Farm Boy 37 - 1/23/2026 20:05
Ks-notill - 1/23/2026 17:44
This got me to thinking about my parents and the 30's. Dad always thought it was funny to say he remembers the day when mom was born. He was born in 1929 and was 6 years old that day, but the reason he remembers is because his parents had a little girl the same day and the doctor had to leave quickly to deliver another baby. Mom would've been born about 3 miles away. The doctor had a busy day!
This was about 2 weeks before "black sunday" on April 14th. When the wind hit 100mph in western Ks and some of the most terrible dust storms occurred. I was just reading some historical facts and I had forgotten about the terrible jackrabbit problems. They arrived in droves and destroyed all the vegetation in their path. The internet has pictures of huge groups of people gathered to hunt them and it says that over 2 million of them were killed in kansas!
Dad also talked about going to the river about 11 miles away and gathering weeds to feed the animals. Pretty amazing times and some tough people back then!
If you haven’t read it you would probably enjoy the book “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Egan. It talks about the dust bowl era and the things you described. You’re certainly right about them being tough back then.