Dust Bowl- Frank Manies

In the 1930’s a huge drought caused many difficulties to farmers across the United States especially in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. During this time land had dried up because of very little rainfall. With less moisture in the soil, high winds in the plains caused dust storms. The series of dust storms was later called the Dust Bowl. Living conditions in this area of the United States were very poor, causing people to move westward bound. Frank Manies was one of those people. Now a retired schoolteacher residing in Tulare, he left his home in Oklahoma during times of struggle for a chance to come to California and experience a new and improved way of living and working. Frank Manies grew up in a small town in Stephen County, Oklahoma. Being the second youngest in his family of 6, Manies endured many hardships, such as dealing with osteomyelitis and having his mother die. He also wasn’t really into school that much, Frank says that he’s been to about 22 schools throughout his life but has moved around so much he wasn’t really interested in schooling. Manies’ father was a sharecropper, and during the Great Depression many sharecroppers had lost their jobs and were forced off their farms. Farmworkers would work in new and upcoming industrialized factories, leaving their farm in the dust.
In his early days Manies was a striving worker. He looked for work wherever he could, and even fibbed about his age to have employment. Like how the job market is today, it was hard to get a job during these times as well. Frank Manies set out to California and, in a literal sense, walked out of his state on the trail to the “land of opportunity.” Little did he know that the Civilian Conservation Corps would take him steps closer to achieve his dream.
The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, was very near and dear to Manies’ heart as a child. He longed to be a part of the Corps but wasn’t able to because of the very strict qualifications and competitiveness. Joining the CCC would be very beneficial to Frank because he would be able to learn skills and knowledge while making his way west to California. The Civilian Conservation Corps was implemented under Roosevelt’s New Deal. The CCC worked as an environmental and conservation program that would work to plant trees, build wilderness shelters, stock bodies of water with fish, and preserve historic sites. At this time, Manies was about 18, and got the chance of the lifetime. He met a man on his hitchhike to California who was eligible to go into the CCC and talked him into taking his place. Lubbock, Texas is when Frank found himself next sneaking into the examinations and tests when all of a sudden he spots an Army Officer and six candidates for the Conservation Corps crossing the street. Manies quickly jumped in the line. The officer questioned why there were seven candidates, then assumed he miscounted and let the situation slide by. Manies and the others passed their physical and were shipped out to Camp Verde, Arizona. That was the moment Frank Manies realized he was getting closer to California.
The pull to California was very significant to Manies. He felt as if California, especially the Central Valley, had many opportunities for farming and agricultural work. Frank also didn’t want to go back home because his father remarried and the family was treating him very badly. He also recalled seeing a movie about pioneers who used irrigation water to farm, which sparked his interest in farming, as well as his dad being a sharecropper. Manies saw California as a place with an abundance of jobs as well as fruit, which he always liked. When asked about something that he remembers about wanting to come to California he mentioned the Sunmaid Raisens that the hospital would give him. California was always viewed in his mind as a sunny place with a lot of opportunities because it was so populated.
After joining the CCC, Manies was allowed to travel 600 miles any way from Flagstaff, Arizona. Manies’ sister and brother-in-law were living in Tulare at the time, so that’s where Frank ended up. He was finally in California. Living in the Central Valley during these times was way different than what Manies was used to in Oklahoma. Manies described the valley as flourishing with an influx of fruits and vegetables. Although all these things were great news for farmers and members of the agricultural business, the living conditions were not that good here. Many people lived in tents and shacks with no bathrooms. The particular shack Manies stayed in had a tiny room, a kitchen and no stove, which was all shared with 3 adults and 2 little babies. There were also many people coming from Mexico and the Philippines who wanted picking jobs in the fields. Migrates from Oklahoma were also not very welcome in the valley. The migrates were called Okies or dust bowlers which were discriminatory terms that people would call them. Frank was particularly questioning the fact that the ranchers would have a great deal of negativism towards the field workers, especially when they were doing all the work for them. Manies soon finished his term in the CCC and continued to travel to different places all around California to look for jobs. At the end of it all, Frank Manies long journey to California ended up playing in his favor. He continued to stay with his sister and her family to help support them until the war broke out, just because he did not want to return to Oklahoma. Manies ended up getting married while working as a car mechanic in Southern California in the Los Angeles area. His wife wanted to return to the San Joaquin Valley, and although Frank resisted, he returned. Frank claims his reluctance was because he felt he was prosperous in the south, and felt that if he returned up north that it would be way different. Manies ended up opening a successful auto repair shop about 7 miles away from Visalia. He feels that even though the beginning was pretty rough, he’s glad he made the decision to come to California. He now lives with a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment because of all the factors he’s been through. Because what would life be if it didn’t have hardships and surprises.