE BECAME SICK WITH IT.

SOME BEGAN TO BLAME THEMSELVES FOR WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

ON ITS FRONT PAGE, THE "BOISE CITY NEWS" PUBLISHED

QUOTATION FROM THE BIBLE, THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL--

"BEHOLD, THEREFORE, I HAVE SMITTEN MY HAND

AND AT THY BLOOD WHICH HAS BEEN IN THE MIDST OF THEE."

SOME PEOPLE LEFT ON ACCOUNT OF THAT,

THINKING GOD WANTED THEM TO LEAVE.

AFTER THEY HAD THE DUST STORM WHERE THE PEOPLE IN BOISE CITY

COULD SEE THE IMAGE OF CHRIST INTO IT,

PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT

BECAUSE THEY PLOWED UP THAT GOOD SOD.

Egan: YOU NEVER REALLY ESCAPED THE DUST.

IT ALWAYS FOUND ITS WAY IN,

THAT'S, I THINK, WHAT DROVE PEOPLE CRAZY.

ONE WOMAN TOLD ME IT WAS LIKE A SNAKE.

SHE COULD HEAR IT SLITHERING ALONG THE CEILING

THEN ALONG THE SIDE OF THE WALL.

SHE SHE JUST WAITED FOR THAT SNAKE

IT WAS THAT KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL BLOW.

WHEN YOU THOUGHT THAT IT WAS AT BEHIND YOU,

THIS MONSTER CAME ALONG AND JUST CLOBBERED YOU.

Woman: "IT SEEMED THAT

"THE BLACK DUST WAS ALWAYS WITH US.

"IF A QUIET DAY HAPPENED TO BE OUR LOT,

"THE TIME WAS SPENT SCOOPING OUT

"THE OF THE ST: OF YESTERDAY.

"IT SEEMED THAT WE LIVED IN OF HAZE.

"THE ATMOSPHERE SEEMED TO ALWAYS BE CLOSING IN AROUND US,

CREATING AN EERIE AND UNEASY FEELING."

MOM SAID SHE HAD EVERY

AND SHE WOULD WET THEM DOWN.

OVER EVERYTHING

WHERE DUST MIGHT COME IN, BUT IT DIDN'T KEEP IT OUT.

IT WOULD COME IN SOMEWHERE.

Narrator: IN EARLY APRIL OF 1935,

THE SHAWS OF BOISE CITY, OWNERS OF THE LOCAL MORTUARY,

BEGAN PLANNING A DOUBLE FUNERAL.

THEY JUST LOST THE OLDEST YOUNGEST MEMBERS

OF THEIR OWN FAMILY TO THE DUST PNEUMONIA.

HAZEL'S BEAUTIFUL, PRECOCIOUS YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER RUTH NELL

HAD DIED JUST A FEW HOURS BEFORE HAZEL'S GRANDMOTHER,

THE MATRIARCH OF THE CLAN, PASSED AWAY.

"GRANDMA LOU" WAS TO BE BURIED IN TEXHOMA,

NEAR HER HOMESTEAD, WHILE RUTH NELL WAS TO BE TAKEN

TO ENID, IN THE CENTRAL OF

THE MAIN REASON FOR THAT

WAS THE FACT THAT ENID

THEY WOULD HAVE BURIED RUTH NELL IN THE BOISE CITY CEMETERY

EXCEPT YOU COULDN'T EVEN FIND

IN THE CEMETERY, IT WAS SO DRIFTED FULL OF DIRT.

Narrator: ON APRIL 14th, 1935,

THE DAY OF THE DOUBLE FUNERAL ARRIVED.

A WEEK BEFORE EASTER.

THEY WERE EXCITED WHEN THEY GOT UP THAT DAY

WHEN IT WAS CLEAR.

DAY.

IF YOU'VE GOT TO JOB LIKE THAT, YOU KNOW,

THAT'S A BLESSING TO YOUR HEART

IF YOU HAVE A NICE DAY FOR A FUNERAL FOR A LOVED ONE.

Narrator: THROUGHOUT THE

AROUND NO MAN'S THAT MORNING,

FAMILIES FOR CHURCH,

RESIDENTS WERE BEING GREETED BY A GLORIOUS BREAK IN THE WEATHER.

Egan: THE SUNDAY ITSELF WAS

AND PEOPLE CAME OUT OF THEIR DUGOUTS

AND CLEANED THEIR SHEETS AND OPENED UP THEIR WINDOWS.

