Bam White
Bam White is one of the people who settled in Dalhart in 1926. Bam wanted to travel with his family further south but when their horses died in Dalhart they took it as a sign to remain there. Bam was a hardworking man but he never managed to acquire great wealth during his time. When he could no longer find work on the farms, he sold skunk hides to make money to feed his family. He became known in the community when the creators of the documentary The Plow that Broke the Land made Bam the image of their documentary. Bam had an intense respect for the land and he was among the only ones to believe that the intense plowing affected the land. He was also half Indian and because of this he always felt as if his destiny was to take care of the land where his ancestors once lived.
John McCarty
John was a man who lived in Dalhart during the sand storms. He was the editor of a small magazine in Dalhart and he was a proud man who always claimed his people were the toughest ones and boasted how they didn’t needed any help. When the situation became worse, John criticized the poor people who accepted relief from the government and also criticized those who decided to leave the Plains and move to a safer area. John was the founder of a club called The Last Man and the members who signed their allegiance to the club promised to never leave the city and to never accept help from the outside or from the government. Ironically, at the beginning of the 30s, John left Dalhart and moved to another city because he claimed he was offered a better job.
Ike Osteen
Ike Osteen is the first person interviewed by the author in 2002. Ike lived in Baca County with his parents during the Dust Bowl. The family was not rich and lived in a dugout all their lives. When their father died, it was up to Ike and his brother to earn enough money to sustain their mother and sisters. During the time when the prices dropped, the two boys earned money by using their tractors to plow land for the people. When the drought became too severe and they no longer had a job, the family split apart. Ike’s brother remained in the High Plains while his mother and sister went to the city, hoping to find a job. Ike eventually joined the army and fought in the Second World War. He survived the war and returned home, settling in Springfield Colorado.
“Uncle” Dick Coon
Dick Coon was a man who moved to Dalhart at the beginning of the 1900 to Dalhart after his city was flooded. He was the only survivor and was seen as being a lucky person. Dick Coon made himself rich by buying almost every piece of property he could get his hands on and making a lucrative business out of it. When the prices dropped, Dick Coon showed his giving side and spent everything he had on other people. Dick Coon ends up giving his lucky 100 bill to a family who could not afford to eat. He eventually died in poverty at the end of the book.
George Alexander Ehrlich
George was one of the many Russian-German immigrants who moved to the High Plains. George arrived in America in 1890 after escaping being drafted into the army. He was a poor farmer, used to working on a tough land and he eventually moved to the High Plains drawn by the Homesteading Act. He lived a beautiful and rich life together with his wife and children but when the drought came, he found himself forced to leave the lands he farmed and try his luck somewhere else.
Doctor George Waller Dawson
George Dawson was a doctor who moved to Dalhart to alleviate his health problems. While there, he got married and settled down, funding a sanatorium for those in the area. George’s dream was to be a farmer and he put all his money in the land. When the land no longer made profit, George became as poor as everyone else and spent his time helping at the soup kitchen in the town. He was a member of the Last Men Club and he was the last person in the club to remain in Dalhart.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States and he was in office during one of the hardest financial times for America. During his presidency, he tried everything he could to help the economy and his efforts made people trust in the banking system once more. He also took a great interest in the High Plains and funded a government sector that had the purpose of finding ways to repair what was broken by the farmers in the High Plains. He came up with the idea of planting trees to help protect the land still unaffected by the sand storms and his efforts saved conserve the land and helped it regenerate. He also set in motion many relief programs which helped the farmers going through financial hardship. Roosevelt was elected president three times and died in office during the Second World War. While many were against the programs imposed by Roosevelt, he was appreciated as a president because of his love for the people and because of his desire to help the nation recover from the financial collapse.
Hugh Bennett
Bennett was a scientist employed by President Roosevelt to try and come up with solutions to repair the land broken by intensive farming. He came up with different ideas but was initially shit down by members of the parliament. Bennett tried to find species of grass and other vegetation that would survive in the High Plains and that would be able to hold the ground in place. He was tasked with buying back from the people land and trying to plant grass and other form of vegetation on it to try and help the land recover. He also tried to convince the farmers to work together to conserve the land rather than try and destroy it.
Herbert Hoover
Hoover was the 31st president in America who was in office from 1929 to 1933. He was one of the people who pushed for extensive farming techniques and who refused to get involved in the efforts to try and stabilize the market when the prices dropped to a record low.
Harold Ickes
Harold was the Interior Secretary of the United States who did not believed the land in the High Plains could regenerate. Because of this, he tried to convince the president to move the people out of the Plains, relocating them in other, more sustainable areas.
