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76-639: Natural gas in the Hugoton area was first discovered in 1922 in the Boles #1 well, in Seward County , two miles west of Liberal . The well was drilled in 1919 to a depth of 2,919 feet by the Defenders Petroleum and Traders Oil and Gas Company, but was shut in for three years because it did not find oil. In 1922 the well was completed as a gas well, but there was little demand for natural gas in

152-695: A Democratic candidate for president was when it favored incumbent Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 over Kansas governor Alf Landon . In the Kansas Senate it is currently represented by Republican Garrett Love . In the Kansas House of Representatives it is represented by Republicans Bill Light and Carl Holmes. In 2016 , Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat to break 30% in Seward County since Jimmy Carter in 1976 . Four years later , Democrat Joe Biden would receive 34.6% of

228-516: A Dust Bowl "Okie". The work of independent artists was also influenced by the crises of the Dust Bowl and the Depression. Author John Steinbeck , borrowing closely from field notes taken by Farm Security Administration worker and author Sanora Babb , wrote The Grapes of Wrath (1939) about migrant workers and farm families displaced by the Dust Bowl. Babb's own novel about the lives of

304-504: A bulletin that suggested reestablishing native grasses by the "hay method". Developed in 1937 to speed up the process and increase returns from pasture, the "hay method" was originally supposed to occur in Kansas naturally over 25–40 years. After much data analysis, the causal mechanism for the droughts can be linked to ocean temperature anomalies. Specifically, Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures appear to have had an indirect effect on

380-471: A decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region. The government still encouraged continuing the use of conservation methods to protect the Plains' soil and ecology. At the end of the drought, the programs implemented during the tough times helped sustain a friendly relationship between farmers and the federal government. The President's Drought Committee issued

456-520: A downward shift into semi-skilled work. While semi-skilled work did not pay as well as high-skilled work, most of these workers were not impoverished. For the most part, by the end of the Dust Bowl the migrants generally were better off than those who chose to stay behind. After the Great Depression ended, some migrants moved back to their original states. Many others remained where they had resettled. About one-eighth of California's population

532-706: A few personal belongings and headed west. Some residents of the Plains, especially Kansas and Oklahoma, fell ill and died of dust pneumonia or malnutrition . Between 1930 and 1940, about 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. In just over a year, over 86,000 people migrated to California . This number is more than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 gold rush . Migrants abandoned farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico , but were often generally called " Okies ", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be standard in

608-554: A head. Animals determined unfit for human consumption were killed; at the beginning of the program, more than 50% were so designated in emergency areas. The DRS assigned the remaining cattle to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC) to be used in food distribution to families nationwide. Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program helped many of them avoid bankruptcy. "The government cattle buying program

684-450: A household in the county was $ 36,752, and the median income for a family was $ 41,134. Males had a median income of $ 29,765 versus $ 21,889 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 15,059. About 13.90% of families and 16.90% of the population were below the poverty line , including 21.00% of those under age 18 and 7.30% of those age 65 or over. Seward County has voted Republican since 1940. The last time Seward County voted for

760-404: A report in 1935 covering the government's assistance to agriculture during 1934 through mid-1935: it discussed conditions, measures of relief, organization, finances, operations, and results of the government's assistance. Numerous exhibits are included in this report. In many regions, more than 75% of the topsoil was blown away by the end of the 1930s. Land degradation varied widely. Aside from

836-420: A very strong dust storm stripped topsoil from desiccated South Dakota farmlands in one of a series of severe dust storms that year. Beginning on May 9, 1934, a strong, two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl. The dust clouds blew all the way to Chicago , where they deposited 12 million pounds (5,400 tonnes) of dust. Two days later,

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912-542: Is Destitute Pea Pickers in California. Mother of Seven Children depicted a gaunt-looking woman, Florence Owens Thompson , holding three of her children. This picture expressed the struggles of people caught by the Dust Bowl and raised awareness in other parts of the country of its reach and human cost. Decades later, Thompson disliked the boundless circulation of the photo and resented that she had received no money from its broadcast. Thompson felt it made her perceived as

