Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Drought recalls long, punishing dry spell of 1950s

After enduring nearly a year of drought, Texans have grown accustomed to seeing acres of withered crops, scores of dried-up ponds and mile after mile of cracked earth. But the drought that began last fall has yet to eclipse the infamous dry spell of the 1950s, a bleak period when the skies stubbornly withheld moisture. It was the state's worst drought ever. Nearly everyone who lived through that time remembers constant hardship: Water supplies ran so low some communities had to import it from Oklahoma. Farms and ranches failed. And the lack of rain actually changed the state's demographics because so many families fled rural agricultural areas for cities. Now, with the possible return of another La Nina weather phenomenon, Texans who remember that desperate decade from childhood or adolescence are facing another intense drought that could drag on for at least another year. "I hope this is not going to be like the drought of the `50s," said Pete Bonds, 59, who has cattle ranches in 27 Texas counties. He recalls how the extreme dry weather wicked away the water levels in lakes near Fort Worth. From 1949 to 1957, Texas got 30 to 50 percent less rain than normal, and temperatures rose above average. In search of grazing land, many Texas ranchers took their cattle to Kansas, where Jim Link was a preteen ranch hand. He remembers trying to find a missing steer one day in a pasture and walking into a strangely empty house. "It was kind of spooky," said Link, now a 68-year-old part-time cattle rancher south of Fort Worth. "The table was still set. The furniture was still there. The clothes were in the closet. The bank had foreclosed on the house." Link once asked his grandfather how the drought compared to the Depression. "He said the biggest difference was that in the `30s, it broke people financially. But the 1950s broke them spiritually."...more

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