The Grapes of Wrath...Classic Okie book. (Sallisaw, Perry: homes, purchase)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I started this thread because the Dustbowl is so interesting and is a big part of Oklahoma history. It is a great book for Oklahomans to discuss....
I remember reading the book in high school... It really gave me a personal understanding of the Dustbowl that occured in Oklahoma....Mainly the western part of the state. A lot has happened since that time....
Here is some info on the great storms....It is very sad that so many were killed.
The Storms
In 1934 to 1936, three record drought years were marked for the nation. In 1936, a more severe storm spread out of the plains and across most of the nation. The drought years were accompanied with record breaking heavy rains, blizzards, tornadoes and floods. In September 1930, it rained over five inches in a very short time in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The flooding in Cimarron County was accompanied by a dirt storm which damaged several small buildings and graineries. Later that year, the regions were whipped again by a strong dirt storm from the southwest until the winds gave way to a blizzard from the north.
After the blizzards in winter 1930-1931, the drought began. First the northern plains felt the dry spell, but by July the southern plains were in the drought. It was not until late September that the ground had enough water to justify planting. Because of the late planting and early frost, much of the wheat was small and weak when the spring winds of 1932 began to blow. The wheat was also beaten by dirt from the abandoned fields. In March, there were twenty-two days of dirt storms and drifts began to build in the fence rows.
In late January 1933, the region was blasted by a magnificent dirt storm which killed much of the wheat. In early February, the thermometer dropped seventy four degrees in eighteen hours to a record low at Boise City. The mercury stayed below freezing for several days until another dirt storm scourged the land. Before the year was over, locals counted 139 dirty days in 1933.
Although the dirt storms were fewer in 1934, it was the year which brought the Dust Bowl national attention. In May, a severe storm blew dirt from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas as far east as New York City and Washington D.C. In spite of the terrific storm in May, the year 1934 was pleasant respite from the blowing dirt and tornadoes of the previous year. But nature had another trick up her sleeve, the year was extremely hot with new records being made and broken at regular intervals. Before the year had run its course, hundreds of people in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas had died from the heat.
In 1935, the weather in the Dust Bowl again made the national headlines. This storm was followed by another and yet another in rapid succession. In late March a severe storm lashed Boise City so hard that many people were stranded for hours. No one dared to leave a store and head for home although it might be less than a block away.
On Sunday April 14, 1935, the sun came up in a clear sky. The day was warm and pleasant, a gentle breeze whimpered out of the southwest. Suddenly a cloud appeared on the horizon. Birds flew swiftly ahead of it, but not swift enough for the cloud traveling at sixty miles per hour. This day, which many people of the area readily remember, was named "Black Sunday".
By May, it seemed like the wind and dirt had been blowing for an eternity. Rain was an event occurring only in dreams. It was a year of intensive dirt storms, gales, rollers and floods mixed with economic depression, sickness and disaster. It was a year of extreme hardship, but surprisingly the vast majority of the people stayed. By 1935, the unusual had become the usual, the extreme became the normal, the exception became the routine.
During 1936, the number of dirt storms increased and the temperature broke the 1934 record high by soaring above 120 degrees. On one pleasant June day in 1936, the ground began to tremble. A sharp earthquake shook the land from Kenton to Perryton and from Liberal to Stratford. By the fall of 1936, the rains began to return and the heat wave was broken. The following year, 1937 was another year of unprecedented dirt storms. Day after day, Dust Bowl farmers unwillingly traded farms as the land moved back and forth between Texas and Kansas. And of course there were the usual floods. 1938 was the year of the "snuster". The snuster was a mixture of dirt and snow reaching blizzard proportions. The storm cause a tremendous amount of damage and suffering.
Thanks for posting this. It's a reminder of the terrible hardships that our state and many others had to endure. My father lived through this, as he was around 30 at the time (I was born very late in his life). I'll have to purchase that book and read it through; I've never read it and should have done so long ago.
Thanks HT.
I read "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan recently. It describes the facts as Happytown outlined above much more accurately than "The Grapes of Wrath" as far as the dust bowl. The dust bowl only included the Oklahoma panhandle, ex. Boise City, not Sallisaw, OK, which is the eastern part of the state. Dust and dirt did blow in the other parts of OK besides the panhandle, but dust even reached to the east coast on occasion.
