1936 Drought in Christian County, Kentucky

Plow covered by sand in Oklahoma

This photo of a single bottom plow, half-buried in sand, was taken in Oklahoma in the spring of 1936. Drought hit Kentucky that year, too.

According to the June 17, 1936 edition of the Kentucky New Era, record-breaking temperatures of 99° had been recorded two days in a row in Christian County. Some areas of the county had not received rain for two months, and no part of the county had received rain for the last four weeks. The unusual, springtime drought was having dire effects.

The county agent [W. E. Wiedeburg] said pastures are suffering heaviest among crops of this section. He stated that there will be a shortage of hay here regardless of rain during the remainder of the summer. A number of pasture[s] in the county have already dried up and disappeared, and even the best of the pastures now will have little value unless there is rain in the next two weeks.

An awful summer followed. Dry, hot weather continued in Kentucky and throughout the central area of the United States. On August 19, 1936, the Lexington Herald reported that drought relief officials in Washington D.C. were sending the Bluegrass State 100 carloads of foodstuffs and livestock feed, including "33 carloads of mill feed, 11 cars of canned beef, 50 cars of flour, one car of dry skim milk, two cars of dried peas, and three cars of prunes." In addition, the WPA would employ 8507 Kentucky farmers on drought-relief projects.