Night Rain in Leslie Gulch

In 1937, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was created as part of the New Deal to lift people out of rural poverty wrought by drought and the Great Depression. It is widely known today for its photography program that, from 1935 to 44, produced some eighty-thousand incomparable images of participants.^¹

Malheur County in Oregon, where I’ll be the next couple days, received many FSA settlers. No doubt many of their descendants remain.

Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee came to photograph the area for the FSA in 1939 and 1941. I have always been enamored of how unchanged these lands seem from their molten beginning a million years ago. Lee’s and Lange’s pictures substantiate that impression.

Original caption: “The cream truck coming down the road represents one steady element in the new settlers’ income.”

0. Photo LC-USF34-021440-E by Dorothea Lange (October 1939): https://loc.gov/…/2017773853/
1. Wikipedia, “Farm Security Administration”: https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Farm_Security_Administration

Desert bus (1939)*

I am always surprised that it appears to be in use when I pass tiny Rockville School on the gravel road to Leslie Gulch. Other than paint, it looks no different than the quaint schoolhouses erected by settlers a century ago.

Original caption: “School bus starts up the flat 7:30 a.m. to collect children of new settlers. Malheur County, Oregon.”

0. Photo LC-USF34-021440-E by Dorothea Lange (October 1939): https://loc.gov/…/2017773661/

Settlers not only had to eek a living out of dust but suffered the stereotype of being worthless socialists for accepting government aid.^¹ For me, their images seem just the opposite, evoking quintessential America. That too is the feeling I have riding across these wide open spaces that offer clear views across time.

Original caption: “The farthest house up Cow Hollow. Family came from Oklahoma. Malheur County, Oregon.”

0. Photo LC-USF34-021301-E by Dorothea Lange (October 1939): https://loc.gov/…/2017773703/
1. See Sidney Baldwin, “Poverty and Politics: The Rise and Decline of the Farm Security Administration”

You are never far in the Owyhees from deserted homesites, abandoned hopes. If you stop at one and look closely you may find old stepping stones and the outline of a garden. But this is a land that wears hard against legacy, hastening the fate that awaits every human endeavor.

Original caption: “New farm in Cow Hollow, Malheur County, Oregon. Note basement dugout house and excavation for new house in foreground.”

0. Photo LC-DIG-fsa-8b35171 by Dorothea Lange (October 1939):
1. https://loc.gov/…/2017773756/

Original caption: “The Fairbanks family has moved to three different places on the project in one year. Willow Creek area, Malheur County, Oregon.”

0. Photo LC-DIG-fsa-8b35107 by Dorothea Lange (October 1939):
1. https://loc.gov/…/2017773665/

Original caption: “The Fairbanks home. Willow Creek area, Malheur County, Oregon.”

0. Photo LC-USF34-021260-E by Dorothea Lange (October 1939):
1. https://loc.gov/…/2017773665/