988-426: Is divided into three townships . The city of Liberal is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size. Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was the result of a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged

1064-481: Is of Okie heritage. Agricultural land and revenue boomed during World War I, but fell during the Great Depression and the 1930s. The agricultural land most affected by the Dust Bowl was 16 million acres (6.5 million hectares) of land in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. These 20 counties that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service identified as the worst wind-eroded region were home to

1140-615: The 100th meridian on the High Plains , characterized by plains that vary from rolling in the north to flat in the Llano Estacado . Elevation ranges from 2,500 ft (760 m) in the east to 6,000 ft (1,800 m) at the base of the Rocky Mountains . The area is semiarid , receiving less than 20 in (510 mm) of rain annually; this rainfall supports the shortgrass prairie biome originally present in

1216-601: The Great American Desert . The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive than other areas for pioneer settlement and agriculture. The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the Homestead Act of 1862 , offering settlers " quarter section " 160-acre (65 ha) plots. With the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the completion of

1292-573: The Great Depression had rendered economic conditions there little better than those they had left. The combined effects of World War I and the disruption of the Russian Revolution , which decreased the supply of wheat and other commodity crops, increased agricultural prices; this demand encouraged farmers to dramatically increase cultivation. For example, in the Llano Estacado of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas ,

1368-469: The Great Depression in the region. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 640 square miles (1,700 km ), of which 639 square miles (1,660 km ) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km ) (0.2%) is water. It borders Oklahoma to the south. The Liberal, KS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Seward County. As of the census of 2000, there were 22,510 people, 7,419 households, and 5,504 families residing in

1444-405: The High Plains experienced drought conditions for as long as eight years. The Dust Bowl has been the subject of many cultural works, including John Steinbeck 's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath , the folk music of Woody Guthrie , and Dorothea Lange 's photographs depicting the conditions of migrants, particularly Migrant Mother , taken in 1936. The Dust Bowl area lies principally west of

1520-773: The Kinkaid Act (1904) and 320 acres (130 ha) elsewhere in the Great Plains under the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 . Waves of European settlers arrived in the plains at the beginning of the 20th century. A return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed a previously held opinion that the "formerly" semiarid area could support large-scale agriculture. At the same time, technological improvements such as mechanized plowing and mechanized harvesting made it possible to operate larger properties without increasing labor costs. With insufficient understanding of

1596-590: The Resettlement Administration , which later became the Farm Security Administration , encouraged small farm owners to resettle on other lands if they lived in drier parts of the Plains. During President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the nation's ecological balance. Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes established

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1672-476: The first transcontinental railroad in 1869, waves of new migrants and immigrants reached the Great Plains and greatly increased the acreage under cultivation. An unusually wet period in the Great Plains mistakenly led settlers and the federal government to believe that " rain follows the plow " (a popular phrase among real estate promoters) and that the region's climate had permanently changed. While initial agricultural endeavors were primarily cattle ranching ,

1748-539: The " Black Sunday " black blizzards of April 14, 1935; Edward Stanley, the Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, coined the term "Dust Bowl" while rewriting Geiger's news story. The term "the Dust Bowl" originally referred to the geographical area affected by the dust, but today it usually refers to the event itself (the term "Dirty Thirties" is also sometimes used). The drought and erosion of

1824-408: The 1930s for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression. But not all migrants traveled long distances; most participated in internal state migration, moving from counties that the Dust Bowl badly impacted to other, less affected counties. So many families left their farms and were on the move that the proportion of migrants and residents was nearly equal in

1900-641: The Dust Bowl affected 100 million acres (400,000 km ) that centered on the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma Panhandle and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families, who were unable to pay mortgages or grow crops, to abandon their farms, and losses reached $ 25 million per day by 1936 (equivalent to $ 550 million in 2023). Many of these families, often called " Okies " because many of them came from Oklahoma, migrated to California and other states to find that

