Southern Oregon Miner
SUCCESSOR TO JACKSONVILLE MINER
EIGHT PAGES
COMICS AND FEATURES
LAND MADE VALUELESS BY WIND EROSION
By WILLIAM UTLEY
HIS buffalo gran* should
never l>e plowed, The In ml
will Just dry up mid llie
wind will blow li away,
mid you with It."
Thal'a wlmt lhe cattlemen of
southern Colorado told lhe home
ateadera fill years nun. The home
ateudera plowed the buffuIo grass
Today the wind lina blown away
the lund uixl ninny have been forced
to move.
Ilnd the farmers or the Great
I'lnlna of Kansas, Nebraska. Okla
homa, Texas, Arkansas and N'ebraa
kn cultivated Ihelr lands with a
little more forealght In the yearn
gone by. they would not today, |ier
ha pa. have been forced to watch
the great rei. mid yellow plague of
noli eronlon blow their farms from
the face of the earth -or more lit
erally, blow Hie face of the earth
from their farm«, which In Hie nmne
thing.
During the World war wheat
prlcea soared sky high.
Short-
grana prairie» were the only virgin
soil which remained for wheat pro-
duction, ami to these pinion rushed
thousands of farmers with their
plow a. The harvest wan rich In
deed, with several aeanolin of good
rnlnfall. Then came yearn of drouth.
With them was the return to some
thing like normal—and lean In
wheat prlcea.
Whut land win not
abandoned wua farmed only tn a
haphazard manner.
Wheat acreage wan further de
creased 15 per cent by the admin
Intrntlon'n wheat allot mi nt program
Production ceaaeil on much of thin
land; the remainder got very lit
tie attention.
Probably ti.ls was the land where
the recent dust storms tlmt began
to get "body.”
With thia power
of aggravation It
an easy mat
ter for the duet-laden winds to col
led more and more of their devas
tating burden from the land In went
ern Kansas which In handled by non
resident farmern who "h.ig In” Ihelr
crop by the •'cut and cover” method
of farming which coxern large ter
ritories quickly, but so poorly that
the topsoil blown easily, and when
it starts to blow, no one in there
to atop It.
Dust Travels Far.
From thin ntart the storms which,
during March, raged al terrific
heights for from four to twelve
days, spread through neighboring
states.
Huge cloud pulls of white,
yellow nnd red black dunt reached
as fur a* Denver, St. Louin, Clove
land and even Washington In a
weird reversal of the "back-to-the
noil" movement Hint struck the
more unfortunate element of met
ropolltan populations a little while
hack.
In the stricken Great Plains area
highway traffic was stopped to pre
vent accident. Schools nnd bust
liens houses shut Ihelr doors. Health
officers warned everyone to stay
nt home. If possible. Itnlhvny truf
fle was stilled.
Several children
nnd adults died of "dust pneu
monia.'* Live stock refused to ent
grass and liny even when they could
tind It under the drifts of eroded
soil that were so high In ninny
¡daces Hint one could walk up a
drift to the r<»of of a tall barn.
Even In the cities It was necessary
to sleep and often work with wet
cloths tied over nose and mouth.
In Chicago nnd central Illinois
the dnst united with showers of
rnln nnd Hie weather man mild to
the Inhabitants, “Here's mud In
your eye!”
They soon found out
lie meant It only too literally.
The great storm of Muy 11, 1984,
which stretched fimm Montana to
the Atlantic and hung a 10,000-ton
cover of dust over the National
Capital was something of n calain
Ity. The storm of March. 1988, was
a major catastrophe. Fertile ureas,
once garden spots, became, ns the
dust clouds gained momentum, like
barren deserts. Good farmers an
well uh bud were driven from their
hind and their homes, knowing not
whither to turn. Now the govern
ment Is beginning to wake to a full
realization of the seriousness of
the problem of erosion.
Fifty million acres of crop pro
ducing land have been destroyed In
the lulled States by wind and
water soil erosion.
Another 120.-
(MIO.OOO acres lune lost the topsoil,
and 100,000,0*11) additional acres
nre approaching this condition,
according to the Department of Ag-
est service, the bureau of ciiemls
try and soils, and the bureau of
agricultural engineering.
