Okies in the BYC The Original

[CityClucks]

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I read that book - my family knows some of the people quoted in the book and interviewed on the History Channel's documentary of the period called "Black Blizzard." Some of the themes I remember are how man's actions (killing the buffalo and plowing up the grasslands) actually did really affect the climate in the area - and across the U.S. Also, how people lived - what they subsisted on, how they sent so many of their surviving children to other parts of the country. How the animals fared during these times, how so many of the people in that part of our country had to stay there and stick it out, and how advocates in Washington tried to bring light to the plight of the people suffering in the Dust Bowl...there's a great scene in the book where there's a meeting of bigwigs in Washington, and it gets dark outside and someone says "What's that?" A lobbyist says, "That, gentlemen, is Oklahoma blowing by." Or some such dramatic words. Anyway, being from that part of the world, I liked the book.

 

[al6517]

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Al, Except for last Saturday when I was out of town, I manage to at least lurk and read all the posts each day. I have been off pretty early in the evening the past two days - in bed and sound asleep before 9 pm. This getting older stuff sure isn't for sissies.

I hear on that one, well a nice long fun weekend should cure it for sure.

AL

 

[al6517]

That program on the History channel told of how the dust clouds sometimes reached New York. I have been through many such dust storms while I was in the Gulf War, and I tellya that dust gets into everything no matter how well protected it is. They were so brutal and lasted sometimes for many hours. I don't know how the early settlers withstood that.

AL

 

[HennyPennies2007]

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Cammie : There are many summers when I think the dust bowl is still going on, after living here for 25 yrs and watching the climate & seasons closely it is amazing that you can really see how it developed and progressed throughout the south central Plain states. I allways thought of how interesting it was, and the strength folks had to stay and live in that time.

i.e....they were nuts.

 

[HennyPennies2007]

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They were nuts.....

 

[nnbreeder]

Mom and dad both lived through the "dirty thirties" and had a few stories to tell of it. Of course around here it was not as bad as it was in the western part.

Mom used to say that at night the barbed wire fences would have a glow from the hot, dry wind passing by them and building up static electricity. Of course back then only wooden posts were used so the wires were not grounded.

Both told of having to use wet cloths over their mouths and packing the same around doors and windows to keep out the dust.

There were two brothers from out at Loyal that went up into the heart of the region and brought back tractors that were left behind to fix and resell. Often times the only way they found them was to look for a funnel shape in the dirt where the dirt had ran down the exhaust. It often took a couple of days of hard digging to get to where they could load them up.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
I do enjoy hearing of the tales from that time, finding and fixing those tractors was an ingenious idea, and a way to survive. keep in mind it was also in the heart of the depression also at that time.

AL

 

[Teach97]

cammie - you really otta run out here and do a little interviewing. I bet between me and city and such we could hook you up with some great folks to tell stories...at least some of them can cook! Real food!

Speaking or real food...Henny do I need to bring you some real vittles? The kind that once roamed wooded areas and had big brown eyes!

Y'all have fun..i won't be on until after POOPS..we have conferences tomorrow and well...a bunch of folks wanna yell at me for being mean to their little dears

 

[countyroad1330]

Wow, these stories are great ya'll! I love hearing people's history, especially of those who are Oklahoman. I saw the documentary you mentioned, City. In school they always talked about it in history classes, but focused more on the depression than the dust bowl. I am fascinated by weather, and the dust storms just looked unbelieveable in the footage. I know my grandparents were very young when it happened; I never really got stories from them about it.

 

[nnbreeder]

Another thing that is not mentioned often were the frequency of the dry storms that came through. just clouds and terrible lightning.

Mom and dad ran the telephone office out at Loyal during the late thirties and mom got knocked away from the switchboard more then once by lightning from a distant storm. She said that after a time she just hated to complete a connection. But jobs were scarce then so what could you do? Mom said that switchboard would always give her a little shock like from rubbing your feet on carpet. One night she went to complete a connection and the board was glowing blue from the static build-up, she just went back to bed.