Memories of an Oklahoma Farm Boy

by Virgle Chappell

DUST BOWL DAYS

In 1932 my dad, Leon E Chappell, was farming in northern Ellis county Oklahoma on what was called the Thompson place. Things were not so good for him at the time. He had just returned to farming after a year working for Phillips Petroleum in Borger Texas. Each of the grandparents had helped him to go back to farming by loaning him some milk cows and perhaps some horses and machinery. It didn't take much to farm in those days, just four horses and a lister and a wagon. 

Mom, Merl, had chickens to provide some meat for the table and eggs to sell when other staples were needed. The only other source of weekly income came from cream which was separated from the milk and sold at Catesby's general store. The government was building U. S. Highway 283 at the time so dad took his horses and worked on it for a time. 

In those days dried Buffalo bones often could be found in the pastures as well as the bones of many other farm or wild animals. There were also shallow pits which old timers described as Buffalo wallows where in days past, Buffalo would wallow in the shallow water and mud after a rain to give them protection from insects. The whitened bones remained throughout the area until WWII, when the government began purchasing the bones for the war effort and today hardly a bone can be found. Many pictures are available of huge stacks of bones which farmers had brought to the towns and sold to be processed. Some of the extra income for our family came from this source.

There were few trees in the area and coal was too expensive most of the time. I remember going with mom into the pasture to pick up cow "chips" used for fire in the stoves to cook and keep warm by.

Six of us were living in a two-room house, one room for all family activity and the other for sleeping. The only other time we used the bedroom, as I remember, was when mom tried to feed me castor oil and I would hide under the bed and she would have to pull me out and force it down me. For some reason, though I was a heavy sleeper, I would often be awakened by strange noises and would cry out in my sleep. I'd be dreaming some monster was about to get me. I learned if I would pray before going to sleep I would be spared the frightening dreams and soon, before going to sleep, I would pray for God to spare me the dreams. In 1934 dad moved us to the Lew Ritterhouse place which was a farm one-half mile west of our original home. Mr. Ritterhouse had died just a short time before and the farm was available for rent. The dust storms began to be very bad at this time. It had been so long since there had been rain and much of the ground had little or no covering. Because strong winds were prevalent in the area, sand storms were a common occurrence. No matter how hard she tried, mom could not keep dust and sand out of the house. After a sand storm, dust and dirt would be so thick on everything, we would leave tracks as we walked across the linoleum floor. Mom was a good housekeeper, and looking back, I hardly see how she kept her sanity as she tried to keep her house clean. I never remember hearing her complain.

While we lived at this location, I distinctly remember the day we received word that Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, an Oklahoma outlaw with a national reputation, had been killed by the FBI. I don't remember my parent's reaction to his death, but the reaction of many Oklahomans was one of sorrow. Times were very hard for nearly all of the people of the nation and especially Oklahomans. I suppose many persons admired "Pretty Boy" because he had found a way to survive during the hard times. Many would testify to his generosity toward other poor people which somewhat likened him to a modern Robin Hood. It has been said that attendance at his funeral was larger than has ever been in Oklahoma with in excess of 30,000 persons attending. 

Dad's success at farming did not improve for several years. I was too young to know where seed came from to plant the fields, but now I know he had to buy it. He would work the fields at least twice before planting. Then the winds and sand would come and either blow the seed away or cover it so deep it could not grow. At harvest time there was hardly enough grain to feed the livestock. He planted broomcorn one year on this farm and because of the draught and the grasshoppers stripping what was survived, when the bailers came, it yielded one bail. 

Along with the wind and sand, there were grasshoppers so thick they would eat any of the crops which did sprout. Finally there was a poison bran mesh which was spread over the fields which the grasshoppers would eat and this brought some relief from the pests. The people used any means possible to secure even a small amount of cash, so many of them kept greyhounds and hunted coyotes to sell their pelts. However, this brought on more problems with an abundance of rabbits, which was the main food supply for the coyotes.

There were thistles or tumble weeds in abundance in those days. When they were mature they would be about 2 to 3 feet in diameter and light enough to be blown into the fence rows and around machinery. These tumble weeds would catch the sand as it blew and in a few months, fences would be completely covered with sand and animals could walk directly over them. If machinery was not used for a time or had been discarded, the sand would soon have them covered. I'm sure those who travel the area today will see many fence rows that are 4 or 5 feet higher than the roadbed or the fields they surround.


Even domestic animals did not fare well in the prevailing conditions. Grass in the pastures was short or nonexistent. The farm animals were probably always hungry. At times, cattle would die from ingesting too much sand and dirt.

Dad's horses, one night, were able to get into the barn and open a barrel of oats which he kept there for their feed. Horses can eat oats, but if they get too much, gas will form in their stomachs and will kill them. I was only about 7 years old at the time, but Dad immediately saddled the two horses and instructed me to ride the horse all day in hopes of saving him. He would ride the other. I guess the responsibility was too much for me to understand and I spent too much time playing with a friend that day. Dad's horse survived, but mine died under me as I was riding him home that evening. 

I just reviewed a personal account from a distant cousin, Ella (Chappell) Thompson, who lived just north of us in Kansas during this period. She writes:

"On May 22, 1933 the most quierest storm of my life occured all day the wind blew hard & the air was fill with dirt at noon. t began to get darker still & by 330 oclock in the afternoon it got dark as night. We could tell the sun hadn't gone down but it never got much light any more that night. there was no eclipse but seemed the dirt caused the darkness. there was cyclones (tornados) a few miles off around us but just a steady hard wind blowing here. next morning a new soil covered the ground here a whitish silt. its hard to tell just where it came from.