1976-558: The Dust Bowl in the mid-1970s when he revisited some of the worst afflicted counties: In contrast with Worster's pessimism, historian Mathew Bonnifield argued that the Dust Bowl's long-term significance was "the triumph of the human spirit in its capacity to endure and overcome hardships and reverses." A 2023 study in the Journal of Economic History found that while the Dust Bowl had large and enduring impacts on agricultural land, it had modest impacts on average wage incomes. The crisis

2052-427: The Great Depression limited mobility due to economic issues, decreasing migration. While the population of the Great Plains did fall during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, the drop was not caused by extreme numbers of migrants leaving the Great Plains but by of a lack of migrants moving from outside the Great Plains into the region. Government's greatly expanded participation in land management and soil conservation

2128-521: The Great Plains states. An examination of Census Bureau statistics and other records, and a 1939 survey of occupation by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of about 116,000 families who arrived in California in the 1930s, showed that only 43% of Southwesterners were doing farm work immediately before they migrated. Nearly a third of all migrants were professional or white-collar workers. Some farmers had to take on unskilled labor when they moved; leaving

2204-732: The Greenwood field in Kansas, and the Keyes field in Oklahoma. Much of the recovered helium is piped to the National Helium Reserve in Amarillo, Texas , where it is stored underground in geologic formations for future use. The Hugoton Field is a stratigraphic trap overlying a monocline , with the primary pay found in the Krider Dolomite of Permian age. This dolomite and the overlying Herington dolomite make up

2280-831: The Soil Erosion Service in August 1933 under Hugh Hammond Bennett . In 1935, it was transferred and reorganized under the Department of Agriculture and renamed the Soil Conservation Service. It is now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). As part of New Deal programs, Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act in 1936, requiring landowners to share

2356-593: The United States. The natural gas in the Hugoton field of Kansas and Oklahoma, plus the Panhandle Field of Texas, contains unusually high concentrations of helium, from 0.3% to 1.9%. Because of the large size of these fields, they contain the largest reserves of helium in the United States. Helium is separated out as a byproduct from natural gas, from the Hugoton field, the Panhandle field in Texas,

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2432-655: The Wolfcampian carbonates. Above these carbonates is the Wichita, an anhydrite and dense dolomite forming the reservoir seal, which thins to the west. Marine carbonates were being deposited from the Late Pennsylvanian until Early Permian when the western portion of the area was uplifted which resulted in erosion and the deposition of red clays and sands, the future red beds consisting of shales and sandstones. Marine carbonate deposition followed, resulting in

2508-467: The allocated government subsidies with the laborers who worked on their farms. Under the law, "benefit payments were continued as measures for production control and income support, but they were now financed by direct Congressional appropriations and justified as soil conservation measures. The Act shifted the parity goal from price equality of agricultural commodities and the articles that farmers buy to income equality of farm and non-farm population." Thus,

2584-408: The amount of topsoil had been reduced, it would have been more productive to shift from crops and wheat to animals and hay. During the Depression and through at least the 1950s, there was limited relative adjustment of farmland away from activities that became less productive in more-eroded counties. Some of the failure to shift to more productive agricultural products may be related to ignorance about

2660-594: The area and it was years before another gas well was drilled in the field. In 1927, gas was discovered at the Independent Oil and Gas Company's Crawford No. 1, about 2,600 feet (790 meters) below the surface southwest of Hugoton, Kansas , in Stevens County . This is now considered the center of the Hugoton Field. By the end of 1928, five wells had been drilled in the field and the first pipeline

2736-508: The area of farmland doubled between 1900 and 1920, then tripled between 1925 and 1930. The agricultural methods farmers favored during this period created the conditions for large-scale erosion under certain environmental conditions. The widespread conversion of the land by deep plowing and other soil preparation methods to enable agriculture eliminated the native grasses that held the soil in place and helped retain moisture during dry periods. Furthermore, cotton farmers left fields bare during

2812-478: The area. The region is also prone to extended drought, alternating with unusual wetness of equivalent duration. During wet years, the rich soil provides bountiful agricultural output, but crops fail during dry years. The region is also subject to high winds. During early European and American exploration of the Great Plains , this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture; explorers called it

