Black Sunday Dust Storm

 I was reminded by a post on the Newspaper.com blog page that April 14^th will be the anniversary of the Black Sunday Dust Storm that raged across Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas in 1935. The piece describes many of the experiences of residents of those states during the storm but mostly during the whole depression-era drought.

I commented briefly about droughts in a post here on 29 May 2017 and mentioned effects of the Dust Bowl on migration (Natural Disasters and Family Misfortunes 3: Drought). I have since presented a talk about Drought and Family History at THE Genealogy Show spring event. I hope to share it again in the future.

Newspapers of the time quoted dozens of farmers about the hardships of the drought-stricken lands and the storms in particular. The storm of April 14^th was not the only one that occurred during the drought years, but it was arguably the worst. Storms were all too common in areas where farms had dried up so much that topsoil was being blown away. Once it was gone there was no hope or reason for those that had survived to stay.

View of a dust storm that occurred at Spearman, Texas, on 14 April 1935. The photograph was submitted by the official in charge, Houston, Tex., and was taken by F. W. Brandt, cooperative observer at Spearman, Texas.

The destruction of farms ultimately led to passage of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936. It was a measure adopted to allow the federal government to pay farmers for reducing their production and to conserve soil from being eroded.

As I have pointed out in my presentation about droughts, as well as talks about other natural phenomena, disasters such as storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, epidemics, famine and droughts are all elements of Mother Nature’s arsenal that more than occasionally have impacted people. Recognizing their scope, effects and consequences are important parts constructing family histories.

Droughts, like most natural events can occur in any area, at any time and under any climatic conditions. They can be short-lived or span centuries. The worst of them have resulted in bad to non-existent harvest yields, leading to food shortages and extreme hardships on people who endured them.

Events like the Black Sunday storm could be deadly, causing immediate fatalities or long-lasting respiratory problems like “dust pneumonia.” Such maladies led to authorities and the Red Cross urging people to wear masks to prevent inhalation of the fine dust particles.

Red Cross volunteers in wearing masks to protect their lungs from blowing dust; taken in 1935 in front of the Red Cross building in Liberal, Seward County, Kansas (Kansas Historical Society)

Family historians who had ancestors living in the southwest USA, as well as other regions that experienced drought, during the 1930s will find reports like this of interest.