Weather Extremes 1936 Caused Major Challenges to Sherburne Farmers

Weather extremes, the newspapers documented in 1936, wreaked havoc in Sherburne County communities.  Floods and high water in April and a ten-week drouth in August the weather played a significant role in life during a bad year in the 1930s economic depression.

The headlines of the Sherburne County Star News, in April 1936, reported high water marks on the Elk River.  Camp Cozy suffered the greatest catastrophe.  The newspaper reported flooding and ice flows destroyed footbridges crossing the Elk River.  High water destroyed cabins along the river.  Yet, these reports seemed only a precursor to the weather extremes of later in the year. 

In the summer months, heat waves burned crops and killed people in the upper Midwest.  The St Paul newspapers in the summer 1936 reported 100 people dying from heat.  Newspapers noted the heat allowed men to fry eggs on the city pavement.  The heat in Sherburne County seemed lower, yet still destructive.  A ten-week drouth ruined crops throughout the farming communities of Sherburne County. 

The county newspaper reported a lack of rain from June to August 1936.  The heat seemed so oppressive entire families slept outdoors to possibly catch an evening breeze.  By August 13, the newspaper reported “66 days without an appreciable rain.”  When it finally rained, hailstorms wiped out any crops that might have survived. 

On a positive note, the newspapers reported a good hay crop.  Dairy and cattle farmers may survive the drouth as indications suggested farmers held on to a surplus of hay from 1935 and managed an early harvest in 1936. 

A reprieve from extreme weather conditions in September provided relief to the county.  Along with aid from WPA programs, farmers in Sherburne County survived another season of weather extremes.

Farm Protests in 1930s Sherburne County

Front Page Headline from Sherburne County Star News, October 1933

Farm prices and foreclosures in 1932 generated a radical reaction by farmers in Sherburne and Anoka Counties that revealed a unique effort at organizing the Minnesota farm industry into a unified organization.  After nearly a decade of falling produce prices and rising foreclosures, nationally, farmers organized what became known as the National Farmers Holiday Association.  More commonly known as the Holiday Movement, the group advocated for sympathetic refinancing on farm debt and it suggested the federal government guarantee farmers a minimum income to cover production costs.

The Holiday Movement, originally organized in Iowa, made itself known in Sherburne county in October 1932.  Farmers and sympathizers tried negotiating with the state legislature for relief in the midst of the Economic Depression with no results.  In the second week of October farmers set out pickets to prevent truckers from delivering produce to the markets in the Twin cities.  The pickets attempted blocking the roads leading from Elk River to Minneapolis. 

The pickets received an unusual signal of sympathy from local police.  Police had organized the truckers into caravans, forcing the trucks through picket lines with minimal difficulty.  Blockades along Highway 10 the police escort halted the caravans and gave the picketers 10 minutes to appeal to the truckers to stop their deliveries.  After ten minutes the caravan proceeded into Anoka County and to their delivery points. 

State Highway Commissioner Charles Babcock broke the protest a week later.  After investigating the issue, Babcock used the authority of the Highway Patrol to prevent any halting of traffic on state highways.  The picketers reacted to the law enforcement by placing nail studded boards and rubber belts in the roadway.   After a few days of this angry reaction the picket lines disappeared.  The protest was broken. 

Although the farm protest lost this battle, they won the war.  In February 1933, newly elected Governor Floyd B. Olson issued an executive order halting farm foreclosures in Minnesota.  Nationally, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Farm Credit Association and the Agriculture Adjustment Act providing further aid to farmers. 

Briefly, because of plummeting farm prices and increasing foreclosures, the United States experienced a radical farm movement unusual to the industry.  Farmers in Sherburne and Anoka County played significant roles in expressing dissatisfaction to the state and national leadership.