Evening star., 1935-04-17
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LAS ANIMAS, Colo. April 1.-THE
dust belt suddenly ends on the road
that turns west from Lamar, Colo.
1t is like coming out Of tunnel into
an archway of sky.
The stars twinkle to the west; be-
hind, to the east, hangs the pail OF
dust You start swinging up the irri-
gated Valley of the Arkansas, and
thinking of the words of Bill Baker,
back in Boise City, Okla, what this
country needs is water
Baker is the county agent for
Cimarron County. and he calls it
some of the best land in the PAN
handle"
Everything has been scared to a
discouraging lifeless gray. Dust storms
come almost daily. Mostly, the resi-
dents are resigned to them. sustained
by their philosophy that when rain
comes their county will be green
overnight.
"a Years in State.
Baker has lived in Oklahoma 54
years. and for l3 years has been a
county agent. Now he is seeking to
have a huge dam constructed, the
Kenton.
I'VE must have water to grow vege-
tables and produce for our families,
he said.
During the years from 1926 to
1881. the first records were kept. the
rainfall was 19 inches a year. Since
1881 the average has been but IL.
This county is story of the drought.
1t has lost its vegetation, and the dust
storms will last until We can cover
the country again with green. grow
ing things. The land has not been
seriously or permanently hurt"
Again he voiced his faith:
This is the most productive coun-
try in the world. And you will see
it come back overnight"
From Cimarron County north and
south is what appears to be one OF
the worst sections of the drought-dusi
belt seen, on q weeks tour of the
sector. There hardly is green blade
left. Only one day on that weeks
trip was the sun visible. and only
one night could you see the stars.
Barbed wire fences are only dark
lines, jutting UP from what looks like
desert. The roads are only wind
swept streaks of hard-packed ground
shut in by fog Of dust.
Kept Alive by Aid.
Just south of Boise City. near q
dust-blown cemetery, lives j. r
Peters, who has been in the regior
about 20 years. His house is two
room frame building, weathered anc
gray.
"All that is keeping me, and lot
like me, on this land, is the benef1t
payment the Government is making,
he said. I'VE get about 81 an acre
for our wheat lands. I have about
100 acres of land classified as wheat
growing. We haven't had a crop fol
four years.
I've been hanging on because car
make a little money in relief work
besides the wheat checks It's barely
enough to keep me, my wife and two
children going.
"If we move We lose the wheat
money and relief work. Where woulC
we go? The dust seems to be almost
everywhere. We can't get out of it. ;
But r. H. Libbey, who lives only q
few miles away, insists they'll have
to carry me out" before he would
leave.
Dust storms are not uncommon
characteristic of the high dry-farm-
ing region that fans Eastward from
the Rockies, but not of the intensity
or endurance this Spring has seen
The drought, four years long, is
blamed for that. Wheat needs fine
titled soil, and with no vegetation to
hold it, the land blows. No wheat
can grow in the drought.
Several plans have been urged by
erosion experts as control measures
but foremost is listing, which digs deep
burrows across the eroding land. Ter
racing of rolling land, pond and lake
construction and three shelter belts
are other methods to combat the
drought.
A great dust barrier" in Far West
Kansas is being listed now. but fire.
quent busters have made work SO