Many of us learned about the dustbowls that plagued the farmers during the Great Depression. Strong winds would pick up the dry topsoil from plowed farmland to create a great cloud of dust that blew across the plains covering everything in their path. In November, 1933, one such storm blew over Ridgeway and while there was little damage, “the town was heavily covered with Harrison County soil”. That storm had winds nearly 50 miles per hour, snapping large trees and tearing signs off buildings. (Ridgeway Journal, Nov 16, 1933).
Another dust storm blew through Ridgeway in March, 1935. The winds picked up soil from Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Colorado and was so thick that it “obscured the sun in Ridgeway on Tuesday.” Lasting at least six days, the winds picked up soil from those three states and deposited it across the country as far as the Atlantic coast and leaving 6 inches of dust in some Oklahoma towns and causing immense damage to Kansas wheat fields. The dust was so fine that it came into through windows and doors, covering even inside Ridgeway homes and buildings with a fine layer of dust. People were still cleaning their homes of the dust a week later. (Ridgeway Journal, Mar 21, 1935 and Mar 28, 1935). Thankfully, better farming practices seem to have ended the dustbowls.
