OVER MY SHOULDER

Things were getting pretty dry around here last week until we had that little shower. I can remember as a youngster in the 1930’s that we had several years of very dry weather. I recall Dad looking hopefully at any small cloud that might float into the sky. Of course it was very hot which caused it to get drier by the day.

The corn would get only a couple of feet tall as it tried to tassel and put forth ears of corn---the leaves would curl and would rattle in the hot south wind that was blowing. In a few days the leaves would turn brown as if it were a mature plant.
It seemed that what the “chinch bugs” had not gotten, the dry weather and grasshoppers got.----If there were any ears of corn, they were what we would call “nubbins”---and very few of them.

Any hay crop that one had, whether timothy, prairie of alfalfa, grew to only a few inches high, and was so dry that it looked like it had cured while standing in the field. The pastures were very short --- the grass that was there was dry and brittle and provided very little nourishment for the livestock. The leaves on the trees became dry and almost brittle, and even the weeds wilted and died. Of course any fruit on the fruit trees shriveled and dropped off early in the summer.

We would watch the ponds and creeks gradually go completely dry. Dad would haul water, usually in a couple of large wooden barrels tied on a home made wooden sled, to the horses and milk cows. The shortness of grass and feed, of course effected the out put of the milk cows. Compared to the condition of most cattle that we see today, cattle and particularly milk cows looked quite “poor”---today, one would say almost “skin and bones”. When the pasture and feed became quite scarce, the cows would “go dry” and completely quit giving milk.Less milk, would mean less cream to sell for grocery money, as well as less milk, cream, and butter for the family’s daily use.

The heat and dry weather also caused the chickens to produce less eggs, and as the weather grew hotter and dryer----they would almost quit laying. Again the reduction of the egg production, like less milk production reduced the income from the eggs for groceries, and for the use on the family table.

Like all of the farmers during that time, because of the shortage of pasture, hay, and water, it became necessary to reduce the amount of live stock that one had----naturally the live stock were worth very little, as no one had money to purchase them, and they would not have had the pasture or hay to feed them, even if they could have purchased them.

I recall that when the ponds and creeks became completely dry, that there were a few “good” wells that were still producing water---of course it had to be pumped by hand, or drawn by a bucket. When we lived near Mound City, I remember watching Dad and Uncle Oat dig a well in the middle of the creek bed, where they were able to get water for the livestock. I don’t remember how deep they had to dig, but they did get some water.

I recall that years later, we could find such a well in the “Buddy Sam’s” fishing and swimming hole. The well of course was in the middle of the creek with an additional four or five feet of water over it. It was always fun to try to find the well. I suppose that it has now “silted” in so that it is level with the rest of the creek bottom.

Of course the gardens had long ago dried up, so that the table vegetables, and the canning vegetables that had not been canned early in the summer were all gone. This of course would effect the winter supply of canned goods.

Then the dust came---as it became hotter and dryer, the hot south wind would blow clouds of dust from the fields. I recall Mom hanging wet sheets at the windows, to try to catch some of the dust that sifted in around the windows, before it got into the house. Sometimes these clouds of dust would cut the visibility to less than a quarter of a mile, and cause small drifts of dirt around the buildings.

It must have been a very hard thing for Dad and the other farmers to just watch the crops and pastures “dry up”, and not be able to do anything about it. I was small enough that I did not completely understand the ramifications of the drought, but I do recall that I did recognize that Dad and Mom were always worried and concerned.

It was dry last week before the nice shower, and it may get dry later this summer, but I pray that it never gets as dry again as it was during those years in the ‘30’.