Museum: Agriculture in Idaho Panel 4 - Dust Bowl Days and Resettlement Farms

Dust Bowl Days and Resettlement Farms

Families watched in horror as the huge reddish-brown dust clouds continued rolling over their farms. Severe drought and harsh farming techniques caused consecutive years of crop failure. Many of these families abandoned their homes, farms, and acreage longing for gardens with chickens and wildflowers; yearning for the lush fields of years past.

Panel 4 — “Dust Bowl Days” and “Resettlement Farms” illustrates the migration of these farmers. The population of the county grew during the depression years of the 1920s and 30s as people sought refuge from the dry conditions in the Midwest known as “The Dust Bowl.” These refugees were farmers in their former places of residence, and they soon set about clearing the stumps left behind by the timber companies after logging operations. Black powder and dynamite were used to loosen the stumps which were then pulled and dragged by horses, leaving large holes that needed to be filled before the ground could become productive.

The only Federal Farm Security Project in Idaho provided resettlement tracts in the Kootenai Valley beginning in 1939. From a list of several hundred applicants, 37 families were selected to receive these tracts of land, 100 acres in size. The farms included a house, a barn, a chicken coop, some basic farm equipment, and some livestock. Repayment was expected over a 40-year contract. Many of the recipients of these resettlement farms found themselves on the other end of the spectrum. Located above the high water mark, some flooding occurred on their farms before the construction of the Libby Dam in 1972. Some of these farmers could not decide which was worse — the lack of water or an abundance!