March 2, 2026

Today's Winds-day: The Dust Bowl

Today's Winds-day: The Dust Bowl
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A wall of dust a mile high. Coffee that tasted like soil. Kids coughing through the night while parents sealed windows with wet sheets. We dive into the Dirty Thirties to trace how a wheat boom, a drought, and one very bad idea—“rain follows the plow”—turned the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl, and how people fought their way back.

We start with the sales pitch that lured settlers west: the Homestead Acts, cheap tractors, and World War I wheat prices that made plowing up native prairie feel like destiny. Then the rain stopped. Without buffalo grass and blue grama to anchor the soil, the wind took the land itself. We walk through the grim reality of daily life under black blizzards, from dust pneumonia and zero visibility to livestock suffocating in drifts. April 14, 1935—Black Sunday—becomes the breaking point: daylight collapses, communities bunker down, and hope gets tested.

From there we explore the economic squeeze of the Great Depression—bank failures, foreclosure auctions, and impossible choices about staying or leaving along Route 66. Finally, we unpack the turning point: New Deal soil conservation, contour plowing, cover crops, and FDR’s massive Shelterbelt Project that planted more than 200 million trees across the Plains. Alongside Hazel Lucas Shaw’s family story, we pull out the lessons modern agriculture still leans on today: rotation over extraction, windbreaks over wishful thinking, stewardship over short-term gain.

If you care about history, climate, farming, or simply how ordinary people endure extraordinary hardship, this story delivers perspective and grit. Listen, share with a friend who loves history, and leave a review to help more curious folks find the show.

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00:16 - Banter And Beers

01:14 - Support The Show

02:11 - Craft Beer Shoutouts

04:58 - Today’s Topic: The Dust Bowl

05:22 - How The Plains Were Settled

07:17 - Homestead Acts And Big Acreage

08:36 - The Myth Of Rain Follows The Plow

10:36 - Wheat Boom And World War I Demand

13:51 - Plows, Tractors, And Torn-Up Prairie

16:40 - Prices Crash And Overplanting

18:48 - Drought Begins And Soil Exposed

21:42 - Daily Life In The Dust

25:45 - Black Blizzards Across States

28:20 - Interstellar Parallels

31:12 - Homes Turned Into Bunkers

34:15 - Dust Pneumonia And Health Crises

37:21 - Economics In The Great Depression

40:10 - April 14, 1935: Black Sunday

45:05 - Aftermath, Exhaustion, And Resolve

48:25 - New Deal Soil Conservation

51:15 - Staying, Leaving, And Identity

54:30 - Lessons From The Dirty Thirties

01:13:49 - Sign-Off And Calls To Action

WEBVTT

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Oh, hey there.

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Oh, hey there.

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I'm Kate.

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I'm Bradley.

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And this is Why are we doing this?

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History buffoo.

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History buffoo.

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Alright, you're still moving shit.

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Should I get that noise and play it there?

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How's it going?

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I'm well.

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How are you?

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I'm good.

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Excellent.

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So what do you got for us today?

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Um, we are gonna talk about the dirty thirties.

00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:47.759
I remember my 30s.

00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:58.560
It is the 1930s Dust Bowl when the planes were so over farmed, yeah, the topsoil would like lift up into the air for like a decade.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, the Dust Bowl.

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I've heard of the Dust Bowl before.

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They called it the Dirty 30s.

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Well, I mean, it happened in the 30s.

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Sure did.

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It was a little dirty.

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It was dirty.

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Yeah.

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I mean, it just works.

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It I mean, we can't make this stuff up.

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So, anyways, if uh you enjoy what you hear on the history buffoons, um, please go to our website.

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We have a link up top if you're willing to support us so we can keep creating content.

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A link up top where?

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On our website, like I said.

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Um did you?

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I sure fucking did.

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I'm gonna take off my shoes.

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Okay.

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Let's get comfy, shall we?

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Jesus.

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Woo! Those dogs are barking.

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Uh all right, I guess I won't finish what the fuck I was saying.

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Say the thing.

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I don't want to repeat it.

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Top of the webpage.

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It's okay.

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If you just do that.

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If you're so inclined to support us, we have a link up top.

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Please help us out.

00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.560
We greatly appreciate it because we enjoy doing this content and we just want to keep it going.

00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:08.960
So uh historybuffoons podcast.com.

00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:09.680
Yeah.

00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:10.800
What do we got?

00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:17.039
So my husband, Nathan, went on um a trip to Illinois.

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Yeah.

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Oh, I'm just gonna drink this one.

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It was like maybe three weeks ago, something like that.

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Two or three, yeah.

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And he texted me while he was going down to Illinois.

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He said, Hey, I picked you up some podcast beers.

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I was like, that's awesome, thanks.

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And I like looked at Life 360 and was like, Oh, we're still in Wisconsin.

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I was like, Oh, cool, that's whatever.

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So he comes back a couple days later, and he brought us what is it?

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Deuster Bex.

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Deucer Bex.

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It is made out of Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

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And in fact, you've taken me there.

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We met up with um a friend um who lives in Elkhorn.

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Um, and uh I don't I don't remember if she's ever been there.

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I think I I feel like that was her first time, but I could be wrong.

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Yeah.

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Um but either way, but yeah, we met her there.

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Um she is a um a friend of a friend, so she was she's pretty cool.

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Yeah, she was nice, but uh yeah, we met at Deucerbeck's and I don't remember if this is the one I had.

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It's um Big Farmer Pale Ale.

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It is a 6.2 in a 16 fluid ounce um can.

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And um, yeah, so Nathan got that for me.

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What did he pick up for you?

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So it I used to sell this beer.

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Okay.

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Uh it's been a couple of years since I've sold beer, so I could be getting my facts wrong.

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So if I do, I apologize.

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Um, I actually rather enjoy Dusterbeck's beer.

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I like their what they got going on there, it's super cool.

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They have a big red barn and it is so cool looking.

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Yep.

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So I I have Bentis Candy, which is a juicy IPA, and if I'm not mistaken, the reason why it's called Bentist is his name is Ben, and he used to be a dentist.

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That's awesome.

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Or still is, maybe.

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I could be getting my facts mixed up.

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So that's cool.

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Dusterbeck's people, sorry.

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Yeah, that's awesome.

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But no, we we enjoyed the location, we enjoyed the beer, we enjoyed the company.

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Super fun.

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Yeah, we had a good time there meeting up with a friend, and um, I just they had a band there.

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Yeah, uh, nice restaurant.

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Um, my supervisor at the time showed up, said, Oh, hey, what's up, dude?

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Oh, I don't remember that.

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You you guys were hanging out in the restaurant part.

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I went and said hello outside.

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Yeah.

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So yeah.

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Okay, cheers.

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Cheers.

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So yeah, if I got if I got my facts wrong, sorry, but I rather enjoyed there.

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We I had a meeting there once prior to taking you there.

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That's why I'm like, oh, I should take it in.

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We like beer and whatever.

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And uh I and I knew my friend down there.

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So and I had a I had a few.

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It was good.

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Did you?

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Oh yeah.

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Don't remember.

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That's really tasty.

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Well, you wouldn't remember you weren't there talking about the meeting we had.

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Oh let's continue.

00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.759
Anyway, so we're gonna talk about the Dust Bowl of the 1930-30s.

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Yeah, sorry, I'm rearranging my okay.

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Yes, so were you rearranging my microphone?

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If you heard that.

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So um yeah.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the South, the southern Great Plains, western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, yeah, southwestern um Kansas, eastern Colorado, um, they were widely promoted as America's great agricultural frontier.

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Yeah, because they're still trying to get people to go out that way.

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Yes, yes.

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Yes, there was people out there.

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However, it was still relatively untouched, unpopulated.

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Yeah.

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Railroad companies and land speculators and federal policy all work together to sell like this powerful idea that this land was meant to be farmed.

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If you recall from our um Oregon Trail episode, there was the Homestead Act of 1862 that had already opened up the Westlands to settlements by granting 160 acres to anyone willing to live on it and improve it.

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Um, but for the plains, 160 acres wasn't enough to uh sustain a family.

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So Congress expanded the opportunity.

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And so um came about the enlarged homestead act of 1909, okay, which increased claims to 320 acres of dry land regions, and then the Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916, which allowed up to 640 acres for ranching.

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Holy fuck.

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Yes.

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So and again, this is pure just what's your opinion on this?

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Do you think that's why a lot of I mean, we'll we'll call it Midwestern-ish, it's more west than mid, but do you think that's why a lot of families like had big ass fucking ranches that went through generations?

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Oh yeah, because like great grandpappy decided I'll do that.

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640 acres.

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I mean, fucking hell.

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That's that's a lot of fucking land.

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So when people think Midwest, I always think that they think of like Ohio.

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Which is to me, it's funny.

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I don't even think of Ohio in the Midwest.

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I don't think personally that either.

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But being from Wisconsin, you're from Nebraska, I consider that more Midwest.

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Obviously, too.

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Iowa, Nebraska, um Kansas, yeah, Minnesota, even I throw in there.

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Obviously, Wisconsin, like I said, you know, that's where I see Midwest.

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I I feel like Ohio's East still.

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But again, I I don't know if I'm right.

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That's just my perception of it.

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Yeah, that's my perception too.

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But yeah, so, anyways, um, because I just wonder if like, yeah, great grandpappy started this ranch 1917 or whatever the fuck years you're you're talking about, you know.

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It's like yeah, crazy.

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Anyways, so obviously, between all these like homestead acts, the the message was weirdly clear.

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Like, here is the land we want you to go and produce stuff here.

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This land is yours, exactly.

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That was a that was really exciting.

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You got too excited for that.

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So at the same time, there was a popular phrase kind of gaining traction.

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Yeah, and it was rain follows the plow.

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Have you ever heard that?

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I've never no same.

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So maybe I just made it up.

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I don't know.

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But the belief was that cultivation itself would change the climate, that breaking the soil and planting crops would somehow increase rainfall.

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And boy, were they wrong.

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But it it sounds naive, but back then it was very like quote unquote scientific because there were periods of unusually wet weather in the late 1800s that seemed to prove like every time we plowed, it would start to rain.

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But it was just coincidence, except for yes, obviously.

00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:16.960
Right.

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But it's it would be like us like washing our car and then it rains.

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Yeah.

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I literally was at one of my accounts, I think it was last earlier this week or last week, and this nice guy, Mike, that I talked to at this particular account, it's like, yeah, we're supposed to get rain, of course, and I just washed my car, you know.

00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.120
So yeah, he literally just said that to me.

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It's like so um they they took mistook like a temporary wet cycle for like a permanent shift.

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So the Great Plains were naturally semi-arid, semi-dry.

00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:51.200
Yeah.

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Um, average rainfall decreases sharply the farther you go west.

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Sure.

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And much of the southern plains receives between 15 and 20 inches of rain per year, barely enough for consistent crop farming without irrigation.

00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:11.679
So they probably need some significant irrigation set up, right?

00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:12.159
Yes.

00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:19.919
So before settlement, that fragile oak ecosystem survived because of prairie grasses.

00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:20.799
Right.

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So buffalo grass and blue grandma didn't need deep rainfall.

00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:27.200
Okay.

00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:33.200
Their extensive root systems locked the soil in place and conserved moisture.

00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.279
So settlers didn't come west to grow grass, though.

00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.759
They came to grow wheat.

00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.200
I'm sure there's some that wanted to grow weed, but either way.