IT WAS LIKE A DAWN. IT WAS LIKE A NEW DAY,

AND YOU THOUGHT, "MY GOD, THIS LAND CAN MAKE US WHOLE AGAIN.

MY GOD, THE WORST IS OVER."

Narrator: IN FOLLETT, TEXAS,

TRIXIE TRAVIS BROWN'S MOTHER HUNG LAUNDRY OUT ON THE LINE,

FLUNG OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HER HOUSE TO LET IN THE FRESH AIR,

AND ANNOUNCED THAT THE FAMILY WOULD ENJOY

THE REST OF THE DAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY.

THE SKY WAS BLUE. THERE WASN'T A BREATH OF WIND.

WE WERE JUST EXHILARATED, THE WHOLE FAMILY,

WE COULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT, EITHER,

BECAUSE IT JUST WAS ABNORMAL.

MOTHER AND DAD DECIDED

Narrator: BY MID-DAY, THE TEMPERATURE RISEN INTO THE HIGH 70s.

BUT FARTHER NORTH, A COLD FRONT

BEGUN MOVING SOUTH ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS,

PUSHING A WIND BEFORE IT,

PICKING UP MORE AND MORE LOOSE SOIL WITH EACH MILE IT TRAVELED.

DENVER, ON THE FRONT'S WESTERN

AND TEMPERATURES DROPPED 25 DEGREES IN AN HOUR'S TIME.

LITTLE LATER, IT REACHED UNION COUNTY,

IN THE NORTHEASTERN CORNER OF NEW MEXICO,

AND HIS FAMILY LIVED.

Sam Arguello: I WAS PLAYING OUT IN THE FRONT YARD.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY, BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY.

ALL OF A SUDDEN, I LOOKED UP, THERE WAS

A BIG BLACK, BLACK CLOUD COMING IN FROM UP ON THE NORTHEAST.

WE WERE RIGHT AT THE TURN OF A CANYON,

DEEP CANYON, I'D SAY PROBABLY 60 FOOT DEEP

FROM THE TOP DOWN TO THE BOTTOM--OR MORE THAN THAT.

AND WHEN THAT THING CAME OVER,

I RUN INTO THE HOUSE I TOLD THEM, 1 SAYS,

"THERE'S A BIG BLACK CLOUD COMING OUT THERE."

EVERYBODY SAYS, "THERE'S NO CLOUDS OUT THERE."

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY.

BY THE TIME THEY GOT TO THE IT WAS JUST BLACK.

Narrator; THE RESIDENTS AROUND NO MAN'S LAND

ALREADY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

WITH DUST ST OF ALL KINDS,

BUT TO A PERSON, THIS ONE SEEMED DIFFERENT--

BIGGER, BLACKER, MORE SINISTER.

Robertson: WE SAW THIS CLOUD COMING IN.

IT WOULD JUST ROLL IN-- BLACK, BLACK DIRT.

I'LL NEVER FORGET, MY GRANDMOTHER,

CHRISTIAN, AND SHE SAID,

"YOU RUN GET TOGETHER.

THE END OF THE IS COMING."

BOY, WE--THAT WAS LAW GOSPEL

WE ALL GOT TOGETHER, YOU KNOW,

THAT CLOUD JUST ROLLED LIKE THAT,

Wayne Lewis: WE SAT THERE WATCHED IT.

I REMEMBER THE THING ROLLING, THAT IT...

IT WAS LIKE A TORNADO THAT WAS ON ITS SIDE.

Wells: ALL THE BIRDS, EVERYTHING WAS FLYING SOUTH.

WE COULD SEE THIS THING ROLLING IN.

MY BROTHER TOLD ME HE THOUGHT THE END OF THE WORLD WAS COMING.

OF COURSE, THAT SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH,

I WASN'T SURE ABOUT IT.

Narrator: BY NOW, IT WAS EVEN BIGGER

THE MONSTROUS "BLACK BLIZZARD" OF 1934,

AND AS IT MOVED SOUTH AND EAST

IT GOT BIGGER STILL.

IT WAS 200 MILES WIDE, MOVING AT 65 MILES PER HOUR,

AND IT BEGAN CATCHING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE OUT IN THE OPEN.

