ABSTRACT
Droughts have plagued man for centuries, undoubtedly causing some of the famines referred to in the Bible. The shift in population to the arid Southwest and California has made the nation even more vulnerable to the effects of urban droughts. The 1930's have become the standard for defining drought. Short-period droughts or those occurring only at a single weather station are difficult to include and arbitrary decisions must be made to handle these occurrences. The earliest records of drought in North America are those painstakingly derived from analyses of the growth-rings of trees. The drought of 1860 also affected Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The 1860 drought had a pronounced effect on the settlement of Kansas and for years "Gloomers" were concerned that every short dry-period would lengthen into another 1860. A drought nourishes chinch bugs, sun-strokes, grasshoppers and profanity."