00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:44.000
Wheat.

00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:46.720
Oh, I I grass, weed.

00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.360
So I got what you said.

00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:53.039
I don't think you picked up what I said.

00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:58.000
Oh, I got what you said, and that's why I corrected you because I didn't put two and two together, even though I heard you.

00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:07.600
When World War I erupted in 1914, global wheat, uh the demand for global wheat expanded exponentially.

00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.039
So, what's the difference between global wheat and just wheat?

00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:13.120
Continue.

00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:22.399
I was gonna try to uh so European farmland was devastated by combat during World War One.

00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:22.960
Okay.

00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:30.879
So that created a massive demand for grain to feed both soldiers and civilians everywhere else.

00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:31.919
Yep, yep, yep.

00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:43.519
So high prices and government encouragement pushed countries like the United States to plow millions of new acres, dramatically increasing production, especially on the Great Plains.

00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.159
Well, there's just so much open fucking land.

00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.639
It's like, hey, we're not doing anything.

00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:50.799
Let's, I don't know, maybe help out.

00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:51.519
Yeah, exactly.

00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:52.399
And that's what they did.

00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.759
So here's 640 acres, go make some farms.

00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:58.159
Yeah, and because of that, prices soared.

00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:58.559
Of course.

00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:05.600
Farmers on the plane could suddenly make some serious money, and so they plowed their hearts out.

00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:10.080
Tractors became more affordable then in the 1910s, 1920s.

00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:11.840
I feel a burr coming on.

00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:14.960
Sound like you said, I feel a burr.

00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:17.440
I don't think it came out yet.

00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:19.519
It's close, it's real close.

00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:23.360
So while she's doing this, Great Plains, am I right?

00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:24.960
It's not there yet.

00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:25.600
So sorry.

00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:26.399
Either way.

00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.320
Um yeah.

00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:38.720
I I can't imagine being alive at that time and being like, I'll fucking do this.

00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:39.519
Yeah.

00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:44.320
I'm also not a farmer, so I mean, props to all the farmers out there still.

00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.960
I mean, I I spent like, you know, a summer farming.

00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:47.600
Okay.

00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.000
No, you didn't.

00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:52.799
Yeah, I did over t over 2020.

00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:54.320
I did.

00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.759
I was I was I taught I was learned I was taught how I was learned.

00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.159
I was taught how to drive a tractor and to drive into town.

00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:11.279
Yes, I was taught how to drive into town and unload the corn, drive back, unhitch, re hitch, and all the things.

00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:17.919
Did you actually drive like the combine that collected the corn in the combine, nope, just the the tractor with the bins in the back.

00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.320
Okay, so you didn't farm you delivered.

00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:22.399
Yeah.

00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:31.600
Well, there were a couple times when I got I I sat on Nathan's lap and I, you know, did the steering wheel shit.

00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:32.960
Did he do the combine?

00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:34.320
Like did he help out with that?

00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:35.759
Yeah, him and grandpa did.

00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:36.799
Um I'm sure, yeah.

00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:40.399
Grandpa kind of weaned off towards the end just because you know it was hard to get up and down.

00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:41.919
Well, he's getting older, so yeah.

00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:42.240
Yeah.

00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:42.720
Anyway.

00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.080
I like grandpa, he's nice.

00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:45.120
Grandpa's great.

00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:45.519
Yeah.

00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.720
Okay, so again, tractors were becoming really affordable.

00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:49.120
Yep.

00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:57.120
And mechanized plows could break acres in a day, and that would have taken teams of horses far longer, right?

00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:02.000
So did they use horses or do they use like cattle, like bulls and stuff?

00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:02.799
Bullshit.

00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:03.679
I guess I'm not even sure.

00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:04.399
Horses.

00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:05.919
I use horses too, though, right?

00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:06.159
Yeah.

00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:06.639
Okay.

00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.679
So I just in my head, I did not picture a horse.

00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.039
I just pictured like anyways.

00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:13.360
Sorry.

00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:14.000
That's okay.

00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:15.440
It's it's giving me time to burp.

00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.039
So or is it?

00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000
So millions of acres of native prairie grass were torn up in a matter of years.

00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:35.200
So by the early 1920s, roughly five million acres of grant grassland per year were being converted into cropland across the plains.

00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:41.360
So the fields had been untouched for centuries, were suddenly exposed.

00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:45.600
Well, you you eliminate all that grass that held the soil together.

00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:52.159
What were the I'm sorry, I don't remember the It was buffalo grass and blue Grammia or blue.

00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.159
Yeah, either way.

00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.320
Blue grandma or grandma.

00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.200
Hey grandma, pretty much, yeah.

00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:00.320
Sad grandma.

00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:04.960
Anyways, um, yeah, obviously you start plowing that shit out.

00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:07.120
Nothing to hold the soil together.

00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:08.399
Yeah, but they didn't know.

00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:13.360
Well, I mean, it's not like we invented farming the year before.

00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:15.120
Fair.

00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.080
I mean, right?

00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:19.279
No, but people also weren't settled in this area.

00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:20.399
I I get that.

00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:28.000
However, you can't tell me this is the only place we've ever run into this kind of climate and soil conditions.

00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:38.639
I have seen it saying it is the worst natural disaster slash Americ um human-made disaster of American history.

00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:39.840
I I see it.

00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:40.159
Yeah.

00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:45.360
But it's just it's mind-boggling that, like, okay, yeah, just do it.

00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:46.480
I don't know what's happening, sir.

00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:46.799
Yeah.

00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:48.720
You know, I just I figured, I don't know.

00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:49.679
Anyways, continue.

00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:50.000
Sorry.

00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.159
So at first, this looked like a triumph.

00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:59.039
In the 1920s, houses in excuse me, towns in the panhandle and western uh Kansas grew rapidly.

00:15:59.200 --> 00:15:59.519
Sure.

00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:17.120
Grain elevators rose along rail lines, and new houses were built, automobiles replaced wagons, um, and families like Hazel Lucas Shaw's family watched wheat transform their communities.

00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.320
So Hazel's father, like many others, rode that wave of prosperity.

00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:31.200
Wheat prices were high, crops were strong during these wet years, and Hazel Lucas Shaw grew up in that moment of promise.

00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:31.679
Sure.

00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:38.080
So her father had homestead um land in Boise City, Oklahoma, which is deep in the panhandle.

00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:38.559
Okay.

00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:42.879
And it was a region once named uh nicknamed No Man's Land.

00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:43.440
Sure.

00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:46.399
Um, but wheat had brought their family success.

00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:58.320
So the sky always felt like generous and enormous and just full of life and full of rain and just now the the panhandle is that little strip right above Texas, right?

00:16:58.559 --> 00:16:58.799
Correct.

00:16:58.960 --> 00:16:59.039
Okay.

00:16:59.200 --> 00:16:59.279
Yeah.

00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.000
So they I always get that wrong in my brain for some reason.

00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:07.039
So if you think of like skillet, yeah, yeah, the panhandle of the skillet.

00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:07.920
Yeah, okay.

00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.759
So the land seemed endless and super forgiving.

00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:24.079
Um, but when Hazel reached adulthood, when she marries her husband Charles Shaw, begins teaching school, she started having children of her own, the illusion of endless prosperity was starting to crack.

00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:25.920
Starting to dry out, if you will.

00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:27.039
If you will.

00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:33.759
So after World War One ended, European agriculture resumed production.

00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:34.960
Rebounded, yeah.

00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:35.279
Yes.

00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:35.759
Yep, yep.

00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:40.079
So wheat prices then in America collapsed in the early 1920s.

00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:40.400
Sure.

00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:47.599
So farmers who had borrowed heavily to buy tractors and expand acreages finally faced this failing income.

00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.799
Well, they didn't have enough to pay back their debts, basically.

00:17:51.039 --> 00:18:03.440
And so, yeah, they had all this fucking money like borrowed to get these tractors, equipment, grain silos, all all this shit, and all of a sudden, oh shit, we're not making enough to pay this back.

00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:09.519
So to compensate for these lower prices, they planted even more acreage.

00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:12.160
So they made it worse.

00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:16.640
Yeah, that I thought there was a word I was gonna try and use, but I'm not that smart to remember it.

00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:24.880
Um, more land was plowed, more grass was destroyed, and by the late 1920s, the plains had fundamentally altered.

00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:34.720
So millions of acres that had once been protected by these deep-rooted native grasses were now covered in these shallow rooted annual crops.

00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:35.279
Yep.

00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:44.480
And then there was also little crop rotation, which I didn't know was a thing until 2020 when I learned how to drive a tractor.

00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:45.519
You didn't know that.

00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:50.720
Um, Nathan might have said that beforehand, but I didn't really see it in action until 2020.

00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:58.000
Because like you've you've been to my house, uh, that road that you come on around to my house, Honey Creek.

00:18:58.079 --> 00:18:58.720
Yeah.

00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:06.799
I always joke, and I always get disappointed that like, oh, it's not cornier on both sides because it looks like you're driving the trench run in the Death Star.

00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:07.359
Yeah.

00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:11.359
But then it's like, oh, they plant their uh what is the fucking thing they usually do?

00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:12.960
Um soybeans.

00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:14.640
Yeah, I think that's what it is.

00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.160
And it's like, well, that's disappointing.

00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:16.559
Yeah.

00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:21.839
But yeah, so because each plant takes different nutrients and puts certain ones back, right?

00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:31.279
So like with grandpa's farm, they alternated between corn and beans per um acre or per uh plot of land.

00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.000
Yeah, yeah.

00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:35.920
Which I that's super interesting, but and that's not what they did back then.

00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.200
They did not do that crop.

00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:39.359
They didn't know that, obviously.

00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:48.319
And like obviously, I know don't quote me on this because I'm not a farmer, but like I've seen, like, let's say I'm just picturing the road by my house.

00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.359
This field they had corn two years in a row, but then they they switched.

00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:58.799
So I don't know what the lifespan is of the soil, if you will, before they have to swap.

00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:04.559
I'm not sure, but I could have sworn there's a couple times where I'm like, oh, corn this year, corn this year, no corn this year.

00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.359
Okay, I don't know.

00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:10.160
Interesting, but it's it's crazy how they've learned that over the years, obviously.

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:17.519
Since then, my dad would probably be able to tell us because he he's definitely he's in agricultural um sales, but oh, is he?

00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:18.799
Yeah, I guess I didn't know that.

00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:28.720
Um, from what I remember, which isn't much sometimes, and well, for us to admit, he sold um chemicals for agricultural crops.

00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:29.920
So okay.

00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:32.240
Um, like Roundup and shit.

00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:33.599
Roundup.

00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.559
I feel like that's not right, but maybe I don't know.

00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:40.480
Dwayne, let us know.

00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:46.880
Um, but grandpa's farm was always really good at beans this year, corn next year.

00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:47.440
Okay, sure.

00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:56.240
Like well, it just it helps the soil, it gets those nutrients back because the the nut the crop the following year is gonna benefit from that, and vice versa, you know, whatever.

00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:57.200
So yeah, makes sense.

00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:57.599
Yeah.

00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:58.400
Anyways.

00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:02.799
So soil conservation methods were fairly minimal.

00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:07.200
Fields were often left bare between plantings, especially after harvest.

00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:07.680
Yep.

00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.599
And then the rain stopped coming.

00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:14.079
Who'll stop the rain?

