We would cut their lungs open and it looked just like a mud pack
First a flood, then grasshoppers, then the dust storms.
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"We had cows.... And it killed them. They was out in this. We would cut their lungs open and it looked just like a mud pack." Mrs. Flora Robertson gives a description of her life in Oklahoma in the 1930s.
I think this interview tells an amazing part of American history that is talked too little about, so that this current generation has forgotten about the Dust Bowl. She says they experienced conditions like what ancient Egypt experienced during the time of Moses, with darkness so thick that people could not see one another even with a lamp lit.
Interview with Flora Robertson about Dust Storms in Oklahoma, August 5, 1940 old transcript (better version below)
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/afc/toddsonkin/afc1985001_afs04120a1.mp3
audio backup: http://John1126.com/share/20250521-Flora-Robertson-describes-the-dust-storms.mp3
Flora Robertson: We looked in the north and thought it was the Blue Northern coming. Such a huge black cloud just looked like a smoke out of a train stack or something.
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Interviewer: About what time of day?
Robertson: About 4 oâclock, 1934. And uh, I just kind of rolled over and got near to the house we was all afraid and we run into the storm house because we thought it was a storm. And uh, we lit the lamp and it was just so dark in there that we couldnât see one another, we just had to, even with the lamp lit, and we just. So mother and my husband was out after the cows and he stumbled up against the barbed wire fence and he followed the fence âtil they come to the house and that way he was able to get to the house. And uh, we had to tie wet rags over our mouths. And, just to keep from smothering, we dipped clothes in the buckets of water and tied over our mouths down in the cellar,
um, that one lasted so fierce for about two hours and then we took trash and ⌠that wasnât going to blow away and we went in the house. And we wet blankets and hung over the windows. And uh, then after the first one, of course, we were scared awfully bad and the old timers said theyâd never seen nothing like that. It seemed so fine. Our house was sealed but that dust come through somehow. Even those stucco houses by all around the doors and windows, the dust would be all piled so high and you just had to mop real good when it was over to get them out, you just couldnât them out any other way.
Interviewer: How long did it last?
Robertson: Well, sometimes a real bad one would last for half a day. Sometimes it would be week before we would see the sun, it was just darkened. And sometimes the cloud would look black. Sometimes it would look red. It just according on which way the wind comes whether it was the red dirt was blowing over or the black dirt, or according to the way the storm was coming. And we had cattle, we had cows that we gave, $60 and some $90 in pure old money. And it killed them. They was out in this. And we would cut their lungs open and it looked just like a mud pack or something. It just really showed it was the mud.
Interviewer: First you have the flood, and then the grasshoppers and then the dust storms.
Robertson: Yes, and we waited, it was about five years before we just really give up. But every year we began going back. We were in debt so much we thought we never could get out.
Interviewer: Think you would want to come to California.
Robertson: Well, youâve got a (???) to stay in that. Thereâs too many that has that pneumonia now, and it gives too many people TB.
Interviewer: Thatâs when you wrote that little poem about the dust storm.
Robertson: Yes.
Interviewer: Could we hear that? Would you mind reading that to me?
Robertson: Well, Iâll try, but I donât know how good it all is. I came to Oklahoma before it was a state. Along the shiny (???), I roam from (???). We were happy, healthy people, proud to live in that state. One dark lonely day, and what a sight we did see. A thick smothering dust cloud swept over the prairie. Killed many people and almost smothered me. We waited in hope almost five years through. More people and cattle died, and more dust storms came, too. Then we decided on something that weâd better do. We loaded a few things into an old
car. Hoping west to go very far. We landed at the government camp on a flat tar. So tired and hungry, hearts thick and dirty, too. Here we found food and shelter, too. The California people sure are good to you.
Interviewer: You wrote another one too, didnât you about.... Oh, I'm sorry you hadn't finish that.