One million dollars was the
amount agreed upon for Doctor Tug
well's crows to begin work, after
a visit to Washington of Gov. Alfred
M. Landon of Kansas to ¡dead for
funds for the project. The FERA
expressed willingness for Its work
era to lie turned over to the Job.
The work will be extended over the
states badly affected.
Weapons of War.
Chief weapons In the war against
wind erosion will be "listing*' and
plowing metliods which have worked
out satisfactorily In the Texas Pan
handle demonstration center of the
soil erosion service. Farmers and
the states themselves will furnish
the fleet of 2U,O0O tractors neces
sary for the Job. "Listing" consists
of ¡flowing deep furrows across
fields at right angles to prevail
Ing winds In affected areus; this
tends to brenk the force of the wind
and cause It to drop dnst that It
j
Projects nre also under way In
nearly every part of the country to
defeat "gully" erosion—that caused
by the washing of storm waters—
which
has destroyed 35,000.000
acres of good farm land. An Inter
eating step in this direction was
u law passed In Wisconsin In late
March, which exempts fenced, wood
ed slopes from taxation.
One Hundred Mile Barrier.
Wind removed Hie topsoil of the
Great plains—and air, coupled with
sunshine, will replace It. If the
right vegetation Is planted, accord
ing to the New York state college
of forestry at .Syracuse university,
but It Is a process that will take
many decades to finish. Prof. S. O.
Heiberg sayi that 10 per cent of
the topsoil Is decayed plant matter.
The other Do per cent Is actual air
nnd sunshine converted Into loam
—carbon extracted from tne air by
plants In breathing carbon dioxide
Into sugars and starches, which re
main there
Joining the combat against wind
erosion, the forest service will set
up a $15,000,000 shelter-belt of
trees, to stretch from North Da
koto to the Texas Panhandle. This
riculture. A total of 75 per cent of
all the farm land used for clean-
tilled crops Is subject to erosion
and damage, which lhe department
estimates nt $10.000,000 n yenr.
Causes Heavy Lors.
The 3.000.000.000 tons of soil lost
every year through erosion would
till a train of freight cars that would
encircle the world 37 times nt the
equator, says IL E. Uhland, of the
United States soli croslor service,
lie pointed out that figures of loss
do not take Into account the dam
age done to highways, railways, res-
ervolrs, streams, ditches nnd hnr-
bora.
He said Hint northern Mis
souri's 50 per cent loss of fertile
top surface soil represents more
than SO ¡»er cent fertility wastage
because In tin top four or five Inches
of the original soil was concentrated
a very large pnrt of the readily
available plant nutrients. He de
clared that the soli Is lost ns sure
ly ns If It were burned In a Are.
“Unless
Immediate steps are
taken and this rapid destruction
Is stopped by 1080,” said Mr. Uh
land. "Missouri will have to pro
duce the major portion of her crops
on one-fifth of the Innd now on
crops." The Missouri condition Is.
of course, lyplcnl of the whole
stricken area.
The work of erosion control, be
fore the latest tragedy, was spread
among the Department of Agricul
ture. the Deportment of the In
terior nnd the Civilian Conserva
tion corps.
To meet the present
crisis all erosion control has been
placed under the Department of
Agriculture with Rexford Guy Tug
well. undersecretary, supervising
the work. He will unify the efforts
of lhe Interior department soil
erosion control, the AAA, the for
Top, Ranch in Colorado Piled High With Dust. Below, Left Dr. Rexford
Tugwell, in Charge of Erosion Control. Right, City Folks Also Have
Their Battle With Dust
ts carrying. This Is Governor Lan
don's favored method.
Nebraska urges Its fnrmers to
plnnt soil-rotating crops and grasses.
Texas would plnnt sorghum, which
retains soil and moisture.
It is
advisable to use mnehines which
do not pulverize the soil, but de
velop a cloddy and roughened sur
face. The soil should be cultivated
at the proper time to conserve what
moisture it contains.
Machinery
used should tie of the kind tlmt
will Incorporate stubble and other
plant residues In the surface soil.
The Fort Hays (Kan.) agricultural
experiment station advises the re
planting of all eroded land which
wns once grazing country with buf
falo grass, and has perfected a
method for the replanting.