00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:19.920
When drought conditions began in 1930, the land was already exposed and vulnerable.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.599
And without moisture, crop roots dried quickly.

00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.920
Nope, died quickly.

00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:28.400
I mean, they probably dried and then died.

00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:29.039
Probably.

00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:29.599
But yeah.

00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:35.839
But with no grass left to anchor it, the topsoil dried into a loose, powdery layer.

00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:37.759
Literally just dust.

00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:38.240
Yes.

00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.440
Hence the dust bowl.

00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.240
And the plains did what they had always done.

00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.960
The wind blew across the plains.

00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:48.000
It's like, hey man, my field's over there now.

00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:48.480
Yeah.

00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.720
The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plains.

00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.039
Is that a thing?

00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.759
It's from My Fair Lady in My Fair Lady.

00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:10.000
She is like this Cockney poverty stricken woman, and some hoity toity bachelor brings her in and teaches her how to speak properly.

00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:16.799
So it's it's like a it's like a is that what um uh fucking just lost the name of it.

00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:17.680
What's her name?

00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:18.480
Julia Roberts?

00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:19.759
Is that pretty woman, pretty much?

00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:21.440
So it's a sequel, it's a remake of that.

00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:24.960
No, so he basically speaks her.

00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:26.880
Pretty woman is a remake of that.

00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:27.519
Yes.

00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:39.119
So so the rain, so so the practiced mantra that she had to do was the rain and spine falls mainly, but she's like falls mainly in the pines.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:41.519
Anyway, let's I dictate that.

00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:42.799
Let's move on.

00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:44.960
Jesus Christ.

00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:48.400
So the winds picked up.

00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:52.240
Hazel grew up during this boom.

00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:53.839
She saw sorry to interrupt.

00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:54.319
That's okay.

00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:58.400
This is now is are we we're in the Great Depression already?

00:22:58.799 --> 00:22:59.920
Yes, we are.

00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:05.039
I was getting I'm going to mention that, but no, you are exactly in the right time frame.

00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:06.160
Exactly.

00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:08.720
So Hazel grew up in this boom.

00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:15.279
She saw that wheat um bring brought a lot of prosperity to Boise City, Oklahoma.

00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:22.640
She saw the pride of the settlement, the sense that her family was building like something permanent in a place that once had seemed empty.

00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:29.680
Um, and by the time that she was a young wife and teacher in the early 1930s, that that permanence was starting to unravel.

00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:30.240
Okay.

00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:36.960
That optimism of rain follows the plow had started to turn into this dangerous illusion.

00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:37.440
Sure.

00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:47.839
Um, the Federal Lands Acts, like um, excuse me, the Federal Land Acts had succeeded in populating the plants, but they had not changed the climate.

00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:55.359
The wheat boom had enriched these families, but it had also stripped the land of these natural defenses.

00:23:55.759 --> 00:23:56.880
Nutrients and everything, yeah.

00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.240
So when the drought deepened, the conde conquences were immediate and they were catastrophic.

00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:02.559
Yeah.

00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:08.319
And families like um Hazel Lucas Shaw's were left to live inside this result.

00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:10.000
Yes.

00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:21.359
So by the early 1930s, what had once been dependable farmland across the southern plains had become something unstable, something that was shifting and almost unrecognizable.

00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.720
Well, yeah, it's just fucking dust everywhere and dirt.

00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:26.319
And it got bad.

00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:32.640
Um, the the wind no longer like skimmed harmlessly across the field of these this anchored grass.

00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:33.039
Okay.

00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.759
It lifted the very surface of the earth and carried it away.

00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:42.960
So I've I don't want to say made you because you enjoyed this movie.

00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.039
Oh, excuse me.

00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.759
I know what you're getting at.

00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:48.960
Interstellar.

00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.559
Yes, I have a picture.

00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:51.200
Do you?

00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:56.559
I'm gonna insert, I'm gonna um highlight this, this, this, um, this area.

00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:07.200
There is a picture between um a dust, the dust bowl covering an automobile and the movie Interstellar, where the dust is covering the truck.

00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:07.839
That's fancy.

00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.240
So I'll put a side-by-side picture, but it immediately made me think of Interstellar.

00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:13.039
How could it not?

00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:14.319
I mean, yes, and by the way.

00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:17.759
Describe a little bit about the beginning of Interstellar, so if people don't know.

00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:18.559
The beginning?

00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:18.960
Yeah.

00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:25.680
So basically, um, more or less Matthew McConaughey's character Cooper, which it's funny.

00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.440
I I saw a video speaking of Interstellar, since let's go on a tangent here.

00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:32.480
Um, they never mention his first name.

00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:33.440
Oh, really?

00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:34.079
In the movie?

00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:35.119
Just Cooper.

00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:36.720
He's always referred to as Cooper.

00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:40.079
Could can you guess what his first name actually is in that movie?

00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:41.680
No, Joseph.

00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:42.720
I like it.

00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:43.920
I like it.

00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:45.359
So it's funny.

00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.880
The video I saw was somebody asking Matthew McConaughey that.

00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:49.680
Like, did you ever know?

00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:51.920
He's like, I might have once, but I've no idea.

00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:54.400
It's like, and they tell him it's Joseph.

00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:55.519
He's like, Cooper Joseph?

00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.440
He's like, no, Joseph Cooper.

00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:58.960
So it's pretty funny.

00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.240
I love Matthew McConaughey.

00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:01.680
He's he's one of my favorites.

00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:05.119
But, anyways, so the earth is dying.

00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:15.839
They have farmers similar to what we're honestly talking about, that are trying to, you know, dust everywhere, and literally, literal fucking dust storms come through.

00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:21.359
And they're all like masks and goggles and everything, and so on.

00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:28.559
And so, yeah, and at the dinner table, they would have their plates turned upside down, so when they were ready to eat, they could then turn it up and it would be semi-clean.

00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:29.039
Yep.

00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:34.000
So, yeah, so it's literally uh well, that's set in the future.

00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:34.640
Yes.

00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:48.880
So it's literally like a hundred years apart from what they're talking about, and it's the same thing, more or less, except the literal planet is dying in Interstellar, where the rest of the Earth in the 1930s is not.

00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:50.000
Either way, very similar.

00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.119
But if you have not seen Interstellar, it's a fantastic movie.

00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:57.599
I had not it was made in 2014.

00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.720
I had not seen it until like maybe late last year.

00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:04.720
Yeah, I I had you watch it with me because so I'm sorry.

00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:05.599
No, that's okay.

00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.920
It was so good, and I honestly would recommend everybody watch this.

00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:20.720
It is, it's not what you call wholesome, but it's there's not foul language, but it is though, in a way, with the love of his daughter and everything, and I don't want to give anything away because you know, whatever.

00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:21.599
It's so good.

00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:27.359
My my brother Corey and I, Corey, who wrote the music for our our intro and our podcast and everything.

00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:29.839
Um, he and I love Christopher Nolan.

00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:35.279
We absolutely love Christopher Nolan as a director, and we will pretty much see anything, and and it's great.

00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:39.279
The uh they there's a new one coming out, I think it's in July, if I'm not mistaken.

00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:40.400
The Odyssey.

00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.839
Literally, Homer's the Odyssey with Matt Damon.

00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:45.519
Matt Damon who you love.

00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:46.720
I love Matt Damon.

00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:51.440
My brother and I cannot wait to see this movie because it's we we we love what he does.

00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:53.519
Christopher Nolan is a great fucking director.

00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:54.000
Yeah.

00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:58.480
And his brother, oh shit, Jonathan Nolan, I want to say.

00:27:58.720 --> 00:27:59.839
He writes a lot of stuff.

00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:01.519
I don't know if he wrote on the Odyssey.

00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:03.359
Um, but it's funny.

00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:05.920
Um yeah, it was inner stuff.

00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:06.559
No.

00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:11.039
Uh one of the lines in the Dark Knight trilogy.

00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:20.880
Yeah, the one that Harvey uh Oh, the the sky is dark or darkest just before the dawn or something like that.

00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:28.319
You either become the hero or live to see yourself long enough to become the villain or something.

00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:28.640
Yeah.

00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:29.920
His brother wrote that.

00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:30.400
Nice.

00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:32.240
I I think that's the line I'm thinking of.

00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.319
Either way, I love Christopher Nolan.

00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:35.359
I like his brother's writing.

00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:35.920
It's great.

00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:37.279
Go see Interstellar.

00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:39.039
No, not go see, but watch it.

00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:40.960
It's yeah, it's it's out there, it's fucking great.

00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.319
Let's get back on our story.

00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:43.279
1930s.

00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:43.920
Yes.

00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:49.839
Um, so the wind no longer skimmed across these grasses, right?

00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:52.400
Picked it up, lifted it up and carried it away.

00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:02.559
So storm after storm, towering clouds of topsoil that rose high into the atmosphere, sometimes climbing more than a mile above ground.

00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:03.839
Holy shit.

00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:10.480
And what began in a single county did not ever stay in that county.

00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:18.240
No, so it's like, I don't know counties and obviously Oklahoma, but it's like, hey, Racine's dirt is now in Milwaukee's dirt.

00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:19.759
You know, basically.

00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:23.279
So dust from Oklahoma drifted into Kansas.

00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:24.000
Wow.

00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:26.720
From Texas, it drifted into Missouri.

00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:27.119
Sure.

00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.240
And on certain days, reports claimed as far as Chicago.

00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.119
Oh my God.

00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:34.160
And some days reported as far as New York.

00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:37.279
And some days it was reported.

00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:38.640
Atlantic Ocean.

00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:40.799
The Atlantic Ocean on the ships.

00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:42.160
Shit, really?

00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:42.960
Yes.

00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:44.559
Holy fuck.

00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:46.960
And that's fucking wild.

00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:51.119
Because like, do you have do you have any type of mileage on that by chance?

00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:53.680
No, I have a map that I can enter here.

00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.160
Um of like holy shit.

00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:06.160
I have a map of like the general area of where where the most of the dust traveled and then where the kind of the heart of the dust bowl was.

00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.440
I know this is not perfect, what I'm about to say, but what is it?

00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:12.079
From New York to LA is 3,000 miles roughly.

00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.079
Cut it in half.

00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:14.480
Yeah.

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:15.039
Roughly.

00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:15.440
Yeah.

00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:17.440
We'll we'll we'll even take a couple off.

00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:17.680
Yeah.

00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:19.599
1,300 miles to the ocean.

00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:21.119
Give or take, obviously.

00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:24.559
I'm not being specific here, but holy that's a long yeah.

00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:25.200
Fuck.

00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:25.839
Yeah.

00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:27.759
So that's insane.

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.240
So 19 states would eventually feel this reach.

00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:32.960
Sure.

00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.759
So statistics didn't convey what it meant to stand in the middle of it.

00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:38.160
No.

00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:39.759
Which is what we're going to talk about today.

00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:40.640
Well, of course.

00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:53.440
If you were living in the panhandle, yeah, Western Texas, east, sorry, western Kansas, eastern Colorado, the dust bowl was neither a headline nor a weather pattern.

00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:55.920
It was literally your kitchen table.

00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:00.400
It was the plates that you ate on.

00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:01.839
You had to turn your plates over.

00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:04.960
Yeah, it was the dust in your eyes.

00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:07.119
It was the dust in your lungs.

00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:10.880
Like it it was That is just crazy.

00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:11.519
Like I can't.

00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:13.279
It was a phenomenon.

