Tag: flood

1937 February 10 “There’s no way like the American Way”

Author’s historical note:  On January 20, 1937, FDR was inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States.  After a year of political disintegration in Spain, the first major offensive of the Spanish Civil War is launched by Franco in February, 1937.

2/10/37

Dear Charley,

Don’t you owe me a letter?  There’s no point in this business of me writing all of them.

Buddy sweeping snow off tower

The enclosed picture will give you an idea of the kind of weather we have up here.  The picture was taken about two weeks ago, and the temperature was about zero.  That white stuff you see all over the ground is snow, in case you’ve forgotten.

The ground is about 30 feet below me, and there is a stiff wind trying to blow me overboard, but it didn’t succeed.  Last week, we had to move all the straw and put that big frame-work to the left where the straw is in the picture.  They gave me ten men to do the job, so it wasn’t hard.

But Indiana weather isn’t always cold.  It keeps you guessing just what it will do.  Two days ago, I was working in the same place, and it was so warm, I had to take my shirt off!  And this morning, the temperature is again zero.  The picture is on top of the Purdue Airport Hanger, and due to its height, a strong wind is usually blowing.  That wire diagonally across the center of the picture is not an aerial, but a guy-wire to keep the frame-work from blowing overboard.  Although this frame weighs nearly a ton, the wind gets so strong that it would blow it off the roof if it were not tied down.  Even when tied, it will shimmy like heck when a strong wind hits it.

How’s school?  I’m not going to school any more, but I have to study nevertheless.  Ask your mother for an explanation of this phenomena.  She should have a copy of my explanation to the folks, as I asked them to forward it to her.  If she hasn’t received it yet, let me know.

Famous image of African American flood victims lined up to get food and clothing at Red Cross relief station in front of billboard ironically extolling “World’s highest standard of living. There’s no way like the American way”. Original title of the picture: “The Louisville Flood”.*

I wonder if Aunt Sissy** was in the flood in Louisville?*** I’ll bet she was, because they needed all the nurses they could get to take care of the sick people.  They sent about half a dozen nurses down there from here.  They almost sent me down there as a truck driver with the R.O.T.C., but I guess they didn’t need us or something.  Imagine me as a truck driver.

Purdue R.O.T.C. photo from archives

Well, Charley, I have to study for three hours, eat lunch, work for four hours, and then study for four more.  So I think I better close.  Drop me a line when you can, and don’t let that arithmetic get you.  It almost got me last semester, but I fooled it.  The best way to learn arithmetic is to do a lot of problems, even if it means doing more problems than the teacher assigns.

Love, Buddy.

*See: http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/there-no-way-like-american-way-1937/

**Emma Stafford, Buddy’s sister; nicknames for her included “Sissy” and “Jack”.  She was a nurse and lived with the Cheshires, a well-to-do family in Louisville.  They had a daughter who was mentally retarded and Emma helped care for her.

Emma Stafford (a/k/a “Aunt Sissy” or “Jack”) 1937

***From January 18 to February 5, 1937,  the great Ohio River Flood left more than one million people homeless.

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1938 April 12 Spring Flood

4/12/38

Dear Marty:

Boy, is this place a mess!  I have notebooks all over the place, and a swell collection of slightly soiled clothes.  I’m too lazy to look up my last letter, so I shall just mention a few of the things I’ve been doing.

I was elected to Eta Kappa Nu, honorary electrical society, a few weeks back.  I am now being initiated, and it is very disgusting.  I have to carry everything but the kitchen sink with me.  Rough initiation is in the form of a series of damned hard problems.  Some of the fellows work on them all night without getting the solution.  I’d almost rather have my rear paddled.  The problems are from any field of electricity from hair drying motors to vacuum tubes.

The Wabash is way up, although no danger.  Understand you’re having a little heat out there.  (Landlady’s son is out there).  Temperature here is just nice, 70.  Of course, we had about three weeks of liquid sunshine for a while.

Sat. was spent taking a bunch of river pictures.  Two of them came out quite well from a scenic standpoint, although they don’t show the water too well.  A couple of the others show lots of water.  The one I have enclosed was taken from the understructure of the Brown Street bridge (upstream from the levee) and pointing over towards the campus from the east side of the river.  The shadow of the bridge is in the foreground, and the normal edge of the river is shown by the tops of the trees sticking out where I’ve marked them.  The river must be over half a mile wide at this point.  I wish I could send copies of all of these pictures to my friends, but I’d go broke in the process.

Sunday two of us walked up the North River Road for more pictures.  As the road is under water, we had to wade.  I saw a boat caught in some bushes a few yards from shore, and started to wade out after it.  I got caught by the current and had to swim back, as the water was well over my head.  I’m probably one of the few people who has ever swum from the Wabash River to the River Road, especially in April.  Boy, that water was cold.

[ Caption from Buddy’s photo album: “North of Lafayette along the River Road.  Jim was on the road and I was going out after the boat and went in to my waist.  He asked me to go back in to get the picture.  Just after the picture was taken, the ground I was standing on washed away and I had to swim back from the Wabash River to the River Road.  Yours truly wringing out shirt after soaking.  Air temperature was about 45 and water must have been about 38.  Taken by J.P. Hope, April 10, 1938 a little after noon.”]

I took off my jacket and shirt, and soon ripped the legs off my pants, as it was warmer with nothing on my legs than with the wet trou dangling there.  The fellow who was with me got my picture just before I got washed away, and has been kicking himself ever since for not waiting.  He says I looked slightly scared, although I didn’t have time to feel that way myself.  The water was quite swift, and about 36 degrees.  We went from there up to the new by-pass (see map on other side—it is to let truck traffic get by Lafayette without going up Salisbury and keeping the people awake all night).  We took quite a few pictures from the understructure of it also.  We took one of the bridge which should be quite good.  It is looking lengthwise and shows a lot of pretty engineering symmetry (oh, nuts—you spell it).

One of the dinky street-cars broke loose at the top of the hill last Friday night, coasted down the hill, and slammed to a stop on a steel trolley-support pole at the start of the levee.   Jim and I went down and took a picture of it that night, and it came out quite well.

Well, enough about photography.  I’m yet trying to catch up on my work.  I’m not very interested in the stuff, though, so I don’t try too hard.

My last polished article back-fired.  I got in a hurry towards the end and slipped in a couple of erroneous calculations.  I’ve gotten only one fan letter from it, and it may go unnoticed.  I have written the editor and requested that a correction be inserted in next month’s issue.  I could kick myself, because if I had read it over, I would have noticed the error immediately.  It is a very simple one, and easy to make.  The answer is approximately correct, but not absolutely so.  Well, even smart people make mistakes.

I’m writing a book now on my experiences in college.  I hope I get it finished someday and can find a publisher for it.

Well, I must scram to dinner and then come home and prepare for my afternoon lab.  Drop me a line when you can.

73,  Cy.

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