I would recommend "The Worst Hard Time" as a good read, even though it had some pretty sad stories.
Thanks for posting this. It's a reminder of the terrible hardships that our state and many others had to endure. My father lived through this, as he was around 30 at the time (I was born very late in his life). I'll have to purchase that book and read it through; I've never read it and should have done so long ago.
Thanks HT.
It was horrific...I am surprized Gary England hasnt played on the idea for a book by a weatherman! Not trying to be funny....Im just sure meteorologists have completed many studies on it.
America's Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with America's entry into World War II.
Keep this in mind. I wonder now what happened when they reached California since a depression was going on?
Happytown, thanks so much for starting this thread. I thought of it, but your post is better than one I would have started.
Studs Turkel has a book called, "Hard Times." Great read. I want to read the one Peggy mentioned.
Synopsis,
Great photos. Thanks.
The farmer's had no choice. Those that didn't sell had their homes plowed into, and so they had no choice but to leave their homes. Then they had to sell everything to get money to go, and so people took advantage of them.
Peggy, I wonder why Steinbeck has his characters leaving Salisaw if it wasn't there? He said that he took great pains to get everything correct. Maybe when Synopsis begins reading the book he/she will know. I would have to go back. Right now they are finally on the road and have run into another family camped out and broke down.
Keep this in mind. I wonder now what happened when they reached California since a depression was going on?
Happytown, thanks so much for starting this thread. I thought of it, but your post is better than one I would have started.
Studs Turkel has a book called, "Hard Times." Great read. I want to read the one Peggy mentioned.
Synopsis,
Great photos. Thanks.
The farmer's had no choice. Those that didn't sell had their homes plowed into, and so they had no choice but to leave their homes. Then they had to sell everything to get money to go, and so people took advantage of them.
Peggy, I wonder why Steinbeck has his characters leaving Salisaw if it wasn't there? He said that he took great pains to get everything correct. Maybe when Synopsis begins reading the book he/she will know. I would have to go back. Right now they are finally on the road and have run into another family camped out and broke down.
No problem Jessaka. The Dustbowl was a long hard struggle for many people. I cant imagine what it was like for a society/people to endure such extreme conditions. By the way....Synopsis is a dude!! and a cool one at that.
Synopsis- Do you have any stories that you can remember from your grandfather? I cant even begin to understand the hardship he had to deal with. I remember my great grandmother telling me so many stories as a child....They were always funny or a lesson in life. She was born in 1901 and also had to live during this time and area. She never spoke a word about it. I wonder if she had a mental block on the subject....HT
Also...If you have any more pics...Please post.
Hi all,
HT, thanks for the very nice compliment. In my opinion, you are "the dude." You are a true blue, died in the wool okie and that's a wonderful thing! Actually, it was my father and not my grandfather. I had this happen to me growing up all of the time. Everyone thought my dad was my grandad. I know the dates sound weird; I'm 46 years old and my dad was born in 1904 - he was 57 years old when I was born. Pretty unusual. As far as stories, unfortunately I have none. My father died when I was 17 years old and he was closed-lipped about such things. I'm sure he and my mother (who was 42 when I was born) experienced many hard, hard times, even though she wasn't an adult in the great depression. I did hear some stories about how they swept the dirt floors in their home, and how hard it was to get food, but no real details about such things. The big picture I got, I understand that we have so much more today and those people had such a difficult time. In fact, even growing up as a kid we were so radically different in our upbringing that we (our family) really resembled the the type of lifestyle that my father lived through in the great depression. We didn't have an indoor toilet (we had an outhouse) until I was twelve years old. I had to walk through a pasture in the snow (in the winter) to "do my business." All in all my childhood was wonderful because I learned the value of a dollar, and realized what family meant. I didn't take a thing for granted and I am grateful for everything. Think of "The Waltons" and you pretty much have a good idea of what our family was like. Those were GOOD times and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the entire world.
Cheers all.
BTW, my Grandfather was a U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma territory. He was killed in 1906 by a member of the Belle Star gang. My brother is the spitting image of the man, who was born in 1868. Imagine that, I have a Grandfather that was born in the civil war era. Kinda strange huh?
I know it sounds unbelievable, but it's entirely true.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ya...:)
No problem
.