TRIXIE TRAVIS BROWN'S FAMILY WAS AT WOLF CREEK,

IN THE MIDST OF THEIR PICNIC, MILES FROM HOME.

Brown: WE NOTICED WHAT LOOKED LIKE RAIN CLOUDS

FORMING IN THE NORTH.

RAIN CLOUDS HAVE A BLUE CAST TO THEM, A NAVY BLUE CAST,

NO BLUE IN THIS ONE.

IT WAS BLACK.

WE ALL GOT INTO THE VERY QUICKLY.

WET ANYTHING THAT WAS IN THE CAR--

HANDKERCHIEFS--

PUT EVERYTHING AROUND ALL OF OUR FACES.

AND WHEN IT HIT, THE CAR JUST DID A JIGGLE FROM SIDE TO SIDE.

I DON'T REMEMBER ANY SOUND FROM ANY PEOPLE.

Narrator: IN GUYMON,

THE PARENTS OF BOOTS McCOY DROPPED HIM

HIS SISTER, RUBY PAULINE, OFF FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL,

PROMISING TO PICK THEM UP

THEN THE STORM HIT.

McCoy: THEY FINALLY STOPPED THE CHURCH

PEOPLE WAS GETTING UP

THE EXCUSED EVERYBODY WITH A PRAYER,

WE WENT THERE, THEY RAIL.

I CAN REMEMBER HOLDING THAT RAIL AND HOLDING RUBY'S--

SHE WAS--SHE WAS SCARED I WAS.

Narrator: THROUGH THE DARKNESS,

MAKE THEIR WAY HOME

RELYING ON MEMORY

THEY FINALLY MADE IT HOME, BUT THE HOUSE WAS EMPTY.

THEIR PARENTS WERE FRANTICALLY SEARCHING

FOR THEM OUTSIDE THE CHURCH AND ALONG THE MAIN STREETS.

THEN THE FOLKS CAME,

IT WAS SO DARK IN THE HOUSE THAT THEY COULDN'T SEE US.

MOM WAS CRYING AND HOLLERED THAT WE WEREN'T HOME

SHE WAS WANTING TO GO BACK TO SEE IF THEY COULD FIND US.

I HOLLERED "WE'RE HOME," YOU KNOW,

IT RELIEVED THEM QUITE A LOT.

THEN WE ALL JUST--JUST SAT, JUST CRIED.

WE HAD TO HUG LOT TO GET HER TO HUSH.

Shaw: THEY JUST COMPLETED THE FUNERAL.

THEY HAD TAKEN RUTH NELL

FROM ST. PAUL'S METHODIST CHURCH TO THE FUNERAL HOME,

AND THEY HAD JUST SENT THE FUNERAL PROCESSION

WITH GRANDMA LOU

A LITTLE BIT MORE

THAN 6 MILES OUT OF BOISE CITY

WHEN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION SAW THE BLACK DUSTER BEHIND THEM.

Narrator: HAZEL LUCAS SHAW HER HUSBAND

HAD NOT ACCOMPANIED

HEADED FOR GRANDMA LOU'S

THEY HAD REMAINED BEHIND,

NOT WANTING TO LEAVE THE BODY OF RUTH NELL.

THEIR YOUNG NIECE, CAROL, BEEN TOLD TO STAY WITH THEM.

MY COUSIN HAD BEEN WITH DAD AND MOM,

SHE'D GONE OUTSIDE THE HOUSE,

SHE SAW THE BLACK DUSTER COMING.

SHE WAS JUST A LITTLE IN THE GRADES,

I DON'T KNOW, PROBABLY 6, 7 YEARS OLD.

SO SHE HEADED FOR HOME, WHICH

BY THE TIME THE DUSTER HIT, DAD

HE HOPED THAT SHE HAD GOTTEN HOME ALL RIGHT,

BUT WHEN ONE OF THOSE BLACK DUSTERS HIT,

THE STATIC ELECTRICITY WAS SO TERRIBLE

THAT YOU COULDN'T TELEPHONE CALL.

AS RINGING UP YOUR BROTHER

AND ASKING IF THEIR CHILD HAD GOTTEN HOME ALL RIGHT.

SO DAD GOT HIS FLASHLIGHT.

HE GOT DOWN ON HIS STOMACH,

AND HE ELBOWED HIS WAY UNDERNEATH THE DUST.

THE VISIBILITY WAS SLIGHT.

YOU COULD SEE A LITTLE BIT UNDERNEATH THE DUST.