In an attempt to learn the true
origin of dust storms and try to
put an end to them, the federal gov
ernment has begun a soli erosion
project at Huron, S. D. In addi
tion, there are 180,000 acres of land
In South Dakota where the soil
erosion service will try to build
a barrier to wind erosion and build
up the soil by terracing, strip crop
ping, counter-cultivation and mois
ture cultivation.
forest barrier. 100 miles wide and
more than 1,500 miles long, follow
ing roughly the line of 18 Inches
rainfall, is Intended to restore the
water level. Improve living condl
tions within the belt, act as a snow
fence and hold wind-blown dust.
During the next ten years the for
est service will plant 3.500,000.000
trees in hundreds of narrow strips,
each a hundred feet wide and a
mile apart. Only the trees suitable
to the climate will be chosen, and
there will be gaps in the ranks,
where the soil Is too poor to Justify
¡flanting.
The recent dust storms and the
terrible havoc In their wake are by
no means peculiar to America, says
the National Geographic society,
lhe same thing has happened In
Syria. Palestine nnd North Africa.
Experts say that such regions,
where the rainfall Is less than 25
Inches a year, should be left to live
stock nnd not cultivated.
Dnrwin reported that In South
America, during the seasons of
1827-1880. so much dust was blown
about that boundaries were ob
scared and property rights con
fused. In October. 1928, chocolate
dust from Australia stained the
snow peaks of New Zealand, 1,500
miles away. In the spring of the
same year, some 15,000,000,000 tons
of earth from the Ukraine were
scattered over Europe: In the
Ukraine a reforestation program
similar to that planned by our for
est service was used to combat
wind erosion.
The Sahara Is the source of sup
ply for most of the Eur<q>ean dust
storms.
Hot sirocco winds carry
the dust over the Mediterranean
and northward as far as the Baltic.
China is famed for dust storms.
In winter they sweet» over the
North China plain, covering trees,
houses, crops and people with yel
low sediment. Dust storms of an
other age built the Ixtess highlands
that lie between the North China
plain and the deserts of central
Asia. This fertile, yellow earth,
often reaching a depth of Sts) feet,
covers thousands of square miles
In the northern provinces. Crops
may be raised on loess without fer
tilizing; wind renews the soil as
the Nile does in Egypt. The flne,
yellow slit has a tendency to split
In a vertical direction, furrowing
the region with steep cliffs and can
yons. The natives often carve cave
dwellings In these cliffs, climbing t«>
the roofs of their homes to plow
their fields.
To look at them coldly, such dust
storms as we have had may be
blessings in disguise, according to
J. C. Mehler. secretary of the Kan
sas board of agriculture. They will
be, says he. If they lead farmers
to adopt dlversilled farming, turn
ing much of the land back to graz
Ing. They will also ¡»rove beneficial
In Inaugurating tillage methods
which will cut down the loss from
soil blowing.
Dust storms in northeastern Colo
rado have been haled with delight
by archeologists. They have taken
severnl inches of dirt off buried In
dian treasures, revealing new stores
[ of
spearheads,
scrapers,
stone
knives, hand grinding stones and
, howls, nnd fragments of Indian pot
tery. The latest storms, combined
with the erosion of other winds In
I the last yenr. have caused the citl-
| zens of Cornish, a village 20 miles
northeast of Greeley, to hold a sec
ond Stone age fair. Since the first
I fair last year new discoveries of
Folsom and Yuma arrow ¡mint frag
ments have been uncovered. The
Folsom work is said by exi»erts in
archeology to be 20,000 years old.
The fair last year was a tremen
dous success and attracted scores
of exhibitors.
Relief from the terrible drouths
which have helped to make ¡»owder
of the soil in recent seasons Is
promised by John B. Kincer, head
of the climate and crop weather
service of the United States wcatli
er bureau. Kincer. who does not
believe In definite changes In ell
mate, but rather In definite cycles
of rainfall variations, holds to the
view that the United States has
been In the descending curse of a
"moisture cycle” for the last 25
yearn.
An illuminating sidelight on city
folks’ appreciation of the rigors of
the dust storms was revealed to the
writer while dining recently In a
metropolitan restaurant.
I com
plained to m.v waitress that the
spinach was gritty.
•Thar.k the saints yez are eatln'
It here," she replied In her best Hi
bernlan brogue. "Bhwat if yez were
eatln' ft out in Kansas!”
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