"The year 1934 has been a hard one on most every one. No crops raised near our home south of Garden City KS. No moisture to speak of in winter of 1933 & 1934. We had a cloud burst around us the night of Aug 31 & drowned all but 7 of our chickens the water was at our door step. In Oct we lost our best horse. in Nov the one worked with him. Our losses have been heavy but if it's God's Will for us we will pull through till spring in ??? shape.

"Spring 1935: This has been a awful windy hard spring. so many dirt storms all spring. The dirt storms got worse on the 14 of March. began an almost steady dirt storm that lasted until the 24 then most every other day an(d) on the 8 of April began a hard dirt storm that lasted night & day steady till 12 from Mon Morning till the Fri night at 12. Was over 6 states. Never known so steady & bad before--still stormy. More or less every day & this the 14th of April.

"In 20 min after I wrote the above on this page a dust storm hit sudden. We hadn't noticed its coming till it got dark (it was 2 oclock after dinner) & before we could light a lamp it was to dark to see where the windows were. this is 17 & still dark windy & dusty. The 19 & 20 was clear & sunshiny, the first clear nice day since early in March, but easter is an awful dirt storm. The 29 of April was a real nice spring day, 3 nice days in April. May has started in with dirt storms, air full of dirt all the time..."

We had moved again in 1936 to a farm about 3 miles north called the Brillhart place. One afternoon our neighbor, Richard Gebhardt was at our house when a sand storm began. He immediately made preparations to return home, but was caught in a storm where he could not see more than a few feet in front of him. He had walked to our house and later told us he had to follow the fence back to his house to keep from loosing his way. His house was about a mile away. 

The "granddaddy" of them all was in 1935. It was Sunday afternoon and we were at my grandfather, Harve Hamilton's home. I had gone to my uncle's house about 1/2 mile away. Toward the middle of the afternoon, we observed a huge black cloud coming in from the north. The adults became concerned and I was told to return to my grandfather's house. Before I had gone 200 yards I saw I could not make it to grandpa's and turned back. I found my uncle's house all right but when I entered the house, it became totally black as the darkest night, and I could find no one in the house. I don't remember being frightened, and tried to light a lamp but for some cause it would not light. After several minutes it began to lighten up and visibility was probably 10 to 15 feet. I found everyone in the cellar where they had gone in anticipation of a possible tornado. Sandstorms normally shut out the sun's light until there was only light enough to see a few feet or yards. This was one brought total darkness. 

Another extreme in weather came in 1937 at the close of the draught. I believe this occurred also in April. We kids were at school and it had been snowing all morning. Toward the middle of the afternoon the snow and wind worsened and Dad came with the car to pick we kids up and close school for the day. He loaded the Gebhardt kids into the car with us to take them home. They lived west of the school and we lived north. The snow was so bad one could hardly see and just as we got in front of the Gebhardt's house there was a large drift of snow and our car was stuck. Dad left us all at the neighbors house where we had to remain for three days. I remember thinking I sure would like to go home, even though Art Gebhardt was my best friend. Dad had walked home in the blizzard and when he came for the car three days later, it was completely covered with snow. When we were at home again we found snow drifts as high as ten feet (but there were places with no snow, typical of a blizzard). 

Not my dad, but very similar situation

Dad remained with farming until about the time I left home, though I've often wondered how he could have continued when all seemed so hopeless. I would guess that at least 75% of the people left the area, mainly for California. However, by 1938 rains began to come again. Dad had moved his family another mile north to what was called the Bentley place. In 1939 he purchased his first tractor and was soon farming an additional four farms which had been abandoned. I would not say we were enjoying prosperity at that time, but compared to the past 5 years, it would seem so. Dad bought a machine to bundle cane (binder) while we lived here and did some custom work for other farmers. The trauma remembered while we lived at this location was my grandfather, Harve Hamilton's death.

Our last move, before dad left farming, was several miles away to a farm in Harper county, OK. It was located 9 miles east and one north of Laverne, OK and called the Spencer place. Mr. Spencer had just retired and was letting his farm out for lease. Though farming was done with the tractor, dad continued to keep horses. He probably owned 15 or 20 head of cattle at the time, some of them beef cattle, and we even had our own bull. Dad purchased a new combine to harvest wheat and maize and also hired out to other farmers as they had need of his services. It was only a four foot sickle but at least we were able to save the expense of hiring harvesters to put up our grain.

Early one morning, before daybreak, dad awakened me and called my attention to an unusual red haze to the east of the house. Upon investigation we found the barn almost completely engulfed in flames. Fortunately, there were no animals in the barn, but the structure itself was a total loss. 

Contemporary Americans would say, "Oh, that poor family and those deprived children, to live under conditions such as that." There were times when we did receive some Government surplus or other help. Still dad and mom made it, mainly on their own. Mom and the girl's dresses or other clothing were often made from material which had been used as feed sacks. Companies who produced the feed used material for the sacks which was printed and suitable to be used in making clothing. I never liked to go barefooted, and often would put cardboard in the bottom of my shoes to cover a hole which was there. Grandparents also helped by buying shoes or other clothing from time to time.

I never remember having a thought concerning our economic limitations. Of course, as any child, there were requests to my parents which could not be granted. We were taught early in life never to ask anyone else for anything, not even grandparents. The only new toy I remember receiving was a "China Clipper" which was bought for me by Mrs. Gebhardt when I was 8 years old. Still, there was no limitation of toys to play with. We made cattle from gourds which grew on "soap weed" (Yucca) or made toys of wood with saw and old straightened nails.

I'm really sort of proud to have grown up with this heritage. I am especially grateful to mom and dad who "stuck it out". 

Virgle L. Chappell