Wisconsin Heat Wave 1936 Records and Crop Damage Report
A review of July 1936 Wisconsin news highlights a 11 day heat wave with multiple days above 100 degrees. Reports cite 110 degree highs, state crop losses including oats and corn, fires in forests, and a drought relief plan by President Roosevelt affecting 170000 farm families. Gov La Follette announces aid after a statewide crop survey finds pasture destruction and hay being prioritized for forage.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Wisconsin
Franklin D Roosevelt
Phil la Follette
Farmer recalls dry summers in Marathon County 1930s
Albert Hoff, a Spencer Township dairy farmer now 90, remembers the hot dry summers from 1931 to 1936. He recalls horses dying in the fields, feeding difficulties, corns and oats drying up, and farmers chopping tree leaves for livestock. He and relatives drilled a water well at 11 feet, aided by a local water witcher nicknamed Shorty Hoff.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Marathon County
Albert Hoff
Spencer Township
Shorty Hoff
Hard Times of 1936 Hay Shortage Told by Farmers
Merle Hebbring and neighbors describe a harsh 1936 season with extreme hay shortages forcing cattle moves from Chippewa to Sawyer County. They pastured on public land and cutover areas no longer used, while others cut hay by hand in marshes with scythes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sawyer County
Chippewa County
Hebbring
Summer of 1936 Reflections From Rural Wisconsin Farm Life
Martha Bloomer recalls extreme heat and wood stove cooking in 1936 southeast of Ladysmith Rusk County as her daughter was born at home. She describes daily bread baking, threshing demands, and hand milking cattle amid drought followed by heavy rains, with WPA workers cutting hay in marshes. Merle Hebbring notes tents, cattle in wild pasture, and a volatile dry season turning to muddy fall.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Martha Bloomer
Ladysmith
Rusk County
Thomas
Hebbring
Stanley
Chippewa County
Mr. Hebbring
Merle Hebbring
Kelcher recalls hot summer of 1936 in Minnesota
Martin Kelcher, a former Soil Conservation Service worker and farmer, remembers the 1936 heat near Winona Minnesota when farmers signed up for a pilot soil conservation program. He recalls lighting a wooden match that wouldn’t flame in near 100 degree heat and milking cows by hand in a sweltering barn, sweating heavily and drinking lots of water.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Martin
Pat) Kelcher
Winona
Minnesota
Minnesota Bluffs
Kelcher
Soil Conservation Service
Eau Claire
Remembering the 1936 heat and $50 farmer credit
A speaker recalls the summer of 1936 when crops failed due to heat and drought. He highlights a $50 credit limit for farmers at Bloomer Co-op, which he managed for many years, noting the cautious stance the co-op took amid looming crop failure.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bloomer Co-op
Recollection of 1936 Wisconsin heat and austerity
Former Polk County Agent Arno Dittbrenner recalls a brutally hot summer of 1936 while on Racine County Vocational Agriculture School staff. He describes scarce workloads, cattle shipped by rail to Bayfield, Rusk and Sawyer counties for pasture, and farmers improvising by hand cutting hay between stump remnants to feed livestock through winter.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Polk County
Arno Dittbrenner
Racine County Vocational Agriculture School
Racine County
Dittbrenner
Bayfield County
Wisconsin
Rusk
Sawyer
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