2888-563: The benefits of changing land use. A second explanation is a lack of availability of credit, caused by the high rate of failure of banks in the Plains states. Because banks failed in the Dust Bowl region at a higher rate than elsewhere, farmers could not get the credit they needed to obtain capital to shift crop production. In addition, profit margins in either animals or hay were still minimal, and farmers at first had little incentive to change their crops. Patrick Allitt recounts how fellow historian Donald Worster responded to his return visit to

2964-424: The cattle ranges of America and in the corn belt would have resulted in the marketing of thin cattle, immature hogs and the death of these animals on the range and on the farm, and if the old order had been in effect those years, we would have had a vastly greater shortage than we face today. Our program – we can prove it – saved the lives of millions of head of livestock. They are still on

3040-486: The county population was 21,964. The county was formed on March 20, 1873, and named after William Seward , a politician and Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. For millennia , the Great Plains of North America were inhabited by nomadic Native Americans . In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state . In 1873, Seward County

3116-400: The county. The population density was 35 people per square mile (14 people/km ). There were 8,027 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5.0/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 65.44% White , 3.78% Black or African American , 0.77% Native American , 2.86% Asian , 0.06% Pacific Islander , 23.81% from other races , and 3.27% from two or more races. 42.14% of

Hugoton Gas Field - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-510: The displaced from the Texas Panhandle , Oklahoma Panhandle , and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. More than 350 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. The severe drought and dust storms left many homeless; others had their mortgages foreclosed by banks, or felt they had no choice but to abandon their farms in search of work. Many Americans migrated west, looking for work. Parents packed up " jalopies " with their families and

3268-672: The drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to dust , which prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust – named "black blizzards" or "black rollers" – traveled cross-country, reaching as far as the East Coast and striking such cities as New York City and Washington, D.C. On the plains, they often reduced visibility to three feet (1 m) or less. Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma , to witness

3344-485: The ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought ) and human-made factors: a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion , most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region. The drought came in three waves: 1934 , 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of

3420-584: The ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the Great Plains ' virgin topsoil during the previous decade; this displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. The rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of the combine harvester contributed to farmers' decisions to convert arid grassland (much of which received no more than 10 inches (250 mm) of precipitation per year) to cultivated cropland. During

3496-402: The farming sector commonly led to greater social mobility as there was a far greater likelihood that migrant farmers would later go into semi-skilled or high-skilled fields that paid better. Non-farmers experienced more downward occupational moves than farmers, but in most cases they were not significant enough to bring them into poverty, because high-skilled migrants were most likely to experience

3572-427: The federal government began an aggressive campaign to encourage Dust Bowl farmers to adopt planting and plowing methods that conserved the soil. The government paid reluctant farmers a dollar an acre (equivalent to $ 21 in 2023) to use the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%. The land still failed to yield a decent living. In the fall of 1939, after nearly

3648-417: The first appearance of the term Dust Bowl ; it was coined by Edward Stanley, Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, while rewriting Geiger's news story. Spearman and Hansford County have been literaly [sic] in a cloud of dust for the past week. Ever since Friday of last week, there hasn't been a day pass but what the county was beseieged [sic] with a blast of wind and dirt. On rare occasions when

3724-545: The general atmospheric circulation, while Pacific sea surface temperatures seem to have had the most direct influence. This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region. In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms and travel to other areas seeking work because of the drought, which had already lasted four years. The abandonment of homesteads and financial ruin resulting from catastrophic topsoil loss led to widespread hunger and poverty. Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of

3800-482: The harsh winters' adverse effect on the cattle, beginning in 1886, a short drought in 1890, and general overgrazing , led many landowners to increase the amount of land under cultivation. Recognizing the challenge of cultivating marginal arid land, the U.S. government expanded on the 160 acres (65 ha) offered under the Homestead Act, granting 640 acres (260 ha) to homesteaders in western Nebraska under

