{"id":12948,"date":"2012-06-27T07:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=12948"},"modified":"2012-06-22T18:00:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T23:00:17","slug":"life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"Life By the Drop: When the Sky Ran Dry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-12948 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/boob_keltoncmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob_KeltoncMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12951\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob_KeltoncMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob_KeltoncMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob_KeltoncMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12951'>\n\t\t\t\tEugene &#8220;Boob&#8221; Kelton, 80, is an Upton County rancher and the brother of Elmer Kelton. \u201cFifteen dollars was the price for a ton of hay, and [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] was paying half of it,\u201d Kelton says. \u201cBut whenever the government went to pay more, the producers just raised the price of the feed. So we didn\u2019t realize any more help from the government, but the farmers that were growing the feed, they realized a little more profit. That\u2019s kind of the way things go.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/sandy_whittleycmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Sandy_WhittleycMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12955\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Sandy_WhittleycMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Sandy_WhittleycMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Sandy_WhittleycMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12955'>\n\t\t\t\tSandy Whittley, 74, grew up in San Angelo and is the executive secretary of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers\u2019 Association. \u201cThe first year it was \u201cNah, not too bad,\u201d\u201d she remembers. \u201cAnd then it was a little drier the next year. By about the third year, it was beginning to get really interesting, and then it got really serious. From then on it was just tough.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/preston_wrightcmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Preston_WrightcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Preston_WrightcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Preston_WrightcMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Preston_WrightcMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12954'>\n\t\t\t\tPreston Wright, 90, has been ranching in West Texas since 1948. He lives in Junction. \u201cIt didn\u2019t start overnight\u2014we just kinda eased into it,\u201d Wright says. \u201cAnd when we got into it, it just stayed for a while.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/mort_mertzcmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Mort_MertzcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Mort_MertzcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Mort_MertzcMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Mort_MertzcMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12953'>\n\t\t\t\tMort Mertz, 88, has been ranching in West Texas since 1954. He lives in San Angelo. \u201cIt started out west,\u201d Mertz recalls. \u201cIt tended to get dry out there and not rain, and that lack of rainfall just moved east. My dad kept saying, \u201cWe have these things; they\u2019ll just go about eighteen months. It\u2019ll break.\u201d But that\u2019s what caught everybody off guard: it didn\u2019t break. It just kept on going, and it lasted about seven years.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/charlesandnancycmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/CharlesandNancycMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12952\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/CharlesandNancycMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/CharlesandNancycMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/CharlesandNancycMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12952'>\n\t\t\t\tBrother and sister Nancy Hagood Nunns, 70, and Charles Hagood, 59, grew up in a ranch family that has had operations in West Texas since the nineteenth century. &#8220;There were no ticks in the fifties,&#8221; Nancy remembers. &#8220;It was just too dry for them.&#8221; Charles has been a banker and rancher in Junction since 1979. \u201cI grew up in Junction and then went into the banking business, and I would visit with men that I\u2019d always known as carpenters, painters, merchants,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then visiting with them in deeper detail, I\u2019d find out that they had been ranchers until the drought. Just like my daddy. The drought drove us to town. And that happened all over West Texas\u2014it drove people to town.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/stanley-mayfieldcmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Stanley-MayfieldcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Stanley-MayfieldcMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Stanley-MayfieldcMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Stanley-MayfieldcMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12956'>\n\t\t\t\tStanley Mayfield, 93, is the owner of the Mayfield Ranch in Sutton, Edwards, and Hudspeth counties, where it was so dry that when his son was born in 1956, he called him \u201cSeco\u201d (Spanish for \u201cdry\u201d). &#8220;When it gets dry, it gets dry,&#8221; he says. &#8220;You try to live with it till it rains. And you look every day to see if it\u2019s gonna rain.&#8221;\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/bill_schneemancmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Bill_SchneemancMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Bill_SchneemancMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Bill_SchneemancMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Bill_SchneemancMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12949'>\n\t\t\t\tBill Schneemann, 77, has been raising cattle in West Texas since 1954. He lives in Big Lake and describes himself as a \u201csemi-tired, wore-out rancher.\u201d  \u201cAfter my wife and I got married, her brother drove home from Texas Tech through a duster in Lamesa,\u201d Schneemann recalls. \u201cThe first thing I noticed was that his license plate was as shiny as could be. It didn\u2019t have any paint left on it.\u201d \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/27\/life-by-the-drop-when-the-sky-ran-dry\/boob-kelton2cmichaelobrien\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob-Kelton2cMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-12950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob-Kelton2cMichaelOBrien-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob-Kelton2cMichaelOBrien-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/Boob-Kelton2cMichaelOBrien-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-12950'>\n\t\t\t\t&#8220;Boob&#8221; Kelton had to sell off his herds during the drought of record. &#8220;After you feed a few years and it doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s any relief a-comin\u2019, you\u2019ve spent most all your money on feed, so it\u2019s best to sell \u2019em,&#8221; he says. &#8220;And that\u2019s what we did. They were all gone, and you\u2019d just look out there in the pasture and there wasn\u2019t anything. Kind of depressing. It\u2019s kind of like losing your children. It\u2019s just bad. They\u2019re part of the family just like everybody else.&#8221;\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/18\/coming-friday-a-special-report-on-the-drought\/waterpanel-kutad\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-12808\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-12808\" title=\"Life By the Drop\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/WaterPanel-KUTad-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/WaterPanel-KUTad-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/WaterPanel-KUTad-620x446.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2012\/06\/WaterPanel-KUTad.jpeg 625w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While the drought we&#8217;re only now making real progress out of is still fresh in every Texan&#8217;s mind, there&#8217;s a whole generation in the state that can remember a time that was arguably more trying.<\/p>\n<p>The drought of record in the 1950s lasted for seven years. Imagine seven 2009s or 2011s back to back and you&#8217;ll get the idea. It was an event that changed the state forever.<\/p>\n<p>The voices of that drought can still teach us something today. NPR&#8217;s John Burnett traveled to West Texas to hear firsthand from the survivors of the drought of record, and in his audio report below (and the slideshow above), you can listen to what those voices remember.\u00a0And you can\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/2012-07-01\/feature3.php\">read the full story in Texas Monthly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h5><strong>This report is part of the series\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/life-by-the-drop\/\">Life By the Drop: Drought, Water and the Future of Texas<\/a>,<\/em> a\u00a0<\/strong><strong>collaboration with KUT News and<em>\u00a0Texas Monthly <\/em>and StateImpact Texas.\u00a0<\/strong><strong>You can listen to<em>\u00a0<\/em>a special one-hour audio report from the series<\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/p1ODOS-3sX\">\u00a0here at StateImpact Texas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><strong>And you can learn more about the history of the drought at our interactive web page,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/drought\/\">Dried Out: Confronting the Texas Drought<\/a>, and share your thoughts on Twitter with the hashtag #txwater.<\/strong><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the drought we&#8217;re only now making real progress out of is still fresh in every Texan&#8217;s mind, there&#8217;s a whole generation in the state that can remember a time that was arguably more trying. The drought of record in the 1950s lasted for seven years. Imagine seven 2009s or 2011s back to back and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":12951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[61,140,179,85],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}