Evening star., 1935-03-22
Dustst0rns Traced to War,
When Dry Farming Got Start
Haroc and Picturesqueness Rereoted in
Wake of Midwest Phenomenon
Likened to Pompeiim Scenes.

Last year the March winds came and
rolled up billions OF tons of dust and
scattered 1t all over the American
continent and far out TO sea.
Last Summer CroplesS.
No crop grew last Summer, and this
Spring the March wind is sucking
up like water in its funnel these
billions of tons of dust which drift
IN the sky, great brown clouds that
show a bronze sunset all over the
Mississippi Valley. and, then. at some
hidden atmospheric signal. these tons
are released and come sitting down
on a windy day as the high cloud,
urged by some upper current OF the
air. Journeys eastward. Wednesdays
cloud moved from Trinidad. Colo. to
the Mississippi River between sunup
and sundoWn, sitting its yellow, desert
dust as it went
What's the answer? The old-timer,
who has seen small dustStormS in
other dry years. but nothing like these
today. rejects the tree belt as a cure.
In the first place. he thinks trees won't
grow. The old-timer tried to grow
them himself. AS a rugged, home
stealing individual. with a Govern
ment bounty held out TO encourage
him. he failed when he tried to grow
trees. and he feels that what he could
not do as an individual the Govern
men cannot do.
Even If the Government could get
the trees to grow, still the oldtimer
is skeptical. For the dust does not
come from the land where the tree
belt is planned 1t comes from the
high, dry plains further westward,
just under the Rockies. The land
slopes down from this plain, which
lies about 1000 feet above the level
Of the sea, on a rapid sliding incline,
TO less than 800 feet In Eastern Texas,
Oklahoma. Kansas. Missouri and Ne
braska 1t is in the high attitudes,
the highest plains attitudes, that the
trouble starts.
Moreover, the trouble with dust
storms probably will persist as long
as the dry cycle is unbroken. We
are now going into its third year.
/ 1t may run five or seven. 1t may
| close this Spring We have had q
/ dry Winter all over the dry plains,
the trans-Missouri.
! No Immediate Rain.
| Indeed, for the most part, upon
| these Western prairies, lower down
| from the mountains, there seems to
! be no immediate prospect of rain. The
prairies have had dry Winter. The
( whole region is going into a dry
! Spring We may have another
drought stricken Summer. In which
case. trouble, vastly more tragic trou-
BILE than a dustStorm, is waiting for
us ahead.
The answer? There is no answer
except in the eternal residence of
man. He bounces back out of trouble
with an unbelievable energy, with a
faith that moves mountains. And
through it all he laughs.
In an Emporia real estate Office
this sign greets the townspeople
Great bargains in real estate. Bring
your own container." At the peak of
the duststorm, when a particularly
black cloud of dust rolled down Main
street, some one said, Hi, here comes
Pixies Peak" And at the height of it
all, while the inexplicable calamity
was putting its paralyzing hands upon
the orderly processes of life, some one
wrote in dust on the plate-glass WIN
dow of the busted First National Bank
| of high plains town:
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,
the men folks raved and the wimmin
cuSSed; take it, and like it, in God we
trust"
| Copyright. 1895. by North American
! Newspaper Alliance. Incl