00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:25.519
Like I couldn't think of I can't I can't even imagine what it would be like to like live in that such I don't want to call it filth, but it is.

00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:26.319
It is.

00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.920
And just have like layers of dust on fucking everything.

00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:32.640
That's just fucking wild.

00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:37.279
That would be such a burden on your day-to-day life.

00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:38.079
Yes.

00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:44.319
I gotta sit down in the old portage on or I mean outhouse and go wipe off my seat.

00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:44.640
Yep.

00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:49.599
Or I'm gonna make dinner, I gotta empty the pot out of dust and shit.

00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:50.640
I mean, just everything.

00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:51.680
It's fucking wild.

00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:52.160
Yeah.

00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:53.200
Crazy.

00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:58.640
So they would like wipe off their kitchen table in the morning and then it would be covered again by noon.

00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:02.799
Why wouldn't you just put a fucking like plastic?

00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:04.400
Well, not plastic.

00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:05.759
We're talking about the 1930s.

00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:06.400
That's yeah.

00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:07.759
A blanket or something.

00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:11.680
A blanket andor, you know, a tablecloth and then just lift it off.

00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:12.720
That's what I would do.

00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:13.759
I'm sure people did.

00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:15.039
I'm sure people did, yeah.

00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:16.319
So anyways.

00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:22.960
But it was the way the air itself like seemed heavier, thick enough that you noticed it in every breath.

00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:23.359
Yeah.

00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:32.240
It was waking up in the middle of the night coughing, your throat raw from inhaling particles so fine you cannot see them individually.

00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:35.359
No, yet you could still taste them constantly.

00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:36.240
Sure, sure.

00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:41.920
It was the unending sound of wind pressing against the house.

00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:50.319
It wasn't like a sharp gust that passed, but like a city low roar that seemed to like settle into the walls.

00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:53.680
Like that's what they would experience as the dust bowl.

00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:57.599
Do you do you think like with the the wind like that that they kept hearing a little ding?

00:32:58.559 --> 00:32:58.880
Yes.

00:32:59.039 --> 00:32:59.839
I mean, fuck.

00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:04.400
Yes, they said that there was like a roar that would come with it.

00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:05.759
That's crazy.

00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:12.400
So even when a storm finally moved on and the sky returned to blue, the dust never disappeared.

00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:17.279
No, it lingered in the cracks and the floorboards and in the seams of clothing.

00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:26.559
I mean, I have been to the beach once wearing glasses, and I forever carried sand in the crevices of my glasses.

00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:28.799
Like it gets everywhere.

00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:29.519
Sure.

00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:32.240
So and that's sand.

00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:33.519
That's sand.

00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:35.680
We're talking about even finer.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:36.240
Finer.

00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:37.440
Like dust.

00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:37.839
Yeah.

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:41.920
That's even finer than what you were experienced there.

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:45.200
So I mean, yeah, this is literally getting everywhere.

00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:47.759
Could you imagine having dust in your ears like that?

00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:52.480
If you had to walk outside and go farm or whatever, fuck.

00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:53.359
Yeah.

00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:59.359
Um, it would sift into dresser drawers beneath mattresses, even.

00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:04.319
I collected in the folds of curtains and along the edges of windowsills.

00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:05.759
Yes, Bradley.

00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:09.599
I I I have to say this because you brought up mattresses.

00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:10.880
Also, I love this beer.

00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:11.519
I really like it.

00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:11.840
Good.

00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:12.000
Yeah.

00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:13.280
Good job, Nathan.

00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:14.159
Yeah, thank you, Nathan.

00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:15.440
I really like mine too.

00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:17.599
Um I finished one.

00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:18.480
Look at you.

00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:19.360
That never happens.

00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:21.280
I know.

00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:21.920
I'm sorry.

00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:23.199
Am I talking too much?

00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:25.119
No, I like it.

00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:28.719
So I used to sell mattresses.

00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:29.360
Yes.

00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:30.079
Right.

00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:35.119
Do you want to know what of the one of the most disgusting things I ever see?

00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:36.400
To this day.

00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.719
I literally saw it like a week or so ago.

00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:44.480
People will transport a mattress to a different house and not fucking wrap it.

00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:45.519
Cover it.

00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:46.159
I know.

00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:50.960
It's like, do you I don't care if it's nice out, it doesn't matter.

00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:54.079
Do you know what particles are getting on your bed?

00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:55.519
And then you're just like, oh, I'll be alright.

00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:56.960
I'm putting a sheet on it.

00:34:57.199 --> 00:34:57.679
Nope.

00:34:57.920 --> 00:34:58.960
So fucking gross.

00:34:59.119 --> 00:34:59.440
Nope.

00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:00.719
No, I totally get it.

00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:02.079
Get a fucking bag.

00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:03.039
Get a bag.

00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:04.159
Get a bag.

00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:05.920
Go to Steinhoffels.

00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:07.679
They at least we used to.

00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.360
We used to just sell mattress bags for the size you need.

00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:13.199
Tape up the fucking end.

00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:14.480
It's worth it.

00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:17.760
Because that you can't get those clean like that.

00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:21.199
Yeah, you can use a fucking Stanley steamer or whatever the fuck they use.

00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:22.079
Topical.

00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:23.840
Yeah, that's all it is.

00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:25.119
You're not getting the depth.

00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:25.679
Yeah.

00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:29.840
Anyways, that's my fucking TED Talk or whatever they call those.

00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.679
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.719
About mattress safety and cleanliness.

00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:46.239
So this dust would also work its way into flower sacks and sugar bowls into boots and blankets, fine lines of your hands.

00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:48.320
Did the boots have the fur?

00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:50.079
Oh my god.

00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:51.920
Boots with blankets.

00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:52.400
Okay.

00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:52.960
I'm sorry.

00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:54.960
That's on my that's on me.

00:35:55.199 --> 00:35:56.239
Yeah, you shouldn't do that.

00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:57.119
No, okay.

00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:04.960
Um you would sweep and sweep and sweep, and still there would be a coating on the surfaces.

00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:07.119
Yeah, you couldn't get it clean.

00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:15.039
Hayes would later describe those years in a way that still captures like the claustrophobic um essence of it.

00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:15.360
Yeah.

00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:19.440
She said, quote, it seemed like the black dust was always with us.

00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:22.000
It seemed that we lived in a land of haze.

00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:29.039
The atmosphere seemed to always be closing in around us, creating an eerie and uneasy feeling, end quote.

00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:30.400
That's crazy.

00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:45.519
So outside fields that had once been green, um, and they laid flat and pale, their top soil was stripped away, or it was even piled into drifts, like were in like snow, yeah.

00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:47.199
Like snow in Wisconsin.

00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:47.440
Yeah.

00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:48.000
Yeah.

00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:50.480
It would be all up along fence lines.

00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:52.239
Given up in their business.

00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:57.440
Livestock would stand coated in this dull gray film.

00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:05.519
Ribs were starting to show um sharply each week as the pasture disappeared between these layers of loose earth.

00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:09.519
They had no grass, no grass to eat and no water to drink.

00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:10.159
No.

00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:20.320
So the land had been pushed beyond its limits long before that first storm um came about because of all the plowing.

00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:22.320
And they just didn't know.

00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:24.320
That's the thing.

00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:28.079
Like they just didn't have that education, that that working knowledge.

00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:30.320
But how how would how would they have though?

00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:31.039
Exactly.

00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:34.880
Like they just they did not know it, learn it situation.

00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.440
100% huge situation.

00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:39.920
But and that's all you can really say about it.

00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:49.119
It's like they just they didn't have the knowledge of that time for knowing we need water, we need irrigation, all this, whatever.

00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:52.239
Just go go make wheat, you'll be rich.

00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:53.440
Yeah, fuck.

00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:54.079
We don't need it.

00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:56.239
Yeah, we don't need we don't need that buffalo grass.

00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:57.440
Yeah, yeah.

00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:03.599
So when the drought arrived, there was no deep prairie roots left behind to hold it together.

00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:09.679
There was no thick grasses to bind that soil together to um battle against the wind.

00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:16.000
And what had once been a living, resilient system had been broken apart and exposed.

00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:22.239
And so when the wind came, as it always had on the plains, and oh my gosh, does he get windy there?

00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:27.119
Um, there was nothing left to stop it from taking the ground itself.

00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:27.679
Right.

00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:33.119
The storms did not arrive very nicely, they weren't polite in any way.

00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:35.599
They were like, hey, we're gonna win you now.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.400
Just so you know, we're coming, prepare, do what you need to do.

00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:42.800
If you if you got it a couple minutes, get ready.

00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:43.280
Yeah.

00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:43.840
Okay.

00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:48.159
Um they came in waves as well.

00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:50.639
And after a while, the calendar just stopped mattering.

00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:53.519
They stopped saying like today's Tuesday.

00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:59.519
Instead, they would say, It's blowing again, or it's the day after the last blizzard.

00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:03.119
Or so would they say today's Wednesday?

00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:04.800
Wednesday.

00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:07.039
I don't like what you did there.

00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:09.119
Today's Wednesday.

00:39:14.880 --> 00:39:16.320
That's funny.

00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:17.280
Yep.

00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:18.719
Drink some more.

00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:20.079
Okay.

00:39:20.559 --> 00:39:21.440
Cheers to that.

00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:23.519
Thanks, Tuesday backs and Nathan.

00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:27.119
Oh boy.

00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:31.760
By 1932 and 33, the wind had become something just everyone watched.

00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:33.920
It was just part of their daily routine then.

00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:37.920
God could you imagine sleeping in this?

00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:40.719
Oh gross.

00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:44.559
Mornings began with a glimpse towards the horizon.

00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:44.960
Always.

00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:46.639
They would wake up and look outside.

00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.159
Just it was automatic.

00:39:48.400 --> 00:39:49.199
Well, why wouldn't you?

00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:50.960
Like, hey, are we getting fucked today?

00:39:51.119 --> 00:39:51.280
No.

00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:52.480
Yep, no, never mind.

00:39:52.880 --> 00:39:59.119
They would read the color of the the horizon to see what was coming.

00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:04.159
So a pale yellow haze meant grit would be in your teeth by noon.

00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:05.119
Oh, gross.

00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:07.920
And a darker brown line, excuse me.

00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:12.880
A darker brown line meant that you might see not see the barn from your porch.

00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:15.519
And that was probably 50 feet.

00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:15.920
Yeah.

00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:17.039
Give or take, whatever.

00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:17.360
Yeah.

00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:21.519
So the sky, the horizon became like a warning system every day.

00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:22.480
Jesus Christ.

00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:31.039
So on the worst days, days, the wind would start low and steady, then build until it seemed to vibrate through the ground.

00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:33.199
You could hear it before you see it.

00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:37.760
It was like a long-distant roar, like an approaching train.

00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:38.400
Sure.

00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:47.119
The light would begin to fade, the air thickened, the chickens started heading for their coops well before sunset, and then it would hit.

00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:48.079
Jesus.

00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:55.039
The first gust slammed against the house hard enough to rattle windows in their frames.

00:40:55.280 --> 00:41:02.079
Dust poured across the yard in sheets, rolling and folding over itself like waves.

00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:06.960
Within minutes, the world would turn sepia, then brown, then black.

00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:10.559
So sepia, like we're in the beginning of uh Wizard of Oz.

00:41:10.719 --> 00:41:11.760
Wizard of Oz, exactly.

