In 1935 federal and state governments teamed up to encourage farmers to re-seed large areas of the plains back to grass and to plant long rows of native trees. The idea was that the trees would help break the wind. By 1938 nearly 80 million trees had been planted in shelter-belts in Great Plains states. The government used emergency funds to pay farmers to plant trees as a crop and instructed farmers how to care for and manage the trees. Five rows of Cedar, Walnut, Willow, Mulberry and Chinese Elm were planted just yards north of our house in Grant County, Oklahoma in 1937. Some of the trees did not survive such as the Walnut, and Willow and most of the Mulberry. I would estimate the trees were planted about seven to eight feet apart. They went from east to the west completely across the center of our farm. When the trees had grown tall, Lila and I made playhouses between the rows. What a source of enjoyment we had in seclusion and in the shade of those trees. Daddy was one who always found such great ways to entertain us on the farm. He started cutting the overhanging branches away to make a "tunnel" path to where we played. We were so pleased with his endeavor and spent hours a day in our cool playhouse amid the trees. Some time later he started making a path further east and in due time the tunnel path reached all of the way to our mail box which was about a quarter of a mile east of our house. Daddy took this shady route to get our daily mail and often waited in the shade of those trees when the carrier was late. Just a year ago, I drove down the road east of our farm to reminisce the old days I spent there as a child. I was appalled at the sight of downed trees and limbs marring the image I once had of the old shelter-belt that I once loved so much. What could I have expected to see some 70 years later? The great memories of those days in the 1940’s will remain with me forever. The picture that I found above on the internet is similar, but does not do justice of the beauty of that tree tunnel where we spent so many hours as children. I would wager that some of our playhouse remains are still there.

Any copyright remains with the artist.
There is no commercial use of it.





Created December 21, 2020

Updated: 14 June, 2021

Webmaster ~ Ray Clark ~ rayclark07"at"gmail.com

Return To Depression Days

Return To Home Page