Yes I knew and talked to a lot of them in my family and neighbors. My grandfather was so happy to get work on the Civilian Conservation Corps so he could feed his family.Living in tents gone for a month at the time. The great Depression was bad enough but it didn't rain for 3 years in that time either. Back then a good 90% of the population were on farms.
My other grandfather said it was so dry that the last cultivation they made in the tobacco fields with the mules was in May. The tracks the mules left in May could still be seen in Sept. Tobacco what little was made was taken to market and buyers wouldn't buy it. So they brought it back home and spread it on the land.No crop no pay. No crop insurance and no subsidy no money.
Only crop that was made in that 3 years was wheat. It did rain some in the winter. All summer crops died. Creeks dried up.
I worked with an older gentleman in the early 70's at the Lane Co. in Altavista Va. Mr. Littles told me his family had eaten rats because they had killed all the squirrels and rabbits. Again no place to work, no money and no food in many cases. Electricity didn't get here until 1947-48.
My grandfather that lived in the house I'm in now would give folks work on the farm and pay them with wheat. Was no money here. Two of the black men(Dal and Jimmie Lee Panel) I new as I grew up told me about being paid wheat and they were proud to get it. They would get their wheat and walk to the old mill that's still being run today at Cedar Forest Va. to get the wheat ground. Then walk back home with flour. 9 miles there and back.
All these folks were ready for any help they could get from anywhere. No bail outs back then and there was a surplus in the national budget at the beginning of the depression.
Careful what you wish for. Don't think for one second it couldn't happen again. It's history and don't forget about it.
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Today's Featured Article - Women and Tractors - More Views From the Farmer's Wife - by Teri Burkholder. The top ten reasons why the judges wouldn't let you participate in the stock antique tractor pull: Hey, this is stock! It came with that V8 in it! That "R" on my tires stands for "really old" not radial! Blue gas? We thought it was a pretty color! What wire hooked to my throttle?
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