00:41:11.840 --> 00:41:12.880
So if you were caught outdoors.

00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:14.719
Were they in the dust bowl too?

00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:22.880
So if you were caught outdoors, you wrapped your arms across your face and like bent into the wind, hoping that you could make it 10 feet without losing direction.

00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:24.000
Oh fuck, yeah.

00:41:24.239 --> 00:41:28.800
I mean, that that had to be shitty too, because all of a sudden, like, wait.

00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:36.880
And then more than one farmer would walk straight past his gate because he couldn't even see where the gate was.

00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:41.360
So inside the house, it obviously became like a bunker.

00:41:41.599 --> 00:41:55.360
Rags were shoved into door cracks, newspapers were were tacked over window frames, wet sheets were hung across openings in a desperate attach uh uh attempt to catch some of this dirt.

00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:57.920
Yeah, but the dust was persistent.

00:41:58.239 --> 00:41:59.360
It was relentless.

00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:00.320
Relentless.

00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:10.480
It found the smallest seam and worked through it like it was the mummy from the from the it was like the mummy from the movie The Mummy with Brennan Fraser, and he would like go through the keyhole.

00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:12.400
Again, national treasure.

00:42:12.559 --> 00:42:13.119
National treasure.

00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:13.840
Brennan Fraser.

00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:14.800
Brennan Fraser, yeah.

00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:16.159
Here's the mummy for.

00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:23.199
That has been so I really, really hope everything I'm hearing is true.

00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:25.519
With Oded Fair coming back?

00:42:25.679 --> 00:42:26.880
He fucking better.

00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:29.360
He's so dreamy.

00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:34.639
If you haven't seen The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, then you haven't listened to other ones where we've talked it up.

00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:41.039
So anyways, Hazel remembered how her mother tried to keep the dust out when she was growing up.

00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:46.400
She said, quote, mom said she had every crack stuff with rags and she would wet them down.

00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:51.440
She'd hang sheets over everything where dust might come in, but it didn't keep it out.

00:42:51.519 --> 00:42:53.679
It would come in somewhere, end quote.

00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:54.079
Sure.

00:42:54.239 --> 00:42:58.000
And it always came in somewhere.

00:42:58.159 --> 00:42:58.480
Yep.

00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:02.800
It sifted down from the ceilings, it rose through the floorboards.

00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:08.239
You could see it drifting in lamplight like smoke from a fire that never quite went out.

00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:08.960
Jesus.

00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:16.079
Women swept until their backs ached, which if you know, you know it doesn't take long for your back to ache after that.

00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:18.880
They wiped down tables again and again.

00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:22.880
They cooked their meals under under blankets.

00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:23.679
Oh my god.

00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:24.159
Fuck.

00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:26.719
Flour was mixed with grit.

00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:29.360
Coffee tasted like soil.

00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:40.320
If you were to spoon beans from a from a bowl, there would always be like this layer of brown that settled um underneath.

00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:41.599
Oh, it's so gross.

00:43:41.840 --> 00:43:47.760
Children stopped playing outside, their throats started burning, their eyes watered constantly.

00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:51.679
Um, many developed hacking coughs that would linger for weeks.

00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:52.239
Sure.

00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:54.639
Some coughed until their ribs hurt.

00:43:54.800 --> 00:43:55.840
Have you ever had that?

00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:57.039
It's painful.

00:43:57.920 --> 00:43:59.679
Excuse me, it's it's the fucking.

00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:00.960
Worst.

00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:02.239
I hate that shit.

00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:05.440
Doctors began using a new phrase.

00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:07.519
Dust pneumonia.

00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:10.400
It wasn't a cold, it wasn't bronchitis.

00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:11.360
It was dust.

00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:16.880
It was lungs overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fine particles inhaled day after day.

00:44:17.119 --> 00:44:17.760
Well, that's the thing.

00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:19.679
You can't have so much dust in your lungs.

00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:24.000
You can't, I mean, you shouldn't have any, honestly, but it's like mesothelioma.

00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:25.039
What is it called?

00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:26.480
Mesothelioma.

00:44:26.639 --> 00:44:27.199
Is that what it is?

00:44:27.440 --> 00:44:28.400
Fuck up, I know.

00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:36.239
Parents would lay awake at night listening, listening for the sound of a cough from their kids.

00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:39.920
Um, a cough that might sound deeper than the rest.

00:44:40.239 --> 00:44:44.400
Um, listening for that moment when that irritation might become something worse.

00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:46.239
Wow, that's wild.

00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:49.360
Obviously, livestock fared no better.

00:44:49.599 --> 00:44:57.920
Cattles would turn, turn their backs to the wind, standing motionless for hours as dirt packed into their little nostrils.

00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:04.480
Sheep suffocated in drifts, chicken were found dead beneath layers of dust that had filled their coops.

00:45:05.199 --> 00:45:14.400
And some mornings, farmers walked out into the fields and found that calves were half buried where they had laid down the night before, having never risen again.

00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:15.440
That's crazy.

00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:18.000
Oh, it breaks my heart.

00:45:18.320 --> 00:45:23.920
Um, the economic strain tightened alongside this environmental one.

00:45:24.079 --> 00:45:27.599
So wheat prices, like I said, had collapsed after World War I.

00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:28.480
Yep, yep, yep.

00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:32.000
And as you said earlier, now we are in the Great Depression.

00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:33.679
Which does not make things better.

00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:37.039
Banks had failed and credit disappeared.

00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:40.800
Farm mortgages came due, whether crops grew or not.

00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:47.280
Families had borrowed money during the boom years, now found themselves unable to make these payments.

00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:47.760
Yep.

00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:50.079
Um, sheriff sales were common.

00:45:50.159 --> 00:46:00.639
Um, auction notices were were um tacked offense posts, entire farmsteads sold off for fractions of the the cost.

00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:01.199
Yep.

00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:04.480
And many people kept planting.

00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:09.760
Because they didn't know better and they they thought they had to, because this is hey, we need to make money.

00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:11.679
So this is what we gotta do.

00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:13.199
We gotta let's do it.

00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:13.519
Yeah.

00:46:13.760 --> 00:46:14.320
They didn't know.

00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:15.440
Yeah, they didn't.

00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:18.639
It sounds irrational from this distance, obviously.

00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:20.639
But from inside it, it made moved.

00:46:20.800 --> 00:46:22.960
Yeah, and it made desperate sense to them.

00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:25.519
If you didn't plant, you literally had no chance at all.

00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:32.159
It's like if you wake up in the middle of the night and you're like, I should get up, but if I get up, then I have zero chance of falling back to sleep.

00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:32.960
What?

00:46:33.519 --> 00:46:33.840
What?

00:46:34.559 --> 00:46:35.440
Like I did.

00:46:36.719 --> 00:46:37.199
What?

00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:38.000
Like I did.

00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:40.000
What what happened with you?

00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:50.000
There are times, for some reason, I'll wake up and be like, all right, time to go to the work.

00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:51.039
Time to go to work.

00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:51.599
Oh no.

00:46:51.840 --> 00:46:54.639
And Sarah will be like, Brad, what are you doing?

00:46:54.880 --> 00:46:55.679
Like, I gotta go to work.

00:46:55.920 --> 00:46:57.360
Like, no, it's 11:30.

00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:00.960
Like, I've been asleep for two fucking hours, two and a half hours.

00:47:01.599 --> 00:47:02.880
Yesterday.

00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:04.800
Yeah.

00:47:05.280 --> 00:47:11.679
I did that Thursday night, but then she didn't catch me the second time when I woke up in the same night.

00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:17.599
In the same night, but a couple hours later, I woke up, I think it was 1.10, if I'm not mistaken.

00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:18.400
Oh no.

00:47:18.639 --> 00:47:27.760
Got up, turned the shower on, started getting my stuff ready, and I'm like, I get showered and everything, and I'm like You're already showered.

00:47:28.159 --> 00:47:30.239
Oh, it's 1.30.

00:47:31.199 --> 00:47:32.320
What the fuck?

00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:34.000
So I just went to work.

00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:39.440
That's the one nicest thing about my job is I mean You can just go in.

00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:41.440
Minus the one that wasn't open.

00:47:41.760 --> 00:47:43.760
Because it was so fucking early.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:44.960
Anyways, yes.

00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:45.519
So anyways.

00:47:45.840 --> 00:47:51.679
But yeah, it's like if you if you don't plant crops, then 100% you're not gonna grow crops.

00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:57.599
No, so they they did this because hey, we need to make money.

00:47:58.159 --> 00:48:04.400
So we gotta plant this shit, whether it's dusty or not, let's fucking do it.

00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:05.519
They didn't know.

00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:10.880
They didn't know, they didn't know, like, hey, we should probably get some irrigation going on up in this bitch.

00:48:11.199 --> 00:48:26.480
So if the rain came after they planted, you know, even once, maybe they could salvage something, something, maybe they could make a payment, maybe they could hold on for a near, so they plowed again, breaking up this little grass that had tried to return.

00:48:26.559 --> 00:48:26.800
Yeah.

00:48:26.960 --> 00:48:29.840
And when the wind came, the more it took.

00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:35.440
So by 1934, the storms were growing more frequent and more intense.

00:48:35.920 --> 00:48:38.239
So I don't know if you get into this.

00:48:38.639 --> 00:48:40.400
Sorry if you don't.

00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.840
Do they have an explanation why these storms were so prevalent at this time?

00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:58.079
So the wind is gonna come no matter what year you're which I get, but it just seems all about that grass being taken out and that soil being you go there a hundred years ago, you go there today.

00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:04.400
It's roughly the same, but obviously now there's irrigation and so on and such whatever.

00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:05.199
Yeah.

00:49:05.440 --> 00:49:08.960
It's just that's what the climate is in this region.

00:49:09.760 --> 00:49:14.239
Literally, the only reason why it was so bad was because they removed the grasses.

00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:14.960
Yeah, yeah.

00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:18.559
Of all the over farming at that time.

00:49:18.719 --> 00:49:18.880
Yeah.

00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:19.199
Yeah.

00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:19.679
Yeah.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:29.519
Over over farming might not be the proper term, but it's over farming under fucking um irrigation, properly doing it.

00:49:29.679 --> 00:49:29.840
Right.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:30.320
If you will.

00:49:30.559 --> 00:49:32.480
It was very topical, very yeah.

00:49:32.639 --> 00:49:32.880
Yeah.

00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:33.360
Yeah.

00:49:34.159 --> 00:49:39.679
So the number of black blizzards, as they were called, increased dramatically.

00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:40.239
Yeah.

00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:46.079
In some towns, visibility dropped to zero dozens of times in a single year.

00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:53.519
There were days when drivers stopped in the middle of roads because it because they couldn't see the hood in their of their own car.

00:49:53.840 --> 00:49:54.320
Jesus.

00:49:54.559 --> 00:49:59.119
More than one accident occurred when vehicles simply ran into each other in the darkness.

00:50:00.559 --> 00:50:02.800
Electricity flickered and died.

00:50:03.039 --> 00:50:11.039
Many people actually died of um CO2 poisoning in their homes because all they had was kerosene lamps.

00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:11.519
Yeah.

00:50:12.559 --> 00:50:12.800
Yeah.

00:50:12.960 --> 00:50:13.760
Oh, that makes sense.

00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:20.800
Um, static would build up in the air so strongly that people re reported small shocks every time they had to touch something metal.

