Dirty Thirties is the sobriquet commonly applied to the agricultural crisis in the drylands of southern Saskatchewan that coincided with the Great Depression, and it is often assumed that prior to this period healthier, normal conditions prevailed. In Happyland, Curtis McManus contends that the Dirty Thirties, as we understand the terms to mean agricultural devastation, drought, misery, starvation, and land abandonment, actually began much earlier and were contacted only peripherally to the Depression itself.McManus's study begins in 1908, the year in which the south plains of Saskatchewan were settled. The first of the devastating droughts struck the south plains in 1914, and this set in motion patterns that continued with dulling momotony until 1937. Between 1917 and 1924, in particular, as many as 30, 000 people abandoned the south and west plains of the province due to agricultural failure caused by drought but also by faulty farming techniques that stripped and pulverized the soil, making it even more vulnerable; thousands more fled during the Dirty Thirties proper.The book's title is an ironic reference to Happyland, a rural municipality in the drought-ravaged dryland district. McManus has mined the rarely consulted records of rural municipalities, as well as government documents, ministerial correspondence, local community histories, newspapers, and publications of relevant government departments, to tell this story that has yet been told - a story of a quarter-century of stubborn persistence, but also of absurdity, dispair, social dislocation, moral corrosion, and inconsistent and often inept government policy.--pub. desc.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-303) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 971.24/02
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-sn
- ISBN
- 9781552385241 9781552385258
- LCCN
- HC117.S3
- LCCN Item number
- M36 2011eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (viii, 326 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00229049 (OCoLC)726556352 (CaOOCEL)443718
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Open access page -1
- Cover 1
- Series Information 3
- Title page 4
- Bibliographic information 5
- Dedication 6
- Table of contents 10
- Introduction: Oblivion 12
- 1: The Descent 24
- 2: “In the Thrill Zone of the Onrushing Calamity” 58
- Photos: Before the “Dirty Thirties” 104
- Interlude: A Collection of Absurdities 116
- 3: Hard Times 122
- 4: Exodus 174
- Photos: During the “Dirty Thirties” 196
- Interlude: Public Health 208
- 5: The Wreck of ’37 212
- Conclusion: Oblivion (redux) 234
- Appendices 260
- Tables A1 and A2: Population Losses: an overview 261
- Table A3: Losses of “Resident Farmers”(south and west Saskatchewan), 1917–24 263
- Table A4: Losses of General Population(south and west Saskatchewan), 1923–39 267
- Table A5: Population losses(central and south-east Saskatchewan), 1929–39 271
- Table A6 and A7: Population Increases: an overview 275
- Table A8: Tax Arrears and Tax Sale Holdings 277
- Table A9: Municipal Relief Debt and ProvincialSeed/Relief Loans 281
- Notes 284
- Bibliography 310
- Index 316
- Back Cover 338