Robertson: Intense (???) camp like Abram of old. Thank God for a country and a land that is free. Weâre so glad that our flag is the red, white and blue. (???)
image backup
"We had cows.... And it killed them. They was out in this. We would cut their lungs open and it looked just like a mud pack." Mrs. Flora Robertson gives a description of her life in Oklahoma in the 1930s.
I think this interview tells an amazing part of American history that is talked too little about, so that this current generation has forgotten about the Dust Bowl. She says they experienced conditions like what ancient Egypt experienced during the time of Moses, with darkness so thick that people could not see one another even with a lamp lit.
Interview with Flora Robertson about Dust Storms in Oklahoma, August 5, 1940 old transcript (better version below)
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/media/afc/toddsonkin/afc1985001_afs04120a1.mp3
audio backup: http://John1126.com/share/20250521-Flora-Robertson-describes-the-dust-storms.mp3
Flora Robertson: We looked in the north and thought it was the Blue Northern coming. Such a huge black cloud just looked like a smoke out of a train stack or something.
image backup
Interviewer: About what time of day?
Robertson: About 4 oâclock, 1934. And uh, I just kind of rolled over and got near to the house we was all afraid and we run into the storm house because we thought it was a storm. And uh, we lit the lamp and it was just so dark in there that we couldnât see one another, we just had to, even with the lamp lit, and we just. So mother and my husband was out after the cows and he stumbled up against the barbed wire fence and he followed the fence âtil they come to the house and that way he was able to get to the house. And uh, we had to tie wet rags over our mouths. And, just to keep from smothering, we dipped clothes in the buckets of water and tied over our mouths down in the cellar,
um, that one lasted so fierce for about two hours and then we took trash and ⌠that wasnât going to blow away and we went in the house. And we wet blankets and hung over the windows. And uh, then after the first one, of course, we were scared awfully bad and the old timers said theyâd never seen nothing like that. It seemed so fine. Our house was sealed but that dust come through somehow. Even those stucco houses by all around the doors and windows, the dust would be all piled so high and you just had to mop real good when it was over to get them out, you just couldnât them out any other way.
Interviewer: How long did it last?
Robertson: Well, sometimes a real bad one would last for half a day. Sometimes it would be week before we would see the sun, it was just darkened. And sometimes the cloud would look black. Sometimes it would look red. It just according on which way the wind comes whether it was the red dirt was blowing over or the black dirt, or according to the way the storm was coming. And we had cattle, we had cows that we gave, $60 and some $90 in pure old money. And it killed them. They was out in this. And we would cut their lungs open and it looked just like a mud pack or something. It just really showed it was the mud.
Interviewer: First you have the flood, and then the grasshoppers and then the dust storms.
Robertson: Yes, and we waited, it was about five years before we just really give up. But every year we began going back. We were in debt so much we thought we never could get out.
Interviewer: Think you would want to come to California.
Robertson: Well, youâve got a (???) to stay in that. Thereâs too many that has that pneumonia now, and it gives too many people TB.
Interviewer: Thatâs when you wrote that little poem about the dust storm.
Robertson: Yes.
Interviewer: Could we hear that? Would you mind reading that to me?
Robertson: Well, Iâll try, but I donât know how good it all is. I came to Oklahoma before it was a state. Along the shiny (???), I roam from (???). We were happy, healthy people, proud to live in that state. One dark lonely day, and what a sight we did see. A thick smothering dust cloud swept over the prairie. Killed many people and almost smothered me. We waited in hope almost five years through. More people and cattle died, and more dust storms came, too. Then we decided on something that weâd better do. We loaded a few things into an old
car. Hoping west to go very far. We landed at the government camp on a flat tar. So tired and hungry, hearts thick and dirty, too. Here we found food and shelter, too. The California people sure are good to you.
Interviewer: You wrote another one too, didnât you about.... Oh, I'm sorry you hadn't finish that.
Robertson: Intense (???) camp like Abram of old. Thank God for a country and a land that is free. Weâre so glad that our flag is the red, white and blue. (???)
May 21, 2025, 11:06:53 PM | by Admin