The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-17
BY FRANK MNAUGHTON
United Press STAFF Correspondent

By United Press
CLAYTON, N. NJ, April 1T
high, boiled over the horizon on the
every animate and inanimate object
drove here from Felt, Okla,
through a region once called the
Bread Basket of America" The
storm broke suddenly at about 5
p. m. Sunday. Leaving Felt 1 heard
cries of dust storm, dust storm" l
saw men and women and children
running toward their homes. Brave
with inexperience 1 drove on.
Soon the fearsome force was upon
me. Across the horizon the earth
rose into the sky. At the top Of the
dense black wall was weird yellow
fringe. I raced the storm for 80
miles. seeing the ground, like the
troubled surface of a volcanic pool,
rising into the air. 1t caught at me
at the NJ. H. Doerksen ranch.
wheeled into the ranch yard and
stopped six feet from the stout,
tightly built stock barn. Before l
could dash through the doors the
dust hit. 1 spat on my handker-
chief and held it to my nose.
could not see my hand at my face.
The dust was unacceptable. 1t sift-
ed through the double walls Of the
barn and made the air almost un-
breathable. 1t was ike emery dust.
My lungs still ache.
Dust Drifts Rapidly
In the stalls, frightened cattle
beloved and snorted necessarily.
Gradually the first phase Of the
storm passed. opened a door and
after time could see the outline of
the automobile. After two hours
could see the ranch house go feet
away.
In the next few hours the storm
thickened and thinned alternately
several times. Between me and the
sun the dust Streaked over the
plains in sheets. In an interval of
light 1 saw a chickens head pro-
truding from a drift and pulled the
bewildered bird free.
The remainder of the trip to Clay
ton was frightful. While in the
barn two feet of dust had drifted
against the car. Driving was by
instinct. Once I ran into a ditch
that had been filled with dust. An
other time I ran over farmers
mailbox which became visible only
when it was a foot beyond the
radiator cap.
1t is not f1ippancy when say I
had received a taste of what B. A.
Donaldson. L. M Price, Preston
Foreman, G.. E. Stewart and others
told me last week when I visited
Stratford, Tex, west of here, after
a swing from Sayre, Okla, through
the Texas Panhandle towns OF
Amarillo and Dalhart.
Many Have Given Up
1t seems tragically casual to report
that the dust mantle has stif1ed
crops over millions on millions OF
acres in the Southwest. But the
men, who own the land are not
beating their breasts. Many, like
Donaldson, who owns 1000 acres of
land near Stratford, have quit the
fight. Donaldson fought the re-
luctant earth eight years. drought
another two. Two and half
months of dust whipped him.
The damage will never be re-
paired" he said. sweeping his arm
in a wide circle over desolated
wheatfields, stripped of topsoil.
Il couldn't sell my land now E.
I guess I'll just have to lease it and
leave"
G.. E. Stewart, another wheat
rancher, said there's lots of them
talking about leaving, especially
renters-people who couldn't hold
on"
A truck drove by, its wheels kick
ing up clouds of yellow dust. The
driver wore an army gas mask. But
the storm wasn't bad then.
"You can see quarter of mile"
Stewart pointed out.
Stewart said his farm hadn't re-
ceived any appreciate rain since
1881.
It's a Calamity
when business takes a lick at a
man, it's a depression" he said.
When nature does. it's a calamity"
I saw mile after mile of dust
drifted like snow against the fences,
and acre after acre stripped of vege-
tation and topsoil and in places
drifted high with dust.
L. M. Price. president of the
Stratford State Bank, sees only one
chance of salvation. "a deluge Of
rain"
Sherman County, Texas, in 1881,
produced 100000 bushels of wheat.
The crop this year. Price said, will
not make 100000 bushels. Much of
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