Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/222

 of horses and prices had gradually declined to a lower figure than ever before known. When it became apparent that the corn crop was ruined, hay reduced to one-fourth the usual yield and pastures dried up, nearly every farmer found himself short of feed. Thousands of horses were sold at from ten to twenty dollars per head to buyers who came from other States; young cattle were sacrificed at ruinous prices and hogs of all ages were disposed of at any price offered. Hundreds of the poorer horses were killed when they could not be sold, to save them from starvation. Still there were localities in the State where sufficient rain fell to mature the crops, so that in the aggregate the State produced over 128,000,000 bushels of corn and over 107,000,000 bushels of oats. The next year the yield of corn was 285,000,000 bushels and of oats 201,000,000. The hay and forage crops generally suffered in proportion. These dry years were disastrous to the older forest trees which perished in great numbers, especially the oak and black walnut, while the white elms were seriously damaged. The older orchard trees also suffered permanent injury which eventually proved fatal over a large extent of country. As great as was the loss by this unprecedented drouth, by far the most severe that ever existed in the State, there was more than enough food grown and matured to supply its population. The greatest loss was occasioned by the selling off of young stock, which was seriously felt for many years, as stock raising had long been the most profitable branch of farming. This drouth of 1894, however, ended the lengthened dry period; the rains came again from year to year, gradually sending the moisture deep down into the soil and again maturing bountiful crops. But with the bringing of so large a proportion of the great prairies under cultivation, together with surface and tile draining of the wet lands, the water reservoirs are decreased from year to year, the springs dry up, the ponds disappear and the former wet sloughs become dry land. Consequently the