Farming the Dust Bowl: A First-hand Account from KansasThis is the story of Lawrence Svobida, a Kansas wheat farmer who fought searing drought, wind, erosion, and economic hard times in the Dust Bowl. It is a vivid account by a farmer who pitted his physical strength, mental faculties, and financial resources against the environment as nature wreaked havoc across the southern Great Plains. Svobida's description of Dust Bowl agriculture is important not only because it accurately describes farming in that region but also because it is one of the few first-hand accounts that remain of the frightening and still haunting dust-laden decade of the 1930's. |
Contents
FOREWORD | 7 |
PREFACE | 33 |
THE LAND BEGINS TO BLOW | 56 |
ENTER THE AAA | 77 |
WINDS OF CHANCE | 91 |
BLOW DIRT FARMING | 148 |
A NEW MENACE STRIKES | 159 |
IF I SHOULD LEAVE THE DUST BOWL | 202 |
LAST STAND | 228 |
EXODUS | 234 |
CONCLUSION | 245 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acreage acres ADMINISTRATION PHOTOGRAPH agricultural already began black blizzard blow dirt blowing season blown broken bushels carburetor cattle cent clouds condition continued contour plowing cultivated desert disk plows Dodge City drifted drilling driving drought drouth Dust Bowl farmers dust storm early engine farm Farm Security Administration federal government feet fell felt field filled furrows gale gone grain grass ground half harvest high winds hold hope hundred knew labor land from blowing Lawrence Svobida lister living loans machine maize Meade County farmers meant ment miles moisture morning motor moving neighbors never night once payments Plains region planted plow quarter section received relief ridges ruin seed soil soon sorghum southern Great Plains southwestern Kansas spring spring-tooth started summer fallowed tenant thousand tion topsoil tractor weather weeds western Kansas wheat crop wheat farmers wind erosion yield