I spent the day marveling at how strong the wind was, I spent an hour tying down a roof that was about to leave. I spent a half hour taking pictures, and the wind blew into the night.

Does this sound like the start of a great book or movie? This isn't a tale from some novel. This is what happened to me on May 22, 2002. I have posted some of my best pictures of the event. Our area is still dry and winter snow is scarce. I found some great bowl pics from the early 1900's and placed them in a new category. I call it 'The Day The Sun Didn't Shine'.

Enlarge photos by clicking on thumbnail. Enlarged images load in a new window!

Another example of the destructive force of this storm is the section of roof missing on this building. This is our farms newest building and it was very exciting standing in a tractor bucket throwing rope and cable over the next section of roof to prevent further damage. Well enough wind!

Remember when, a steak and egg breakfast cost 50 cents? Flour and coffee cost a nickel a pound, and a good wage was a dollar a day. America was hurting from a recent crash on wall street (1929) and recovering was a slow and painful process. Farming and ranching went hand in hand, everyone had a milk cow and some chickens and they fed them from what was grown in their fields. That is until a major blow hit a large part of our country and more specific, the great plains. These are some of the most awesome photos I have ever seen of the event! It's pretty amazing because photography was in it's infancy. These photos may have been taken with a single shot glass negative camera. I don't know if the Brownie was available yet. Remember these storms could cover several states at the same time and the dust cloud was thousands of feet high!
The Brownie camera was first introduced in February 1900! Kodak has a flash page devoted to this amazing camera that only cost $1.00 when introduced. Click here to see Kodak's presentation.

The Day The Sun Didn't Shine!

Below are early photo's most taken around 1935