00:50:21.119 --> 00:50:22.159
So you see the lightning?

00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:24.159
That's fucking weird.

00:50:24.320 --> 00:50:25.039
Have you ever done that?

00:50:25.280 --> 00:50:25.519
Yes.

00:50:25.599 --> 00:50:25.840
Yeah.

00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:26.639
It's crazy.

00:50:26.800 --> 00:50:30.960
Um, at work at the chiropractor, I'm shocking people constantly.

00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:33.199
It's just with your talents.

00:50:34.639 --> 00:50:35.440
Oh, yeah.

00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:36.639
I'm gonna keep going.

00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:38.639
I'm not gonna even say what I was gonna say.

00:50:38.960 --> 00:50:45.360
Some said their radios cracked with um interference even when switched off.

00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:49.920
Because the it would create electricity to it.

00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:50.320
Yes.

00:50:50.559 --> 00:50:51.760
Wow, that's crazy.

00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:52.480
Really?

00:50:52.719 --> 00:50:54.079
That's fucking wild.

00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:58.320
By early 1935, people were exhausted.

00:50:58.480 --> 00:51:06.559
They had learned to recognize the subtle signals, the way the air felt before a storm, the faint shift in light.

00:51:06.719 --> 00:51:08.800
Um, they have developed routines.

00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:12.559
Close windows, wet sheets, gather children, cover mouth, whatever.

00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:13.679
Close your eyes.

00:51:13.920 --> 00:51:20.239
In early 1935, Hazel's infant daughter at this time, oh boy, Ruth Nell.

00:51:20.559 --> 00:51:22.559
Ruth Nell became ill.

00:51:22.800 --> 00:51:24.079
Little Ruthie became ill.

00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:25.599
Oh, not Ruthie.

00:51:25.840 --> 00:51:28.960
The air was thick with suspended soil.

00:51:29.599 --> 00:51:32.880
Indoors, the dust still hung like smoke.

00:51:33.199 --> 00:51:38.239
Hazel tried to seal the windows, dampen sheets, protect her child from the storms.

00:51:38.800 --> 00:51:44.400
But as I've already mentioned in great detail, this my apologies.

00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:46.320
No, don't apologize.

00:51:46.400 --> 00:51:47.280
That was amazing.

00:51:47.519 --> 00:51:50.719
The storm never stayed in outside.

00:51:50.960 --> 00:51:53.440
No, it it got through the cracks.

00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:56.559
Little Ruth Nell died of dust pneumonia.

00:51:56.800 --> 00:51:57.280
Oh, sad.

00:51:57.760 --> 00:52:01.440
Within hours, Hazel's grandmother.

00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:07.679
Oh shit, Grandma Lou also died two generations in this same small stretch of time.

00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:08.960
God, that's sad.

00:52:09.199 --> 00:52:10.159
That's too bad.

00:52:10.400 --> 00:52:15.440
And then I'm not trying to make light of the grandmother dying.

00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:16.559
Terrible.

00:52:17.519 --> 00:52:18.320
She lived her life.

00:52:18.559 --> 00:52:19.360
She lived her life.

00:52:19.440 --> 00:52:22.400
She lived the majority of her life, we'll say.

00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:24.639
But the baby had no fucking shot.

00:52:25.039 --> 00:52:26.239
That is fucking depressing.

00:52:26.400 --> 00:52:26.559
Yeah.

00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:28.000
Because you don't like to hear that.

00:52:28.480 --> 00:52:29.280
That is sad.

00:52:29.760 --> 00:52:33.199
So then on April 14th, the rains came.

00:52:33.519 --> 00:52:34.559
1935.

00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:35.760
The rains came.

00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:38.320
After years of drought and dust.

00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:39.360
The rains came.

00:52:39.519 --> 00:52:41.920
The morning dawned clear.

00:52:44.159 --> 00:52:48.000
The sky was blue in a way that it hadn't been in so long.

00:52:48.480 --> 00:52:49.199
The birds were chilling.

00:52:49.840 --> 00:52:50.400
Yes, exactly.

00:52:50.480 --> 00:52:52.239
There's songs that were sung.

00:52:53.280 --> 00:52:54.480
Lyrics were written.

00:52:54.719 --> 00:52:57.280
Hallelujah's echo through the heavens.

00:52:59.280 --> 00:52:59.679
Exactly.

00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:03.440
The air felt gentle.

00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:05.440
Do you know why I said it that way?

00:53:05.679 --> 00:53:06.000
No.

00:53:07.760 --> 00:53:09.679
Nicholas Cajun gone in 60 seconds.

00:53:09.920 --> 00:53:10.480
Said that.

00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:12.079
And he says part.

00:53:12.480 --> 00:53:14.079
It's like, don't you mean part?

00:53:14.559 --> 00:53:15.119
Anyways.

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:21.679
People stepped outside cautiously as if testing whether it was safe to trust what they were what they saw.

00:53:22.559 --> 00:53:25.039
It was like, how are we being duped today?

00:53:25.599 --> 00:53:29.599
So people would take out their rugs and like and shook them out.

00:53:29.840 --> 00:53:30.159
Yeah.

00:53:30.400 --> 00:53:33.360
Some open windows to let the clean air in.

00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:36.000
What does this sound like to you?

00:53:37.199 --> 00:53:46.800
As in an episode that we have done, where all of a sudden weather has been shit, then all of a sudden we've got a clear day.

00:53:47.119 --> 00:53:49.280
Sounds like the the children's blizzard.

00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:50.960
Blizzard of 1885.

00:53:51.039 --> 00:53:54.000
If you want to look that up, people, it's episode number 37.

00:53:54.239 --> 00:53:58.320
It is called Unreasonably Warm because I couldn't say unseasonably at the time.

00:53:58.960 --> 00:54:04.400
So for a few hours, there was a reprieve.

00:54:04.880 --> 00:54:05.760
Just a few hours.

00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:08.079
But just like the blizzard of 1888.

00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:10.079
It comes back with a fucking vengeance.

00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:11.760
With a vengeance.

00:54:12.239 --> 00:54:15.280
That morning dawned cleared and blue.

00:54:15.679 --> 00:54:20.159
The sky looked innocent, and laser would hazel.

00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:21.519
Did I say laser?

00:54:21.840 --> 00:54:23.039
You fucking did.

00:54:26.400 --> 00:54:28.960
Laser, laser, taser.

00:54:29.599 --> 00:54:31.280
Sounds like we're in fucking dodgeball.

00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:34.000
Hazel laser.

00:54:34.159 --> 00:54:34.320
No.

00:54:34.639 --> 00:54:38.079
Would later remember how that day felt.

00:54:38.400 --> 00:54:42.320
She was preparing for a double funeral.

00:54:43.199 --> 00:54:45.119
I'm glad you didn't say homicide.

00:54:45.519 --> 00:54:50.000
The procession carrying her grandmother's body left Boise City.

00:54:50.320 --> 00:54:58.320
Hazel and her husband Charles stayed behind, unwilling to leave their baby's body unattended.

00:54:58.639 --> 00:54:58.880
Okay.

00:54:59.360 --> 00:55:01.199
Because the wolves, am I right?

00:55:01.360 --> 00:55:01.679
We don't know.

00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:02.480
Coyotes.

00:55:02.880 --> 00:55:09.920
No one yet knew that what was forming to the north would become a storm that everyone would remember.

00:55:10.079 --> 00:55:10.559
Oh dear.

00:55:10.719 --> 00:55:14.400
And everyone would end up calling Black Sunday.

00:55:14.960 --> 00:55:16.880
Black Sunday, okay.

00:55:17.199 --> 00:55:20.000
It would feel different from anything else before.

00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:24.639
The air began to change around noon, just like in the blizzard of 1888.

00:55:24.719 --> 00:55:25.599
It was around noon.

00:55:25.840 --> 00:55:28.079
And then it's funny you said 1888 there.

00:55:28.159 --> 00:55:29.519
You said 1885 earlier.

00:55:29.920 --> 00:55:30.719
Sorry, 88.

00:55:30.800 --> 00:55:31.519
It's 1888.

00:55:31.840 --> 00:55:32.000
I know.

00:55:32.079 --> 00:55:34.559
And I was gonna correct you, but I'm like, I don't I hope I'm not wrong.

00:55:34.800 --> 00:55:36.960
No, you're no that yeah, it's 88.

00:55:37.599 --> 00:55:44.159
Um, and no one could have predicted exactly what was coming, but many felt that something bad was coming.

00:55:44.400 --> 00:55:46.559
They they felt it was an ominous thing.

00:55:46.800 --> 00:55:51.440
Yeah, um, there was a subtle shift in pressure, a faint coolness.

00:55:51.599 --> 00:56:03.119
Um, and along the northern horizon, excuse me, along the northern horizon, the sky darkened in a way that did not resemble the norm.

00:56:03.440 --> 00:56:04.000
The norm.

00:56:04.159 --> 00:56:05.199
Well, their norm.

00:56:05.840 --> 00:56:06.639
You know what I mean.

00:56:06.880 --> 00:56:12.559
It was thicker than that, it was more solid, as though something immense had risen from the earth itself.

00:56:12.719 --> 00:56:19.519
The line on the horizon was too straight, too dense to ignore, and then it began to move.

00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:20.880
Fucking hell.

00:56:21.119 --> 00:56:23.840
And on that note, I have to pee.

00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:26.800
We'll be right back.

00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:30.480
And we're back.

00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:32.639
Do you feel relieved?

00:56:32.960 --> 00:56:33.599
I do.

00:56:33.920 --> 00:56:35.519
Are you not entertained?

00:56:35.840 --> 00:56:41.119
So, what rolled south that afternoon was not simply another dust storm.

00:56:41.360 --> 00:56:41.679
Yes.

00:56:41.920 --> 00:56:43.199
It was a wall.

00:56:44.320 --> 00:56:45.360
Oh, fuck.

00:56:45.840 --> 00:56:47.119
Say it low.

00:56:48.079 --> 00:56:48.559
Fuck.

00:56:48.719 --> 00:56:50.079
No, I meant the wall.

00:56:50.320 --> 00:56:50.639
Oh.

00:56:51.519 --> 00:56:52.320
The wall.

00:56:54.639 --> 00:56:55.760
No, not good.

00:56:56.079 --> 00:56:57.039
The club.

00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:01.039
The clock.

00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:10.239
Witnesses would later say that it looked like a mountain range advancing towards them or like an ocean wave suspended in the sky.

00:57:10.400 --> 00:57:20.719
I know exactly what they're talking about because sometimes when I go into work, I go to the east, which is towards Lake Michigan, and you can see clouds on the horizon, and it literally looks like mountains.

00:57:20.960 --> 00:57:21.599
It's crazy.

00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:22.159
Yeah.

00:57:23.440 --> 00:57:32.880
So the wind hit first, sharp and cold, carrying a low roar that built into something mechanical in force.

00:57:33.199 --> 00:57:40.880
Within minutes, the blue sky had um offered just shattered hope.

00:57:41.360 --> 00:57:47.599
That disappeared between like this towering curtain of soil.

00:57:47.840 --> 00:57:48.079
Yeah.

00:57:48.320 --> 00:57:52.400
Daylight collapsed into nightness, darkness, and nightness.

00:57:52.639 --> 00:57:58.960
Nightness and gonna just drive on past.

00:57:59.599 --> 00:58:01.440
We can't let that one go.

