The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 9

WWWKANSASCOMNEWS TUESDAY APRIL 6 2010 THE WtCHfTA EAGLE 9A Readers share their stories of the Dust Bowl -SC "ft 71 i 1 Wes Santee 1952 Olympic runner now living in Wichita was barefy 5 yean old when die strains hit He recalls: old houses back then were hot insulated like are today The dust just came through the outer edges erf the windows It was vety fine like just part of the air you were rvtn BallhM ur Don 7 -N DUST BOWL From Page 1A make the air breathable even on the windiest day With die changes in fanning practices and die irrigation systems installed if unlikely that dust storms could happen again on such a large scale said Chance Hayes warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita the potential is still he said would take extreme events over the greater part of a decade and conditions would have to be awfrilfa 1 said Kevin Dannofal meteorologist with the Wichita office Problems mount CouriMy of tha Kanaaa State HWoricte Sodaty People worn dust masks to protect themselves from the dirt storms In the 1 930s Dust drifted like snow threatening the very Bves of those who breathed It la storms which seemed to come out of nowhere and often I with htde warning To visualize the oncoming menacinft dark doud of dht rising hundreds or thousands of feet into die sky often creating alarm and panic In those faced with escaping or evading it in sane way respiratoiy problems in those exposed to heavy jf flnfiltrationwere common and sometimes deadly---: I with diese conditions the extreme drought and accompanying influx of Russian thistles Texas sandbun If I and grasshoppers and extreme summer heat in that pre-air! fronditioned era helped to make life less than comfortable Wesley Provines Wkhita was 6 years old and yisidng house on Black Sunday if': my sister HdenMarie wewaIked three-quarters mile west to visit friends After visiting for seme time I noticed a dark doud to the north A Htde later 1 noticed 5 I the doud was getting closer I told my friends we had better jtait for home before ft strains ga to we were walking bade the doud kept getting doser held hands and continued to walk We see anyfiiing but when die one on the end outside woiild start getting to the edge of the road we would move over to assure us we were still on the A little later we saw a light in front of bur face it was Walker Duk Ike and Jam dad earning a lantoHe Walked us to his house and into the cellar That afl I can rememberof diat dayTjKf -4 Don Enoch of Wichita remember itas Day the $lide Trombones Would Not jgj 1 £uidy northwest blackest day! dust was piled window-high cm the great day rf the Annual CoIby Ttador Show and nraihy the Atwood Buffalo Band was to make its star appearance -r5 jAB eight bras slide-trombones were lined up across dtie jj front lineall polished and oiled but muck from rf the blowing die dust was so dense that foe Right Guard Dan BeamgaTO amid iwt see his Left Guard Lonnie Kelll and as for the big bass drum Ruth Hesterman was lost in i her own private dust Our lime drum major Joan Bastian all die took the band offthe wrong end ofthe a move that was actually approved by foe band director" Suzanne Kerr of Wichita submitted a memory from Denloua Muncy Dodge Otyi-'V-' -school twkxekh day was a dust mask Not very flattering it kxced like a pig snout When removed after larrived at School the dust mask a foiiiy dean area indudnmy eyes nose and mouth leaving my forehead and eyrtrows heavy with dirt My reason for remembering tha so well is that my H-adored wrirows were darkened for die first time Ideating me greatk My mother had a taskahead of her axA vfodng me to wash my forfoead daily removing die mascara like John 0LoughllnlWkhdtairasfaifoys whan the ifonns hie Clhe dinner table was always set with foe plates upside down When the meal began we would turn our plates ver and mother would serve foe food as qukddy as posste He Even so ftusually tasted pretty gritty Whatever liquid we drank was served in small-motnhed (Coke) bottles to minimize dust getting i Wy dad worked for his car dealership! remember how they tried to keep dust out of car engines Peihaps they used multiple air cleaner filters The wind Shield wipers would temporarily move most of the dust from the outside of die windshield But thedust on the I inside (rf die windriiidd was always a problem I remember' there was always some kind ofa foot rag in foe middle of 4 the front seat erf our ff hone Nun now 86 and living in Derby was a child living in western Oklahoma when the storms hit: Her father developed dust pneumonia For two to three faySherjdad lingered between Hfe and death pi was only 8 or 9 years old but I remember she said got over ft and lived to be 85 years old but he always had weak lungs from then on I tell you I sure i I in pLolSage93nowofWiddtagrewupinLiberaLShe remembers being in church when a Hade dust ckwd came rover foe city: was peopfe thinking foe world had come to an Courtesy photo Vintage postcards show adust storm enveloping Garden CHy In 1935 The Black Sunday storm carried dust from the Plains states dear to New York and Washington DiC Oklahoma and Texas had been living One of President Franklin advisers Hugh Hammond Bennett was speaking before Congress about the i In the late 1920s rural America was in the midst rf an economic depression Grain prices had plunged and formers tried to stay afloat by growing more wheat Then came the drought and wind 1 A series of dust storms that hit the Great Plains over the next decade gave the era the nickname The Dirty Thirties The worst of the storms foil on April 14 1935 Palm Sunday known as Black Sunday The survivors now in their 80s and 90s talk about dust so thick and fine it would