HIS BROTHER'S HOUSE.

FORTUNATELY, CAROL WAS THERE, AND SHE HAD ARRIVED HOME SAFELY.

BUT DIDN'T WANT TO WORRY MOM,

TO THE FUNERAL HOME.

IN THE MEANTIME, THE FUNERAL PROCESSION

THAT HAD STARTED TO TEXHOMA TURNED AROUND AND RETURNED.

IN ORDER TO FIND A ROAD BACK, THERE WERE 4 MEN IN WHITE SHIRTS

THAT HELD STRETCHED THEMSELVES

ACROSS THE WIDTH OF THE ROAD,

RIGHT BEHIND THEM.

TOOK THEM A NUMBER OF HOURS TO GET BACK THAT WAY

THE MILES THEY TO WALK BACK.

I THINK THEY GOT BACK ABOUT 10:00 THAT NIGHT.

Narrator: APRIL 14, 1935,

CAME TO BE CALLED "BLACK SUNDAY,"

NO ONE WHO LIVED THROUGH IT WOULD EVER FORGET

THE STORM'S SIZE OR FEROCITY--

OR WHAT THEY DID TO SURVIVE IT.

AFTER HUDDLING IN THEIR PARKED CAR

WHILE THE BLACKNESS ENGULFED THEM,

TRIXIE BROWN'S FAMILY INCHED THEIR WAY HOME.

Brown: WE COULDN'T GET INTO THE HOUSE.

THAT WE COULDN'T OPEN THE SCREEN

TOGO TO THE GARAGE TO GET A SHOVEL,

AND HE HAD TO SHOVEL THE DIRT AWAY FROM THE SCREEN DOOR

BEFORE WE COULD GET IN.

WE HAD LEFT THE HOUSE OPEN

BECAUSE MOTHER SAID, "WE'LL AIR OUT THINGS."

THE HOUSE WAS TOTALLY LOADED WITH DIRT.

Arguello: BY SUNDOWN, BECAUSE THIS HAPPENED

ABOUT 1:30 WHEN THAT THING CAME OFF THE TOP OF THAT CANYON,

AND BY SUNDOWN, IT HAD GONE PAST

IT WAS JUST AS IT COULD BE TO THE WEST,

YOU KNOW, WHERE THE SUN WAS HITTING IT.

BUT IT WAS JUST RED ALL OVER.

MY GRANDMOTHER SCARED THE TAR OUT OF ME.

I WENT OUT THERE, I SAID, "WHAT IS THAT,

ALL THAT RED OUT THERE,

SHE SAID, "IT'S FIRE, FIRE.

THE WORLD'S COMING TO AN END."

I WENT CRAWLED UNDER THE BED.

THEY WERE TOUGH TIMES-- REALLY, REALLY TOUGH TIMES.

DEATHLY SCARY, YOU KNOW.

AN EERIE, EERIE TIME FOR OLDER PEOPLE AND US KIDS, YOU KNOW.

WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE DEVIL

Narrator: WITHIN A MONTH,

AND HIS SISTER RUBY PAULINE

WOULD COME DOWN WITH DUST PNEUMONIA.

HE WOULD SUFFER LUNG AILMENTS THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

SHE DIED BEFORE

SHE WAS MY BEST BUDDY. YEAH.

WE WENT THROUGH THEM HARD

Narrator: "AT LEAST," HER MOTHER SAID,

"SHE WON'T HAVE TO LIVE THROUGH ANOTHER DUST STORM."

BY CHANCE, A REPORTER

NAMED ROBERT GEIGER HAD BEEN IN NO MAN'S LAND ON BLACK SUNDAY

AND MANAGED TO FIND SHELTER IN BOISE CITY

DURING THE WORST OF THE STORM.

THE STORY GEIGER FILED THE NEXT DAY BEGAN,

"ACHINGLY FAMILIAR ON WESTERN FARMER'S TONGUE--

"RULE LIFE TODAY IN THE DUST BOWL OF THE CONTINENT --

IF IT RAINS..."

BUT INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON THOSE 3 LITTLE WORDS, "IF IT RAINS,"

MORE PEOPLE FASTENED ONTO THE 3 WORDS HE HAD USED

TO DESCRIBE THE PLACE THAT RAIN HAD FORSAKEN: "THE DUST BOWL."

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE USED THAT TERM.

