Plains Farmer: The Diary of William G. Deloach, 1914-1964 (Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series, No 4)

Rating:
Summary: The TRUE Story of Early Farming on the Plains
Review: This is probably one of the most enlightening books about farming on the Plains that I have read. Farmer DeLoach kept a daily diary of his thoughts about the weather, crop prices, World War I and it's affect on life on the Plains, and other "routine" occurances. Editor Neugebauer has enhanced the content by explaining and documenting the historical events that DeLoach wrote about. For example, when farmers were shipping grain overseas during WWI, he feared starvation for people in the U.S. if the Germans kept sinking the grain shipments, yet DeLoach said no one could talk about it because of the sedition acts that had been passed. Editor Neugebauer explains the sedition acts and farmer DeLoach's fears. In another example, DeLoach mentioned that the President of the U.S. had appealed to cotton gins to shut down in an attempt to drive the price of cotton up. The attempt failed because too much of the bumper crop had already been harvested, Neugebauer explained. I found the editor's notes to be very helpful and the pen and ink illustrations to be outstanding. This book *shows* the kind of effort and persistence early farming on the Plains required.