Years of drought, heat, and dust took their toll on dust bowl residents, but these were not the only trials people had to face during the 1930s. Winters were bitterly cold. Fire, insects, and other pests often swept the region. Loved ones died of illness or injury. Nevertheless, mutual support, humor, and the optimistic belief that the rains would come kept people going. Imogene Glover said, "My daddy was an optimist. I think he just kept thinking, 'Next year will be better and we'll have a good crop and we'll raise some more cattle and we'll get rich.' We never did, but he thought we would."

Blizzards and Snusters

There were plenty of challenges in addition to dust storms to test the optimism of plains residents during the 1930s. At times, it seemed as if all the forces of nature were against them...