Drowning in Dirt:

Joseph Hutton and the Dustbowl

A soil scientist’s quest to save the farmer by preserving the land

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Joseph Hutton, one of the first soil scientists of South Dakota, brought a new concept to the state: not all soil was the same. And different soils required different farming practices in order to be sustainable. When Hutton arrived in 1911, he studied the negative effects of farming practices of the day which depleted the soil nutrients and caused erosion.

Hutton predicted the dust Bowl 20 years before it happened!

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This traveling exhibit was created in 2022 by the South Dakota Agricultural Museum of Brookings in partnership with the SD Humanities Council. The exhibit will  foster an understanding of early soil conservation and the effects the drought had on farmers of the 1920s and 1930s in South Dakota through the eyes of Joseph Hutton, SDSU soil scientist.

 

This exhibit utilizes Hutton’s photography, poetry, speeches, and research notes to illustrate the devastation the drought caused and Hutton’s cry for soil conservation. The exhibit is laid out by topic and will feature Yankton County Artifacts from the 1930s. 

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