Tag: Broomcorn
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The years 1934 and 1935 were arguably about as tough as the Dust Bowl ever got in Baca County. The country was dry, crops were failing, dirt was moving and times were already plenty hard without Mother Nature piling on. Yet buried in the newspapers from those two years is a curious part of the…
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The arrival of the railroad in Baca County in 1926 changed the possibilities for the county’s growing broomcorn industry. Distance had long been one of the greatest obstacles facing farmers on the isolated southeastern Colorado plains. Broomcorn might command a good price in distant markets, but getting bulky bales to those markets was another matter.…
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Several people have recently asked a straightforward question: “Are you using AI for any of the Broomcorn Book?” The short answer is: Yes, absolutely. Mostly, it is to speed up picture corrections. The topic of broomcorn is one that doesn’t have a lot of content available other than the The longer, more nuanced answer involves…
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Reference: Martin, Arthur. The story of broomcorn. 1950. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/56245. (Accessed April 23, 2026.). Public domain. Published 1923-1977 in U.S. without printed copyright notice. Contact dcc@library.uiuc.edu for information.
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How a 1912 newspaper campaign taught farmers across the Midwest and High Plains how to grow a forgotten crop In the spring of 1912 the Springfield Democrat-Herald began running a series of articles under the headline:The articles looked practical and straightforward. They explained how to prepare the soil, how many seeds to plant per rod,…
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History often hides in plain sight. We have often written of the Jennings clan’s time in Southeast Colorado. Much of that is in my book “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come,” We recently stumbled upon a remarkable photograph of a routine day in Woodward, Oklahoma, dated 1901, showing broomcorn being delivered. But behind the…
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In 2014 I gave a talk at the Baca County Museum about a topic I’d heard about my whole life— broomcorn. Ironic, I suppose, that I would give a talk on this topic. I don’t really remember broomcorn and didn’t know much about it. What I knew while giving the talk is that I knew…
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In 1905, the Rocky Mountain News dismissed the “flat country” of Baca and Prowers as good for “nothing… but broomcorn”—a cash crop that, paired with cane for feed, kept families afloat even as storms and feed shortages killed herds. A generation later, that same “nothing but broomcorn” would be recast as a badge of identity…
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Baca County History Book Reprint Nears Final Proof — and Volume II Submissions Coming Soon The reprint of the original 1983 Baca County History Book is one step closer to completion. After sending off the first proof copy earlier this month, we’ve been carefully reviewing every page, making improvements to ensure the final product is…
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When I give talks about technology and innovation, I often draw on an unconventional example. One of my favorites is broomcorn—that old-fashioned crop which was a cash crop staple for many years where I grew up and was once essential for making hand-tied ‘straw’ brooms. At first glance, it seems like a footnote in agricultural…
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