3876-408: The interfingering of the red beds and carbonates, the basis of the stratigraphic trap and a tilted gas-water contact. 37°10′48″N 101°20′56″W  /  37.1800°N 101.3490°W  / 37.1800; -101.3490 Seward County, Kansas Seward County is a county of the U.S. state of Kansas . Its county seat and largest city is Liberal . As of the 2020 census ,

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3952-455: The land's agricultural value often failed to return to pre-Dust Bowl levels. In highly eroded areas, less than 25% of the original agricultural losses were recovered. The economy adjusted predominantly through large relative population declines in more-eroded counties, both during the 1930s and through the 1950s. The economic effects persisted in part because of farmers' failure to switch to more appropriate crops for highly eroded areas. Because

4028-520: The majority of the Great Plains migrants during the Dust Bowl. While migration from and between the Southern Great Plain States was greater than migration in other regions in the 1930s, the numbers of migrants from these areas had only slightly increased from the 1920s. The Dust Bowl and Great Depression thus did not trigger a mass exodus of southern migrants, but simply encouraged these migrants to keep moving where in other areas

4104-479: The migrant workers, Whose Names Are Unknown , was written in 1939, but was eclipsed and shelved in response to Steinbeck's success, and was not published till 2004. Many of folk singer Woody Guthrie 's songs, such as those on his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads , are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, when he traveled with displaced farmers from Oklahoma to California and learned their traditional folk and blues songs, earning him

4180-486: The nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour". Migrants also influenced musical culture wherever they went. Oklahoma migrants, in particular, were rural Southwesterners who carried their traditional country music to California. Today, the " Bakersfield Sound " describes this blend, which developed after the migrants brought country music to the city. Their new music inspired a proliferation of country dance halls as far south as Los Angeles. The 2003–2005 HBO TV series Carnivàle

4256-497: The parity goal was to re-create the ratio between the purchasing power of the net income per person on farms from agriculture and that of the income of persons not on farms that prevailed during 1909–1914. To stabilize prices, the government paid farmers and ordered more than six million pigs to be slaughtered as part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). It paid to have the meat packed and distributed to

4332-552: The poor and hungry. The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC) was established to regulate crop and other surpluses. In a May 14, 1935, address to the AAA, Roosevelt said: Let me make one other point clear for the benefit of the millions in cities who have to buy meats. Last year the Nation suffered a drought of unparalleled intensity. If there had been no Government program, if the old order had obtained in 1933 and 1934, that drought on

4408-441: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 7,419 households, out of which 43.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.60% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.80% were non-families. 20.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size

4484-505: The range, and other millions of heads are today canned and ready for this country to eat. The FSRC diverted agricultural commodities to relief organizations. Apples, beans, canned beef, flour and pork products were distributed through local relief channels. Cotton goods were later included, to clothe needy. In 1935, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service (DRS) to coordinate relief activities. The DRS bought cattle in counties that were designated emergency areas for $ 14 to $ 20

4560-549: The same storm reached cities to the east, such as Cleveland , Buffalo , Boston , New York City , and Washington, D.C. Monuments like the Statue of Liberty and the United States Capitol were blotted out. Dust worked its way into even the most sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin, and furniture. That winter (1934–35), red snow fell on New England . On April 14, 1935, known as " Black Sunday ", 20 of

4636-406: The short-term economic consequences of erosion, the Dust Bowl had severe long-term economic consequences. By 1940, counties that had experienced the most erosion had a greater decline in agricultural land values. The per-acre value of farmland declined by 28% in high-erosion counties and 17% in medium-erosion counties, relative to land value changes in low-erosion counties. Even over the long term,

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4712-419: The summer of 1930. During the next decade, the northern plains suffered four of their seven driest calendar years since 1895, Kansas four of its 12 driest, and the entire region south to West Texas lacked any period of above-normal rainfall until record rains hit in 1941. When severe drought struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, it resulted in erosion and loss of topsoil because of farming practices at

4788-457: The time. The drought dried the topsoil and over time it became friable , reduced to a powdery consistency in some places. Without indigenous grasses in place, the plains' high winds picked up the topsoil and created massive dust storms . The persistent dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The Great Plains' fine soil eroded easily and was carried east by strong continental winds. On November 11, 1933,

