CURTIS MCMANUS
Excerpts From Happyland
On The Absurdity Of Drought: "The temporal distribution of rain also matters. In the punishing drought of 1988, for example, rainfall during May and June was well below normal, while July and August saw ample rainfall for this area. But the fatally dry conditions during the most critical part of the growing season resulted in one of the worst crop yields of the twentieth century. And here we reach the crowning absurdity of farming in the drylands: even when it rains, there is still drought."
On Starvation: "There is the frequently told tale that youngsters in the drylands grew up in the the thirties never having seen a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Tales like these are listened to today with no small measure of post-modern disbelief, for the mind balks at the silliness of the idea. But on the ravaged banks of Pinto Creek, or on the hot, dry plains of Mankota country, where lakes and rivers dried up, where grasshoppers ravaged the land, and where drought ravaged hope, it very well could have been true. After all, children were dying in their dozens and hundreds because of starvation and malnutrition."
On Dust Storms: "The drought was bad enough, but what made it punitively worse were the dust storms. It is this element of the crisis that gives it its grim countenance. The storms were not the cause of the drought, but rather one of its symptoms. Under repeated admonitions from the Department of Agriculture, settlers had hammered away at the soil until nothing remained and thus the pulverized, fibreless soil was ready to fly with the first wind. And that's exactly what it did."
On The Calm Before The Storm: "In the late 1920s, the future once again held all of the possible [after a decade of drought had ended and the rains returned]. The government mandarins, the burned-out settlers, and the beleaguered town officials would be given a few years of respite. Ragged and tattered hope nervously reappeared in 1928 when settlers grew one of the largest wheat crops in history. But the exception would quickly vanish and the rule would return. For by 1930, the rehearsals were over. The wolf arrived at the door and the bill had finally come due."
On The 'Characters' Who Appear: "There were some ranchers who survived the killing winter of 1908. One settler recalled the story of H.G. 'Happy Jack' Johnson. It seems "Happy Jack" had been born in Kansas, rode through Oklahoma, and then sweated it out in Texas ('his stories were legion about his part in the Texas sheep-cattle wars.'). Happy Jack later left Mexico and came up to the drylands in Canada where he and his cattle did indeed survive the winter of '08. The tag 'Happy Jack' by the way, was a bit of an ironic misnomer because apparently Happy Jack rarely smiled."
On Starvation: "There is the frequently told tale that youngsters in the drylands grew up in the the thirties never having seen a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Tales like these are listened to today with no small measure of post-modern disbelief, for the mind balks at the silliness of the idea. But on the ravaged banks of Pinto Creek, or on the hot, dry plains of Mankota country, where lakes and rivers dried up, where grasshoppers ravaged the land, and where drought ravaged hope, it very well could have been true. After all, children were dying in their dozens and hundreds because of starvation and malnutrition."
On Dust Storms: "The drought was bad enough, but what made it punitively worse were the dust storms. It is this element of the crisis that gives it its grim countenance. The storms were not the cause of the drought, but rather one of its symptoms. Under repeated admonitions from the Department of Agriculture, settlers had hammered away at the soil until nothing remained and thus the pulverized, fibreless soil was ready to fly with the first wind. And that's exactly what it did."
On The Calm Before The Storm: "In the late 1920s, the future once again held all of the possible [after a decade of drought had ended and the rains returned]. The government mandarins, the burned-out settlers, and the beleaguered town officials would be given a few years of respite. Ragged and tattered hope nervously reappeared in 1928 when settlers grew one of the largest wheat crops in history. But the exception would quickly vanish and the rule would return. For by 1930, the rehearsals were over. The wolf arrived at the door and the bill had finally come due."
On The 'Characters' Who Appear: "There were some ranchers who survived the killing winter of 1908. One settler recalled the story of H.G. 'Happy Jack' Johnson. It seems "Happy Jack" had been born in Kansas, rode through Oklahoma, and then sweated it out in Texas ('his stories were legion about his part in the Texas sheep-cattle wars.'). Happy Jack later left Mexico and came up to the drylands in Canada where he and his cattle did indeed survive the winter of '08. The tag 'Happy Jack' by the way, was a bit of an ironic misnomer because apparently Happy Jack rarely smiled."
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