40 



L(U}d Plannivg Feport 



ket, alkali, and seepage, much land abandonment has 

 occurred. The total improvements on these farms 

 average less than $1,000, so that even in good years 

 the standard of living is startlingly low. 



MaUuIjiii^finent in Dry Farming. — Dry farms and 

 stock ranches are sparsely disseminated through the 

 semiarid belt along the eastern foot of the Cascades in 

 Oregon. The homes consist of rude shacks or cabins 

 devoid of all common comforts and wholly isolated. 

 Instead of being directly abandoned, tliesc farms usu- 

 ally change hands several times before finally becoming 

 unoccupied, thereby causing the financial ruin of sev- 

 eral families. Recently, hopeful back-to-the-landers 

 have reoccupied many of these farms and a new cycle 

 of loss has been initiated. 



All through southern Idaho are patches of dry wheat 

 land, which were settled between 1915 and 1920. The 

 subsequent declme in wheat prices coupled with a 

 diminution in rainfall has led to a high rate of farm 

 abandonment. Those farms in the poorer areas which 

 remain are distinctly submarginal. In Washington 

 County, for example, crop yields have reached a very 

 low level. Many farms have passed into the hands 

 of mortgage companies. 



In Utah the situation is even worse. Here, also, 

 many dry-farming areas were settled during a period 

 of heavier rainfall, and are now largely abandoned. 

 Many areas, however, are on the edge of the adequate 

 moisture belt even in good years. In many places the 

 land is worth no more than $3 to $5 per acre. The 

 water supply in some localities is so limited that drink- 

 ing water must be hauled long distances. In some 

 places the rural inhabitants have been literally starved 

 out and a large part of the land has been sold for taxes. 

 For those that remain, incomes approach the vanishing 

 point, and weeds from the abandoned acres overrun 

 the crops. Tax delinquency runs to 40 or 50 percent, 

 and in some localities it approaches 100 percent. A 

 high percentage of farm families is on public relief. 



Farther south, in New Mexico, entire conununities 

 of submarginal farms may be noted. In one area re- 

 ported from Catron and Valencia Counties the back- 

 ground is one of poor soil, alkali, and rough topography. 

 In some places wells must be drilled 100 to 400 feet to 

 jji-ocure drinking water. The expense of drilling has 

 limited the number of wells to a ratio of one to each 

 six families and many of these wells yield only brackish 

 water. Farm homes are frecjuently one- or two-room 

 shacks with dkt floors. Over a himdred families are 

 too poor to own a cow ; many are too far from a school- 

 house to allow their children to attend school. In the 

 Sandoval Basin, fully 50 percent of the rural popula- 

 tion is on public relief. Sinailar conditions exist in 

 those portions of Arizona, Nevada, and California 

 which lie in this region. 



Maladjusted Subhumid Farming. — Subhumid agricul- 

 ture in tliis region is confined to the higher mesas and 

 plateaus and to the better watered submountainous 

 uplands. One such area near Ravensdale (Lassen 

 County), Calif., lies at an elevation of 5,000 feet. 

 Killing frosts ma.v occur during any summer month, a 

 circumstance wliicli, coupled with lack of access to 

 markets, renders it almost impossible to make a living 

 from 160 acres of land. Similarly, in the higlicj- farm- 

 ing areas of Utah, the frost-free growing season is short, 

 and crop yield is precarious. Poor roads, poor rural 

 schools, and isolation due to abandonment of interven- 

 ing areas are all conducive to a lack of community life 

 and a lowered social tone. Most such areas shoidd 

 unquestionabh^ be converted to national forest. 



Arizona shows farms, and communities of farms, 

 through the pine belt, most of wliich are within the 

 limits of the national forest. A few localities can 

 support self-sufficing farms, but most of them are 

 distinctly submarginal. 



New Mexico, likewise, contains many subhumid farm 

 lands within the national forests or in partially timbered 

 areas adjacent to them. In some localities settlement 

 is so scattered as to cause a complete break-down in 

 community and social life, but in a few areas it is so 

 dense that all available patches of land are cultivated 

 with an attendant serious overgrazing of the adjacent 

 national forest. In the areas of scattered settlement 

 roads are extremely poor and usually impassable 

 during the winter months. The schools are usually 

 substandard, incomes very small, and living conditions 

 very low even in good years. The acreage of these 

 farms is restricted and yields of gardens, root crops, 

 forage, and small grains are meager. The total 

 improvements per farm average from $350 to $600, and 

 the access to market is usually very unsatisfactory. In 

 many instances these farms lie from 10 to 50 miles from 

 a market town; more rarely they lie 90 to 120 miles 

 distant. The water table stands far below the surface 

 and well drilling is but little developed. Most farms, 

 therefore, must haul domestic water from sources 

 several miles distant. Under such conditions the rate 

 of farm abandonment has been high, some farms having 

 been taken up and relinquished five or six times during 

 the last few years. Taxes are about 33 percent delin- 

 quent and charity help and relief work are quite gen- 

 eral among Anglo-American and Spanish-American and 

 Mexican farm families alike. 



Northeastern Agricultural Region 



The principal part of this region extends from the 

 lovvei Connecticut Valley to the Potomac River. 

 Southeastward from this, the Shenandoah Valley 

 extends into VLi'ginia. Toward the north, several 

 detached districts form related outliers. This region 



