Vanishing Earth: Soil erosion in the Palouse, 1930-1945

Agricultural History

Volumn 79, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 173-192

  Duffin, Andrew P ^a  

^a WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE; ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY; PRAIRIE; SOIL CONSERVATION; SOIL EROSION;

NORTH AMERICA; PALOUSE; UNITED STATES; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 17944376532     PISSN: 00021482     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/ah.2005.79.2.173     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. US Bureau of the Census, 1997 Census of Agriculture, Ranking of States and Counties, Vol. 2 (Washington, DC: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 1999-), Pt. 2.
2. Elizabeth L. Orr and William N. Orr, Geology of the Pacific Northwest (New York: McGraw Hill, 1996), 288-92,297;
3. Victor Baker et al., "Quaternary Geology of the Columbia Plateau," in The Geology of North America (Boulder: The Geological Society of America, 1991), 215-49.
4. Gladys Baker et al., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC: Centennial Committee, USDA, 1963), 139;
5. "Soil Nitrogen Disappearing," Oakesdale Tribune, Jan. 17, 1930, 1;
6. "Pacific Northwest to Get Erosion Experiment Station," Latah Citizen, Jan. 31, 1930, 1.
7. William A. Rockie and P. C. McGrew, "Erosive Effects of Heavy Summer Rains in Southeastern Washington," Bulletin No. 271 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932), 4-8;
8. "Cloudburst Hits Colfax Vicinity," Oakesdale Tribune, Aug. 7, 1931, 1;
9. "Township Lost in Cloudburst," Oakesdale Tribune, Aug. 14, 1931, 1. Midsummer downpours are rare but not unknown in the Palouse.
10. "Forty-Second Annual Report," Bulletin No. 275 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932), 67-75;
11. "Forty-Third Annual Report," Bulletin No. 291 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1934), 59-63;
12. "Forty-Fourth Annual Report," Bulletin No. 305 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1934), 64-67.
13. "Forty-Second Annual Report," 74.
14. For sources on farmers and the New Deal, see, Theodore Saloutos, The American Farmer and the New Deal (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1981);
15. Van L. Perkins, Crisis in Agriculture: The Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the New Deal, 1933 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969);
16. Leonard J. Arrington, "Western Agriculture and the New Deal," Agricultural History 44 (Oct. 1970): 337-53;
17. Richard Lowitt, The New Deal and the West (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984).
18. The three best-known histories of the Dust Bowl were published in rapid succession: Paul Bonnifield, Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979);
19. Donald Worster, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979);
20. R. Douglas Hurt, The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981). The newly-formed SES was led by the dynamic Hugh Hammond Bennett, a talented orator and promoter who whipped up national support for soil conservation during several speaking tours in 1933 and 1934.
21. Verle G. Kaiser, Papers, 1939-1980;
22. Earl Victor, Papers, 1933-1939, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections Library, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington;
23. Renee Guillierie and Sharon Norris, Serving People and the Land: A History of Idaho's Soil Conservation Movement (Meridian, Idaho: Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts, 1985).
24. "Erosion Control To Be Discussed," Garfield Enterprise, Mar. 16, 1934, 1;
25. "Stress Need for Suitable Legumes," Whitman County Farmer, Mar. 23, 1934, 1;
26. "Greeters Admonished to Help Save Soil," Whitman County Farmer, Aug. 16, 1935, 1;
27. "Soil Erosion Perils Revealed by Survey; Remedies Are Named," and "600,000 Farm Folk Learn More About Soil Conservation," Whitman County Farmer, Dec. 13, 1935, 1;
28. "Chamber Erosion Trip Is June 17," Palouse Republic, June 12, 1936, 1;