00:58:02.400 --> 00:58:05.039
Daylight turned into nightness.

00:58:10.800 --> 00:58:13.519
Black Sunday overtook everything.

00:58:13.840 --> 00:58:16.880
Men shouted shouted to their children to get inside.

00:58:16.960 --> 00:58:20.960
Women slammed doors and plus pressed blankets up against the windows.

00:58:21.280 --> 00:58:24.239
Cars were abandoned alongside roads.

00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:29.280
Um, and that was that wasn't even the start of it.

00:58:29.599 --> 00:58:32.000
Because then the dirt came.

00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:33.119
Oh fuck.

00:58:33.519 --> 00:58:42.719
So it slammed against houses in sheets and surged over rooftops and the roof rooftops.

00:58:43.039 --> 00:58:44.480
Who's rooftop?

00:58:45.280 --> 00:58:45.920
Hey, Mrs.

00:58:46.079 --> 00:58:48.320
Ruthtop, we're ready for the CU now.

00:58:48.880 --> 00:58:55.360
It forced its way into chimneys and through cracks that had already been packed tight with rags.

00:58:55.599 --> 00:58:55.760
Yep.

00:58:55.920 --> 00:58:58.480
And newspaper from previous storms.

00:58:58.639 --> 00:59:04.000
The wind howled with such force that it seemed to vibrate through the walls and the floorboards.

00:59:04.239 --> 00:59:09.599
Inside homes, the air grew so thick that even lamp light struggled to cut through it.

00:59:09.840 --> 00:59:11.280
It's fucking wild.

00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:16.800
Dust scratched your throats and filled your nostrils.

00:59:17.119 --> 00:59:23.599
Handkerchiefs were tied across faces, and claws, wet claws were pressed against mouths.

00:59:23.840 --> 00:59:32.639
And in certain towns, the darkness lasted for hours, so complete that neighbors could not see one another across the narrow streets.

00:59:32.880 --> 00:59:34.000
So they can go.

00:59:34.480 --> 00:59:35.599
I'm still alive.

00:59:35.920 --> 00:59:37.039
Oh, that too.

00:59:37.280 --> 00:59:43.679
The storm lingered until evening, merging into night as if the day had never even existed at all.

00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:47.360
Yeah, it's probably like cool, another night.

00:59:47.599 --> 00:59:48.239
Yeah.

00:59:48.480 --> 00:59:52.719
So outside, sand and soil drifted deep against fences and buildings.

00:59:52.880 --> 00:59:59.039
In low-lying areas, a machinery and equipment were half buried by the time the wind began to weaken.

00:59:59.760 --> 01:00:05.519
It was not the first storm that these communities had endured, obviously, but something about this one was a little different.

01:00:05.760 --> 01:00:17.360
The earlier storms had been terrifying, but this was heavier, broader, darker, and less like an isolated event and more like a declaration of destruction.

01:00:17.599 --> 01:00:17.920
Yeah.

01:00:18.159 --> 01:00:28.960
So when it finally passed and the sky lightened to a dull exhausted gray, people stepped outside into a world that looked completely rearranged.

01:00:29.760 --> 01:00:41.199
Fence posts protruded awkwardly from fresh, fresh drifts, fields lay flattened until um into smooth wind sculpted structures.

01:00:41.519 --> 01:00:42.239
That's wild.

01:00:42.480 --> 01:00:43.280
That's crazy.

01:00:43.679 --> 01:00:51.280
Dirt pressed thick against doorways, forcing families to have to dig themselves out before they can fully re-enter the world.

01:00:51.599 --> 01:00:53.599
It's kind of like when you see blizzards.

01:00:53.840 --> 01:00:54.239
Yes.

01:00:54.480 --> 01:00:59.119
You know, and and and someone shows them opening a door and the fucking snow is halfway up.

01:00:59.360 --> 01:00:59.679
Exactly.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:00.639
Same fucking thing.

01:01:00.800 --> 01:01:00.960
Yeah.

01:01:01.199 --> 01:01:02.320
That's fucking crazy.

01:01:02.639 --> 01:01:10.480
And the physical damage was damage was obvious, but the emotional damage was also really hard to measure.

01:01:10.719 --> 01:01:11.199
Right.

01:01:11.440 --> 01:01:23.039
Before that day, Manny had still believed that the dry the drought might break at any moment, that the storms were temporary interruption in this like grander cycle of years.

01:01:23.199 --> 01:01:23.440
Yeah.

01:01:23.679 --> 01:01:27.679
And after Black Sunday, that belief thinned.

01:01:28.000 --> 01:01:29.599
Well, I would hope so.

01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:34.400
Conversations around the kitchen table had begun to change.

01:01:34.719 --> 01:01:40.719
Families calculated what they could sell and how far a tank of gas could take them.

01:01:41.519 --> 01:01:51.840
Others resolved just as quietly to stay and endure planting again when they could and attending meetings about new soil conservation methods.

01:01:52.239 --> 01:01:56.400
Well, I mean, that's a start because they fucking needed it, obviously, but damn.

01:01:56.559 --> 01:01:56.880
All right.

01:01:57.199 --> 01:02:00.559
Of course, the storms did not stop after that afternoon.

01:02:00.800 --> 01:02:05.039
They continued through the spring and into the the heat of 1936.

01:02:05.360 --> 01:02:05.760
Jesus.

01:02:06.000 --> 01:02:10.880
When temperatures soared and the land seemed to just bake underneath them.

01:02:11.280 --> 01:02:12.880
That sounds terrible.

01:02:13.199 --> 01:02:21.519
But April 14th, 1935, remained fixed in memory as the day the sky had fallen.

01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:27.920
The moment where when hope and fear collided under this wall of earth.

01:02:28.239 --> 01:02:29.519
Is that a tax day?

01:02:29.760 --> 01:02:30.079
No.

01:02:31.679 --> 01:02:33.280
No, I think it's the 15th, isn't it?

01:02:33.440 --> 01:02:34.079
That's what you said.

01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:35.199
April 14th.

01:02:35.280 --> 01:02:37.360
Was that was that Titanic Day?

01:02:37.760 --> 01:02:38.400
12th.

01:02:38.639 --> 01:02:38.960
Was it?

01:02:39.199 --> 01:02:40.400
I believe the 12th is right.

01:02:40.639 --> 01:02:45.199
From then on, every clear morning carried an age, an edge of uncertainty.

01:02:45.360 --> 01:02:49.119
Each breeze was measured, measured, and watched and interpreted.

01:02:49.360 --> 01:02:55.920
And people stepped outside carefully as if the world might suddenly be unstable beneath their feet.

01:02:56.079 --> 01:02:59.920
Um, the landscape looked stripped down to its bones.

01:03:00.320 --> 01:03:06.559
Fields that had once shown the faint promise of recovery were now scoured flat again.

01:03:06.960 --> 01:03:11.599
Their topsoil scattered into long, uneven drifts.

01:03:11.840 --> 01:03:12.639
That's crazy.

01:03:12.880 --> 01:03:19.519
Inside homes, the cleanup began the way it always did, slowly, methodically, almost ritualistically.

01:03:19.920 --> 01:03:20.480
Exactly.

01:03:20.719 --> 01:03:27.440
You could clean for hours and still see it floating in the air when they shaft a sunlight across the room.

01:03:27.679 --> 01:03:28.320
That's crazy.

01:03:28.480 --> 01:03:34.320
And while the dust could be drip brushed off a table, it could not be brushed out of the lungs.

01:03:35.280 --> 01:03:38.880
Doctors across the plains were already overwhelmed.

01:03:39.119 --> 01:03:45.360
But after Black Sunday, the number of respiratory cases climbed sharply.

01:03:45.679 --> 01:03:47.039
I'm sure it was exponential.

01:03:47.119 --> 01:03:47.360
Yeah.

01:03:47.599 --> 01:03:49.199
Children coughed through the night.

01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:53.920
Elderly farmers struggled to draw breath even after short walks outside.

01:03:54.079 --> 01:03:54.320
Yep.

01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:58.559
Dust pneumonia became a phrase people understood without needing explanation.

01:03:58.880 --> 01:03:59.280
Crazy.

01:03:59.360 --> 01:04:04.159
Um, a cough that didn't go away, a fever that lingered, tightness in the chest.

01:04:04.639 --> 01:04:05.920
All serious.

01:04:06.159 --> 01:04:11.519
In some towns, um, makeshift clinics were set up in church basements or school houses.

01:04:11.760 --> 01:04:12.719
Yeah, that makes sense.

01:04:13.039 --> 01:04:15.440
Nurses worked with limited supplies.

01:04:15.760 --> 01:04:16.239
Of course.

01:04:16.559 --> 01:04:20.880
They obviously advise families to keep doing what they're doing.

01:04:21.119 --> 01:04:23.920
Windows closed, dampened sheets, etc., etc.

01:04:24.159 --> 01:04:24.639
Yep.

01:04:25.039 --> 01:04:29.840
Medicine could treat symptoms, but not stop the wind.

01:04:30.159 --> 01:04:31.840
You can't stop Mother Nature.

01:04:32.079 --> 01:04:34.079
She's gonna keep fucking pounding your ass.

01:04:34.400 --> 01:04:36.880
And there's still the economic pressure.

01:04:37.199 --> 01:04:39.039
Correct, because they have all these bills.

01:04:39.360 --> 01:04:43.920
Banks were failing across the country as the Great Depression deepened.

01:04:44.079 --> 01:04:44.400
Correct.

01:04:44.559 --> 01:04:47.440
And rural communities felt it immediately.

01:04:47.599 --> 01:04:47.840
Yep.

01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:54.559
A farmer who had managed to scrape together a partial payment might find his bank closed the very next week.

01:04:54.719 --> 01:04:55.039
Yeah.

01:04:55.280 --> 01:05:05.199
Foreclosures increased, auction notices appeared nailed to posts along dirt roads, entire farms were sold in a single day.

01:05:05.360 --> 01:05:05.760
Yep.

01:05:06.000 --> 01:05:16.559
Um, but sometimes neighbors would would buy their neighbors' items at such low cost in hope that that family could buy them back.

01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:17.119
Right.

01:05:17.360 --> 01:05:23.440
Like that's genuine community and friendship, and just that's awesome.

01:05:23.760 --> 01:05:25.519
You know, something we don't have these days.

01:05:25.840 --> 01:05:26.960
Solidarity, yeah.

01:05:27.119 --> 01:05:28.079
Yeah, it's sad.

01:05:28.320 --> 01:05:33.760
By late 1935 and into 1936, the pattern became brutally familiar.

01:05:34.079 --> 01:05:34.480
Sure.

01:05:34.639 --> 01:05:38.719
Um, a brief stretch of calm would allow more planting.

01:05:39.119 --> 01:05:48.800
Um, sh green shoots might break through the soil, then the wind would return, and sometimes paired with this record-breaking heat at the same time.

01:05:50.239 --> 01:05:53.679
The summer of 1936 was one of the hottest in American history.

01:05:53.920 --> 01:05:54.480
Seriously?

01:05:54.639 --> 01:05:55.519
Jesus Christ.

01:05:55.840 --> 01:05:59.760
Temperatures climbed over a hundred degrees and held there for days at a time.

01:06:00.719 --> 01:06:05.039
Crops that had survived the dust would bolt under the sun.

01:06:05.199 --> 01:06:05.679
Yep.