4864-620: The vote, the highest share for a Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson received 46.1% in Seward County in 1964 . Following amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 1986, the county remained a prohibition, or "dry" , county until 1996, when voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement. List of townships / incorporated cities / unincorporated communities / extinct former communities within Seward County. Seward County

4940-448: The wind did subside for a period of hours, the air has been so filled with dust that the town appeared to be overhung by a fog cloud. Because of this long seige of dust and every building being filled with it, the air has become stifling to breathe and many people have developed sore throats and dust colds as a result. Much of the farmland was eroded in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl. In 1941, a Kansas agricultural experiment station released

5016-486: The winter, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and burned the stubble as a means to control weeds before planting, thereby depriving the soil of organic nutrients and surface vegetation. After fairly favorable climatic conditions in the 1920s with good rainfall and relatively moderate winters, which permitted increased settlement and cultivation in the Great Plains, the region entered an unusually dry era in

5092-427: The worst "black blizzards" occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The storms caused extensive damage and appeared to turn day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see five feet (1.5 m) in front of them at certain points. Denver-based Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma , that day. His story about Black Sunday marked

5168-403: Was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.46. In the county, the population was spread out, with 32.00% under the age of 18, 11.70% from 18 to 24, 30.50% from 25 to 44, 16.90% from 45 to 64, and 8.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.70 males. The median income for

5244-751: Was a blessing to many farmers, as they could not afford to keep their cattle, and the government paid a better price than they could obtain in local markets." Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant the Great Plains Shelterbelt , a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas , to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming , contour plowing , and terracing. In 1937,

5320-613: Was an important result of the disaster. Different groups took many different approaches to responding to the disaster. To identify areas that needed attention, groups such as the Soil Conservation Service generated detailed soil maps and took photos of the land from the sky. To create shelterbelts to reduce soil erosion, groups such as the United States Forest Service 's Prairie States Forestry Project planted trees on private lands. Groups like

5396-426: Was documented by photographers, musicians, and authors, many hired during the Great Depression by the federal government. For instance, the Farm Security Administration hired photographers to document the crisis. Artists such as Dorothea Lange were aided by having salaried work during the Depression. She captured what have become classic images of the dust storms and migrant families. Among her best-known photographs

5472-402: Was established, although it was administered from one of several neighboring counties until the county commissioners of Finney County organized Seward County as a municipal township of Finney County on June 10, 1885, with the temporary seat of government at Sunset City. The township was divided into two voting precincts - one headquartered at Sunset City and the other at Fargo Springs. The county

5548-475: Was finally settled when the railroads bypassed both Fargo Springs and Springfield in favor of an alignment through southern Seward County, spurring the rapid growth of Liberal, which won the final election for county seat in on December 8, 1892, by 125 votes. In the 1930s, the prosperity of the area was severely affected by its location within the Dust Bowl . This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of

5624-425: Was organized on June 17, 1886, with Governor John A. Martin designating Springfield the county seat and appointing men from Fargo Springs as county officers as not to favor one town over the other. Rivalry between Fargo Springs and Springfield became so intense both towns sent armed bodies of men to the other to prevent their voters from reaching the polls, causing a disputed election in 1885. The county seat dispute

5700-443: Was set during the dust bowl. The 2014 science fiction film Interstellar features a ravaged 21st-century America that is again scoured by dust storms (caused by a worldwide pathogen affecting all crops). Along with inspiration from the 1930s crisis, director Christopher Nolan features interviews from the 2012 documentary The Dust Bowl to draw further parallels. In 2017, Americana recording artist Grant Maloy Smith released

5776-485: Was transporting gas to local markets. In 1929, Argus Pipe Line Company started construction of a pipeline to furnish gas to Dodge City, Kansas . Construction of major pipelines in the 1930s encouraged further drilling in the area. In 1977, gas was discovered at the Brown and Woolsey in the M. MAUNE, Well 1. In 2007, the Hugoton gas area produced 358 billion cubic feet of gas, making it the 5th largest source of natural gas in

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