29. "Over 100 Enjoy Erosion Survey," Palouse Republic, June 19, 1936, 1.
30. Alden E. Orr et al., "Trends and Desirable Adjustments in Washington Agriculture," Bulletin No. 355 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1936), 9.
31. D. Harper Sims, The Soil Conservation Service (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), 18-19.
32. Guillierie and Norris, Serving People and the Land, 3;
33. "Soil Erosion Unit Sought for Here," Palouse Republic, Nov. 6, 1936, 1;
34. "Petitions Request Soil Conservation," Palouse Republic, Nov. 13, 1936, 1;
35. "North Palouse Conservation District Organization Is Made," Palouse Republic, Nov. 20, 1936, 1;
36. "Chamber Backs Soil Program," Garfield Enterprise, Apr. 16, 1937, 1.
37. "Soil Program Highlights," Whitman County Farmer, Apr. 17, 1936, 1;
38. "Soil Conservation Act Liberalized," Washington Farmer, Apr. 30, 1936, 6;
39. "Payments for Soil Conservation," Washington Farmer, May 28, 1936, 4;
40. "110 Sign Up for Erosion Program," Palouse Republic, June 5, 1936, 1;
41. "Figure Pay Rates for Saving Soil," Washington Farmer, June 11, 1936, 4.
42. "Dad Showed the Boys Up," Washington Farmer, Oct. 29, 1936, 2;
43. N. D. Showalter, "The Land on Which We Live," Washington Farmer, Nov. 12, 1936, 6;
44. "What Is Soil Consciousness?" Washington Farmer, Apr. 15, 1937, 6.
45. James F. Shepherd, "The Development of Wheat Production in the Pacific Northwest," Agricultural History 49 (Jan. 1975): 266-67;
46. "Tractor Keeps Balance on Hill," Washington Farmer, Aug. 20, 1936, 6;
47. "Palouse Farmers Are Tractor Minded," Pullman Herald, Aug. 21, 1936, 6;
48. "Diesel Plowing Costs Seven Cents an Acre," Washington Farmer, Sept. 17, 1936, 10;
49. "Our Farm Forces Require Good Equipment Too," Washington Farmer, Feb. 26, 1942, 2-3.
50. For a national perspective, see, R. Douglas Hurt, Agricultural Technology in the Twentieth Century (Manhattan, Kans.: Sunflower University Press, 1991)
51. and Sally H. Clarke, Regulation and the Revolution in United States Farm Productivity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
52. For tractor statistics, see, "General Report: Statistics by Subject," Census of Agriculture: 1954 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1955), 216-17.
53. Verle G. Kaiser, "Historical Land Use and Erosion in the Palouse-A Reappraisal," Northwest Science 35 (Winter 1961): 142;
54. Shepherd, "The Development of Wheat Production," 267.
55. "Trashy Fallow Pins Down Soil," Washington Farmer, July 22, 1937, 8;
56. "Check Next Year's Erosion Now," Washington Farmer, Apr. 13, 1939, 7;
57. "Farmers and Manufacturers Seek Erosion Control Machinery," Washington Farmer, Jan. 16, 1947, 5;
58. "Stubble Puncher Helps Prevent Runoff," Washington Farmer, Jan. 1, 1948, 2;
59. "This 'Whatsit' Reduces Erosion," Washington Farmer, June 16, 1948, 9;
60. "Straw Spreading Devices Make Fall Plowing a Pleasure," Washington Farmer, July 20, 1944, 5;
61. "Picture Tells a Vital Story," Washington Farmer, Aug. 21, 1947, 6.
62. Kaiser, "Historical Land Use," 145.
63. "Statistics for Counties," Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940: Agriculture, Vol. 1 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1942), Idaho, 112; Washington, 551. This list is not comprehensive. Other crops not listed include small amounts of corn, potatoes, and sugar beets.
64. Sixteenth Census of the US, Vol. 1, Idaho, 130, 134; Washington, 569, 573; State of Washington, AAA Conservation Guide (n.p.: n.p., 1942), Table 16.
65. Ben H. Pubols, Alden E. Orr, and Carl R Heisig, "Farming Systems and Practices and Their Relationship to Soil Conservation and Farm Income in the Wheat Region of Washington," Bulletin No. 374 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1939), 32-41.
66. E. A. Norton, "Soil Conservation Survey Handbook," USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 352 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1939).
67. Oscar A. Camp and Paul C. McGrew, History of Washington's Soil and Water Conservation Districts (n.p.: n.p., 1969), 7;