Jeanne Clark
Jeanne is the second person interviewed by the author. She was born in the High Plains after her mother moved there at her doctor’s advice. Jeanne was affected by dust pneumonia just like many other children and while no one believed she will survive, she did.
Louise Walton
Louise is Jeanne Clark’s mother, a former actress who moved to the High Plains at her doctor’s recommendation. The weather in the High Plains helped Louise get better but it also almost killed her daughter. It is uncertain what happened to her when the dust storms swept the country even harder.
Harvey Foust
Harvey was the sheriff in Dalhart in the year 1931, when the bank closed. He was given the responsibility of calming the enraged people and supervising the auctions organized by the bank when a person was no longer able to pay his loans to the bank.
Melt White
Melt is Bam White oldest son. Melt moved to the High Plains together with his parents and together they endured hardships during the Dust Bowl. When Bam White was shunned by the community for agreeing to be the face of a controversial documentary, Melt continued to be proud of his father. In his adulthood, Melt returned to Dalhart where he settled down with his family.
Don Hartwell
Don Hartwell was a farmer who lived in the High Plains. He is important for the book because he left behind a diary in which he recorded his experience during the Dust Bowl. Don recorded various elements such as the ground temperature, the amount of rain and also the severity of the dust storms. Don was affected by the dust bowl just like the rest of the population and he had to separate from his wife to find work. Don also records in his diaries the time he and his wife spend apart and how it affected him.
Verna Hartwell
Verna was Don’s wife. The two had a loving relationship and they both suffered when Verna had to move to another city to find work. She tried to visit her husband as often as possible. She was the one who discovered her husband’s diary. She initially wanted to burn the diary but was later convinced to donate it.
Hi Barrick
Barrik was the sheriff in Boise City during the Dust Bowl. He was a crooked man who used to sell what he confiscated from the bootleggers.
Big Will Crawford
Big Will was a farmhand who lived near Boise City. He married a woman after he put an ad in a newspaper. Will was known for being the fattest man in his area.
Sadie White
Sadie was the woman who married Will Crawford. She worked at a garment factory where they used to make Will’s custom overalls.
Charles Goodnight
Charles was a rancher who moved his cattle from Colorado to the High Plains and eventually established the XIT ranch.
C.C. Lucas
Lucas is Hazel’s uncle who helped his sister-in-law take care of the farm after his brother died.
Louzima Lucas
Louzima was Hazel’s grandmother. She died a few hours later after Hazel’s daughter died and the two were buried on the same day.
Fred Folker
The patriarch of the Folker family who lived in the High Plains. Fred Folker had an orchard and he tried his hardest to keep the orchard alive even when the drought made it impossible to farm.
Katherine Folker
She was Fred’s wife who insisted they move back to the city when things became though in the High Plains.
Faye and Gordon
Faye and Gorden were Fred and Katherine’s Folker children.
John Johnson
He was a banker who was sent to Boise City to deal with the numerous foreclosures and to organize auctions for the properties and for the machinery the bank seized from the people.
Governor William Henry David Murray
William Henry David Murray was the person who ran for the presidency at the same time as Franklin Roosevelt.
Black Jack Ketchum
Black Jack was a robber who was executed for his crimes. During the Great Depression, he became almost a Robin Hood-like figure, being praised by the people for robbing the state. He was exhumed and buried in a better burial ground during the Dust Bowl.
Levi Herzstein
Levi was a Jewish man who settled in the High Plains. After being robbed by Black Jack, he followed him into the mountains and was fatally injured by Black Jack.
Tex Thornton
He was a rainmaker who was employed by the people in Dalhart to try and bring rain to the land. After bombing the skies, it started snowing and many attributed the snow to Tex’s efforts.
Ezra and Goldie Lowery
A family who lived in the High Plains and who canned thistles to survive the harshest times in the High Plains.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas was a man who lived in Boise City during the Dust Bowl. On the Black Sunday, he was outside when the storm came and he went blind from the dust that entered his eyes.
Alexander Hogue
Alexander is also called the artist of the Dust Bowl because of his paintings depicting the situation in the High Plains. Alexander became famous because of his paintings, which enraged the people living in the High Plains who were angry they were portrayed in a negative manner.
Arthur Rothstein
Arthur was a photographer sent to the High Plains to document the sand storms. He is the author of some of the most well-known photographs during the time.
Pare Lorentz
Pare Lorentz is the filmmaker who had the idea to produce a documentary about the High Plains and about the reason why the situation got so bad. He entitles his documentary The Plow That Broke the Plains and the documentary ended up being one of the most successful ones in his time.