Riney-Kehrberg: BLACK SUNDAY IS THE DIRT ST:

THAT EVERYBODY REMEMBERED.

SO MUCH MORE INTENSE,

OF THE OTHERS HAD BEEN.

AND I DON'T THINK THAT IT'S

THAT THE OUTWARD MIGRATION

CAME AFTER BLACK SUNDAY.

Narrator: IN THE MONTHS TO COME,

THE SOUTHERN PLAINS,

WHILE THE PRESIDENT AND HIS ADMINISTRATION WOULD STRUGGLE

TO COME UP WITH NEW STRATEGIES TO MEET THE CRISIS.

IN THE HEART OF THE DUST BOWL,

FAMILIES WOULD DESPERATELY TRY TO HANG ON,

BUT SOME WOULD RELUCTANTLY DECIDE

TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES BEHIND

TRY TO BEGIN A NEW LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE.

AMONG THEM WOULD BE 22-YEAR-OLD ITINERANT SONGWRITER

WHO HAD FOUND REFUGE FROM THE FURY OF BLACK SUNDAY

IN A SMALL HOUSE WITH HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS

IN TEXAS, JUST SOUTH OF NO MAN'S LAND.

Woody Guthrie: WE WATCHED THE DUST STORM COME UP,

LIKE THE SEA CLOSING IN ON THE ISRAEL CHILDREN,

I'M TELLING YOU, IT GOT BLACK WHEN THAT THING HIT,

WE ALL RUN INTO THE HOUSE.

AND A LOT OF THE PEOPLE IN THE CROWD THAT WAS RELIGIOUS-MINDED

THEY WAS UP WELL ON THEIR SCRIPTURES,

THEY SAID, "WELL, BOYS, GIRLS, FRIENDS, RELATIVES,

"THIS IS THE END.

THIS IS THE END OF THE WORLD."

EVERYBODY JUST SAID, "WELL, SO LONG.

I MADE UP A LITTLE SONG.

LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

LONG, BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

IS A-BLOWIN' ME HOME §

I'VE GOT TO BE ROLLIN' ALONG

I'LL SING THIS SONG, BUT I'LL SING IT AGAIN

OF THE PLACE THAT I LIVED ON THE WEST PLAINS

IN THE CITY OF IN THE COUNTY OF GRAY

HERE'S WHAT ALL OF THE PEOPLE THERE SAY

WELL, IT'S SO LONG, BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

§ SO LONG, IT'S BEEN

IS A-DRIVIN' ME HOME §

I'VE GOT TO BE DRIFTIN' ALONG

THE CHURCH HOUSES WERE JAMMED PACKED

PEOPLE WAS SETTIN'

FROM FRONT TO THE BACK

§ IT WAS SO DUSTY §

THE PREACHER COULDN'T HIS

HE FOLDED HIS SPECKS, HE TOOK UP COLLECTION

SAID, SO LONG, BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

§ SO LONG, IT'S BEEN

LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

IS A-DRIVIN' ME HOME §

I'VE GOT TO BE DRIFTIN' ALONG

THE TELEPHONE RANG, AN' IT JUMPED OFF THE WALL

THAT WAS THE PREACHER, PAYIN' HIS CALL

§ HE SAID §

LOOK AT THE SHAPE THAT THE IS IN

I'VE TO CUT PRICE ON SALVATION SIN

WELL, IT'S SO LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

§ SO LONG, IT'S BEEN

LONG, IT'S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YA

§ THIS DUSTY OLD DUST IS A-ROLLIN' ME HOME §

GOT TO BE DRIFTIN' ALONG

Narrator: HISTORY, AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF KEN BURNS,

IS JUST COLLECTION OF STORIES

ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE .

TO REFLECT ON HOW TO BUILD A STRONGER TOMORROW.

WE SHARE IN HIS VISION,

WE'RE PROUD TO SUPPORT HIS EFFORTS.

FUNDING FOR THIS IS PROVIDED BY:

MEMBERS OF THE ANGELS SOCIETY,

DEDICATED TO HELPING KEN BURNS TELL AMERICA'S STORIES,

INCLUDING THE HAMEL FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST,

ROBERT BEVERLY GRAPPONE;

THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS,

DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S FUTURE

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES,

EXPLORING THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR;

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION;

THE WALLACE GENETIC FOUNDATION;

THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION

FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.