find its way inside houses despite wet sheets and towels hung around dosed doors and windows Dust so intense it would collect on rafters in attics causing roofs to collapse Dust that drifted like snow filling ditches covering form implements and threatening the very lives of those who breathed it in Lucian Doll remembers 14 and living on his form six miles north of Ellinwood when the storm hit He was in a field working with a team of horses had four horses pulling a harrow and I can see the hori zon was said Doll now 89 and living in Wichita I get to the end of die row I turned around to face it It must have been a half mile from me just a boiling wall of dirt coming at He unhooked the horses and ran the animals a quarter mile bade to the bam die time I put the horses in die stable and stepped outof the bam I could not see the house 50 yards a The! swirling douds of red dust from thousands of forms from Oklahoma Texas eastern Colorado and western Kansas die sun stalled vehicles and uprooted rural Americans by the thousands But Doll especially remembers the aftermath when he walked his stubble fields and saw afl the wild animal rirnf had Hied in the storm and dead cattle standing upright surrounded From Rage 3A planned for the Mulvane exit off the Kansas Turnpike would be successful The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee sent the bill to foe Senate flow two weeks ago It wont be considered until lawmakers return from their break April 28 The casino review board has until April 19 to act on or Breaking' News ries Leon Toriine was 7 years old living on a form near Windhorst in western Kansas The Ford County former remembers die chickens going to roost during midday Russian thistles blowing up and clogging fences and seeing nothing growing for miles Wichitan Betty Marshall now 81 was a child living in Rooks County when the storms hit Her mother would sit in a diair holding her through the night thought I might not be able to breathe properly if I was lying Marshall said "These were things that influenced our lives she said had lots of farmland I remember Grandpa driving us around to look at the fields and seeing dust piled up so high we might not see the fences Crops were Reach Beay Tamar at 31 6-268-6336 or MannerGwIcttaaaglacoiA by the drifts of sand and dirt their lungs filled with dirt thought the world was coming to an end It was that he said The dust storms of the rank nationally among the most significant events of the 20th century according to the National Weather -Service Iconic books and songs would be written sudi as John Steinbeck's of Wrath" and Woody Pneumonia Consenration enacted The years 1934 through 1935 were marked by periods of extreme heat and drought according to Chance Hayes warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita The Black Sunday storm carried dust from die Plains states to New York and Washington DC allowing politicians to see first-hand how die formers in Kansas foe Chisholm Creek proposal although it could request a 60-day extension from Gov Mark Parkinson Mike Deines spokesman for die Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission said die state hadnt heard from developers about an extension on Monday they want an extension I guess well just cross that bridge if and when it comes up he said Bienapfl said he didnt know how long an extension lation when the dust settled Washington DC gentlemen is what I have been talking Hammond told the legislators On April 27 1935 Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act prompting conservation practices such as crop iota- dons terraces waterways windbreaks wetlands no-till forming buffers watershed dams rangeland management ponds and nutrient and pest management The survivors The Eagle asked readers to tell their own stories of Black Sunday and the Dust BowL More man 200 replied The 75th anniversary maiks the last major anniversary for many survivors to tell their sto developers would request from the review board They might want to wait until die end of die current legislative session he said The session is expetted to end in May Bienapfl said developers are concerned to a lesser extent about the new statewide smoking ban passed last month even though it exempts casinos comments came after Sumner County commissioners voted 2-0 to approve Chisholm exit the casino on a road running north to K-53 The other would add two traffic circles at the turnpike to provide direct access for can entering and leaving foe casino One of those alternatives would be built but only if a tribal casino planned for Park City open within two years of Chisholm Creek planners said If the tribal casino opens traffic at Chisholm Creek would be significantly reduced they said The Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma plans to build a casino in Park City pending federal approval to have its land there taken into trust About a dozen people 1 appeared before the commissioners to object to the new plans arguing they still resolve the drainage and issues in die area The county's planning and zoning commission had voted against Oiisholm Creek last week pJVIimT Uental implant Centers of America Creek's plans for traffic egress and drainage at the site One commissioner was absent due to medical reasons The commission had voted against the zoning request in February Developers plan to have all traffic leave foe casino on US 81 and many residents in the area objected that it would cause safety issues Chisholm Creek offered commissioners two new traffic alternatives Monday One would have traffic AT PARKWEST PLAZA 505 Maize Road Wichita Kansas 67212 (316)729-4114 Like None Other You Have Ever Seen Dump your dentures! 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