"In Texas, there is still the drought against which all other droughts are measured: the seven-year dry spell in the 1950s. It was so devastating that agriculture losses exceeded those of the Dust Bowl years, and so momentous that it kicked off the modern era of water planning in Texas."
"From 1950 to 1957, the sky dried up and the rain refused to fall. Every day, Texans scanned the pale-blue heavens for rainclouds, but year after year they never came.
The ground desiccated and cracked open, and eventually, cattlemen had to sell off their herds. Some moved to town and never went back to the ranch.
The people of the Edwards Plateau in west-central Texas, the epicenter of what many rural Texans still call 'the drouth,' can recollect the drought of the 1950s that changed the state forever."
John Burnett reports for NPR's Weekend Edition July 7, 2012.
SEE ALSO:
"Portraits: Texas Ranchers Remember An Epic Drought" (NPR)
"Texas Seeks New Water Supplies Amid Drought" (NPR)
"As Colorado River Dries Up, The West Feels The Pain" (NPR)
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