An Eyewitness Account
"...The doctors of our region know that dust endangers the life of
anyone whose health is impaired from disease, and that it is often the direct
cause of the deaths of people previously strong and healthy. There are many
victims who, because of poverty or prejudice, never go to a hospital; and many
patients who are taken there at last by relatives are moribund when admitted,
and die within a few hours. ...The dust I had labored in all day began to show
it effects on my system. My head ached, my stomach was upset, and my lungs were
oppressed and felt as if they must contain a ton a fine dirt."
"...So the Dust Bowl had taught us another lesson; namely, that bare
ground exposed to the sun will transform warm breezes into fiery blasts. The
hot wind seemed to rob all vegetation of its vitality. This was my first
experience of a wind that caused my face to blister so that the skin peeled
off."
"...Everyday I scanned the sky, looking for signs of the rain that would
save my wheat from ruin. One after another, neighbors saw their crops reach a
condition beyond hope of salvage."
"...Then, at last, the rain came, with a precipitation of five inches
during the ensuing two days and nights, which effectively put an end to the
blowing of the land for that season. With the coming of rain the whole aspect
of the country changed, and I felt again the buoyancy of young manhood."
"...With my financial resources at last exhausted and my health
seriously, if not permanently impaired, I am at last ready to admit defeat and
leave the Dust Bowl forever. With youth and ambition ground into the very dust
itself, I can only drift with the tide."
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