Posted on July 12, 2022 at 1:40 PM by Bill Sowers
THE RECORD BREAKING WHEAT HARVEST OF 1914
After a period of drought which brought many farming families to their knees, 1914 brought a beneficial wheat harvest which astounded everyone. C.W. Wright, editor of the "Southwestern Grain and Flour Journal" wrote a great article (with photos!) on the harvest which was published in the 1913-1914 Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. Wright's writing style is informative and entertaining and the pics are wonderful. Here's the beginning of his article:
"There are people who, knowing Kansas well, had in recent years come to believe that the commonwealth no longer was entitled to the reputation, justly gained in its youthful days as a community wherein extremes prevailed that strained the meaning of the word. And straightway Kansas followed the most bone-dry, vegetation-curling period since weather bureaus were added to Uncle Sam's official equipment, with a wheat crop of such magnitude as to necessitate requisition by the department of agriculture for new blank forms providing an additional column for the compilation of its total..."
You can read the article and enjoy pics of a Kansas wheat harvest over 100 years ago online at the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library:
THE RECORD SMASHING WHEAT CROP OF KANSAS