68. Verle G. Kaiser, Background of the State Soil Conservation District Act (n.p.: n.p., n.d.), 1-4.
69. Pacific Northwest Erosion Control (n.p.: Soil Conservation Service, n.d.), 8;
70. "Forty-Fifth Annual Report," Bulletin No. 325 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1935), 68;
71. Agricultural Conservation, 1936: A Report of the Activities of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (Washington, DC: USDA, 1936), 32.
72. P. C. McGrew and G. M. Horner, Soil and Water Conservation Investigations Washington, DC: USDA/SCS, 1937, 43-46;
73. Soil Conservation in Outline (n.p.: Northwest Regional Council, 1940). The USDA did retire land in the Dust Bowl area of the Great Plains, but only a small amount and under heavy farmer protest. For the increase in farm size, see,
74. Sixteenth Census of the US, Vol.1, 112, 551; the increase could have come at the expense of small tracts of Palouse woodland; woodland acres fell steadily in the 1930s.
75. David E. Stephens, Conservation Practices on Wheat Lands of the Pacific Northwest (Washington, DC: USDA/SCS, 1944), 7;
76. "Report for States, with Statistics for Counties and a Summary of the U.S.," United States Census of Agriculture: 1925 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1927), 157, 391;
77. Sixteenth Census of the US, Vol. 1, 130, 569.
78. "Farmers Are Called Upon for All-Out Food Production," Washington Farmer, Sept. 25, 1941, 5;
79. "Still Greater Production Is Urged," Washington Farmer, Jan. 25, 1942, 5;
80. "Timely Economic Information for Washington Farmers," Bulletin No. 42 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Extension Service, 1942), 3, 19;
81. "Timely Economic Information for Washington Farmers," Bulletin No. 46 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Extension Service, 1943), 6-9;
82. Average Annual Wheat Prices, 1910-1989 (Morgan, Wa.: Rosalia Producers Warehouse, 1989), 178-81. Parity price is defined as the "fair" price farmers received for their goods as compared to the cost of items they consumed.
83. "High Lights in Agriculture Research in Idaho," Bulletin No. 244 (Moscow, Id.: University of Idaho, Agricultural Extension Station, 1942), 3;
84. "The Old Chip Basket," Washington Farmer, June 3, 1943, 2.
85. For examples of SCS advice, see, Glenn K. Rule, "Working Plans for Permanent Farms," USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 411 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1940);
86. Edward H. Graham, "Legumes for Erosion Control and Wildlife," USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 412 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1941);
87. and Soil and Water Conservation: An Introduction to the Problem and Its Control (Spokane: Soil Conservation Service, 1942).
88. "Statistics for Counties," United States Census of Agriculture: 1945, Vol. 1, Idaho, 24, 38, 47; Washington, 25, 37, 45.
89. US Census of Agriculture: 1945, Vol. 1, Idaho, 47; Washington, 45. Barley and livestock production increased over this period, which also explains the drop in fallow and wheat acreage.
90. See also, George Severance, "Field Peas on a Palouse Wheat Farm," Bulletin No. 36 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1911), 1-3;
91. Otis W. Freeman, "The Pacific Northwest Pea Industry," Economic Geography 19 (Summer 1943): 118-20.
92. McGraw and Horner, Soil and Water, 110;
93. Kaiser, "Historical Land Use," 141;
94. Maurice Taylor and Vernon W. Baker, "Economic Aspects of Soil Conservation in the Palouse Wheat-Pea Area," Bulletin No. 494 (Pullman: State College of Washington, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1947), 1-11.
95. "Soil Erosion Is Arch Fifth Columnist," Washington Farmer, Apr. 3, 1942, 5;
96. "Neighbors Stage Summer-Fallowing Bee That Was a Real Honey," Washington Farmer, July 15, 1943, 3;
97. "This Can Be Stopped-This MUST Be Stopped-This WILL Be Stopped," Washington Farmer, Jan. 18, 1945, 3.
98. Kaiser, "Historical Land Use," 145.