01:06:06.000 --> 01:06:11.039
And the soil dried further, becoming finer and easier to lift.

01:06:12.159 --> 01:06:14.719
Night brought very little relief.

01:06:14.880 --> 01:06:17.440
Um, the houses trapped the day's heat.

01:06:17.599 --> 01:06:22.880
Families lay awake listening to coughing and the wind, scraping along the sides of the building.

01:06:23.119 --> 01:06:27.679
Psychologically, the exhaustion began to settle into something much deeper.

01:06:28.000 --> 01:06:28.559
No shit.

01:06:28.800 --> 01:06:42.800
It was difficult to describe what it does to a person living in this prolonged uncertainty to wake each morning unsure whether their sky would remain clear or collapse into darkness by afternoon.

01:06:43.039 --> 01:06:45.119
Or if their lungs were fucking empty.

01:06:45.440 --> 01:06:46.079
Exactly.

01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:50.719
So families would stop making long-term plans.

01:06:51.039 --> 01:06:53.760
Why would why wouldn't why would you make long-term plans?

01:06:53.840 --> 01:06:54.159
Seriously.

01:06:54.639 --> 01:06:56.960
Purchases were delayed indefinitely.

01:06:57.119 --> 01:07:02.559
Gardens went unplanted because they would there was no guarantee that they would survive even a week.

01:07:03.440 --> 01:07:08.880
Children grew up measuring time not by holidays or birthdays, but by storms.

01:07:09.119 --> 01:07:15.199
They would say, quote, before the big buster, or quote, after the last black blizzard.

01:07:15.599 --> 01:07:15.920
Jesus.

01:07:16.400 --> 01:07:21.280
Their memories would form around these weather events rather than milestones.

01:07:21.519 --> 01:07:21.920
Sure.

01:07:22.480 --> 01:07:24.559
But yet life continued.

01:07:24.800 --> 01:07:27.280
Schools kept opening each fall.

01:07:27.360 --> 01:07:27.679
Yep.

01:07:27.760 --> 01:07:30.960
Um, even students would arrive covered in dust.

01:07:31.119 --> 01:07:32.880
Churches still held services.

01:07:33.280 --> 01:07:34.559
That's the thing about the human race.

01:07:34.719 --> 01:07:38.880
We are fucking resilient, even with all these trials and tribulations.

01:07:39.119 --> 01:07:42.320
I mean, you gotta keep going.

01:07:43.199 --> 01:07:46.960
Women canned what little produce they could salvage.

01:07:47.280 --> 01:07:59.280
Men started attending meetings about new farming methods, listening to talk of contour plowing and soil conservation, even though it was kind of met with skepticism.

01:07:59.679 --> 01:08:00.960
Because they knew what they knew.

01:08:01.039 --> 01:08:01.280
Yep.

01:08:01.440 --> 01:08:02.239
They're like, eh.

01:08:03.119 --> 01:08:07.920
In 1935, the federal government began responding more directly.

01:08:08.000 --> 01:08:11.519
Um, soil conservation programs were finally introduced.

01:08:11.679 --> 01:08:11.920
Sure.

01:08:12.079 --> 01:08:19.199
Farmers were encouraged to plant cover crops and leave certain fields unsown to allow grass to return.

01:08:19.359 --> 01:08:19.760
Yeah.

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:31.920
And most famously, um, FDR, who was president at the time, launched the Shelter Belt Project, um, which was over 2,000 miles of windbreaks.

01:08:32.560 --> 01:08:40.239
They would build um lines of trees as a windbreaker.

01:08:40.640 --> 01:08:41.279
Yeah.

01:08:41.680 --> 01:08:55.520
In the mid-1930s, um, crews and volunteer farmers planted more than 200 million trees from North Dakota to Texas fighting the wind directly.

01:08:55.840 --> 01:08:56.239
Sure.

01:08:56.479 --> 01:09:02.479
Those belts may never fully hold back a storm, but they have slowed erosion ever since.

01:09:02.800 --> 01:09:04.800
Well, yeah, that makes sense.

01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:07.359
They're not gonna stop it completely, but it's gonna help.

01:09:07.600 --> 01:09:08.640
It's gonna help a lot.

01:09:08.960 --> 01:09:09.359
For sure.

01:09:09.680 --> 01:09:14.800
For others, it did offer more of a thin ray of hope.

01:09:14.880 --> 01:09:18.800
Um, but government programs did not immediately change their daily life.

01:09:18.960 --> 01:09:21.039
The wind still blew and the dust still came.

01:09:21.359 --> 01:09:22.239
Of course, of course.

01:09:22.560 --> 01:09:26.720
The difference slowly was that people began to see these small shifts.

01:09:26.880 --> 01:09:27.119
Yeah.

01:09:27.279 --> 01:09:31.760
In areas where new grasses were planted, the soil held slightly better.

01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:32.239
Sure.

01:09:32.479 --> 01:09:37.600
Where contouring plowing was used, erosion less lessened.

01:09:37.760 --> 01:09:42.079
And still by the late 1930s, hundreds of thousands had left the plains.

01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:42.720
Oh, of course.

01:09:46.000 --> 01:09:49.520
You know that not everyone's gonna endure this.

01:09:50.159 --> 01:09:54.239
So, of course, there's gonna be some that leave, obviously.

01:09:54.479 --> 01:09:56.880
So, yeah, agreed.

01:09:57.199 --> 01:10:05.520
Old cars rattled westward along Route 66, loaded with mattresses, tools, children, whatever, whatever they had.

01:10:05.920 --> 01:10:07.840
Mattresses, tools, and children.

01:10:08.560 --> 01:10:11.039
I I guess, yeah, take that kit.

01:10:12.319 --> 01:10:17.840
Those who stayed watched neighbors disappear one by one, houses standing empty behind them.

01:10:18.000 --> 01:10:18.399
Yep.

01:10:18.640 --> 01:10:20.720
Hazel did not leave immediately.

01:10:22.479 --> 01:10:24.000
Her pride had run deep.

01:10:24.159 --> 01:10:25.840
Her family had homesteaded there.

01:10:25.920 --> 01:10:29.199
There they were pioneers, and leaving felt like a surrender.

01:10:29.439 --> 01:10:30.239
Yeah, for sure.

01:10:30.560 --> 01:10:33.760
But eventually, for the health of another child that she had.

01:10:34.000 --> 01:10:34.640
Oh, she did.

01:10:34.720 --> 01:10:34.880
Okay.

01:10:35.279 --> 01:10:41.920
Hazel and Charles relocated east, still within Oklahoma, but not in the panhandle.

01:10:42.000 --> 01:10:42.800
Not in the panhandle.

01:10:42.880 --> 01:10:49.039
They were I mean, technically it's still the panhandle, but it but hopefully they were thinking of more clear skies and stuff like that.

01:10:49.199 --> 01:10:49.359
Yeah.

01:10:49.520 --> 01:10:57.199
I don't think they quite made it there because pretty much all of Oklahoma panhandle was covered in the Dust Bowl.

01:10:57.359 --> 01:10:58.960
But anyways, I digress.

01:10:59.439 --> 01:11:06.239
Even as an old woman, she remembered the shock of black skies and the sound of sand against the windows.

01:11:06.399 --> 01:11:06.720
Yep.

01:11:06.880 --> 01:11:10.399
But her all but her tales also carried a strange pride.

01:11:10.479 --> 01:11:14.640
She said, quote, those were some of the toughest years I've ever had.

01:11:14.800 --> 01:11:19.520
And yet looking back, she confessed she almost missed life in No Man's Land.

01:11:19.840 --> 01:11:20.319
Really?

01:11:20.479 --> 01:11:20.960
Mm-hmm.

01:11:21.359 --> 01:11:21.680
Okay.

01:11:22.079 --> 01:11:26.479
For the families who stayed, survival required new expectations.

01:11:26.640 --> 01:11:32.000
They learned to live smaller, to value a calm day as a victory.

01:11:32.239 --> 01:11:38.960
When rain finally began returning more consistently towards the end of the decade, it did not feel triumphant.

01:11:39.039 --> 01:11:40.720
It felt a little bit more cautious.

01:11:41.439 --> 01:11:44.239
But fields slowly greened.

01:11:44.720 --> 01:11:48.239
The most catastrophic of the storms diminished.

01:11:48.800 --> 01:11:55.760
The sky more often than not stayed blue, but the dust bowl did not simply end and vanish from memory.

01:11:55.920 --> 01:12:01.359
It had reshaped the planes physically, economically, and emotionally.

01:12:01.920 --> 01:12:06.560
It had taught hard lessons about land, climate, and human confidence.

01:12:06.880 --> 01:12:10.960
It had carved into the identity of an entire generation.

01:12:11.359 --> 01:12:12.239
Which is crazy.

01:12:12.399 --> 01:12:16.399
And even when the wind quieted, people still would watch the horizon.

01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:18.079
Because once you have seen the sky.

01:12:19.359 --> 01:12:20.800
How could you just give that up?

01:12:20.960 --> 01:12:21.439
Seriously.

01:12:21.520 --> 01:12:23.359
You're gonna be like, uh fuck.

01:12:24.239 --> 01:12:24.720
Right?

01:12:24.960 --> 01:12:35.039
But because once you have seen that sky turn black at noon, you never quite look at it the same way again.

01:12:35.439 --> 01:12:36.399
There's no way.

01:12:36.880 --> 01:12:40.399
And that is the dirty thirties, the dust bowl.

01:12:41.439 --> 01:12:43.199
It's Wednesday.

01:12:47.840 --> 01:12:49.199
Isn't that awful?

01:12:49.439 --> 01:12:50.960
Yeah, I mean.

01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:53.600
Awful.

01:12:53.920 --> 01:13:04.079
So and again, I don't know if this is party research or whatever, but um obviously irrigation is a huge thing these days.

01:13:04.560 --> 01:13:08.000
That that's ahead of health, right, in that region.

01:13:08.880 --> 01:13:10.479
What is irrigation?

01:13:12.319 --> 01:13:16.800
That's just like putting water where you need it.

01:13:17.039 --> 01:13:19.279
Is it water or is it is it air?

01:13:19.520 --> 01:13:20.319
Like oxygen.

01:13:20.880 --> 01:13:21.359
Water.

01:13:21.680 --> 01:13:22.159
Is it?

01:13:22.560 --> 01:13:24.000
Yeah, basically.

01:13:25.119 --> 01:13:37.760
So like irrigation is the supply of water to land or crops to help growth, typically by means of channels.

01:13:38.079 --> 01:13:38.720
Good job.

01:13:39.760 --> 01:13:40.479
It's like I knew.

01:13:40.880 --> 01:13:41.359
You're so smart.

01:13:41.520 --> 01:13:42.640
You're so smart.

01:13:42.880 --> 01:13:44.159
I'm SMRT.

01:13:44.560 --> 01:13:45.520
SMRT.

01:13:46.079 --> 01:13:46.640
Well.

01:13:49.359 --> 01:13:50.560
Alright, buffoons.

01:13:50.720 --> 01:13:52.000
That's it for today's episode.

01:13:52.319 --> 01:13:56.399
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01:13:56.640 --> 01:13:58.800
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01:13:58.960 --> 01:14:03.760
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01:14:04.000 --> 01:14:05.359
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01:14:05.520 --> 01:14:10.239
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01:14:14.800 --> 01:14:17.840
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01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:22.720
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01:14:22.960 --> 01:14:26.319
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