Devastating Hailstorm Wipes Out Union Flat Crops
A severe localized hail storm destroys 200 acres of prime winter wheat, leaving a local farmer to contemplate quitting the business.
S. A. Davis, chairman of the board of county commissioners, is much discouraged over his recent severe loss of grain caused by a hail storm which visited his section last week. Mr. Davis lost 200 acres of fall-sown wheat, which was in head and promised an immense crop. He estimates his loss at $4000. The hail storm was severe; hailstones as large as hen's eggs fell, cutting the grain off and beating it into the ground. Mr. Davis lives on Union flat, about 10 miles southwest of Pullman. He is very much discouraged because of his loss, and says a man unlucky enough to have grain on four-sixths of the country visited by hail should quit farming.
“A man unlucky enough to have grain on four-sixths of the country visited by hail should quit farming.”
Crop failure due to extreme weather has always been a constant threat to Washington's agricultural backbone. The tension between resilient farming and the reality of climate-driven disaster is as palpable in the Palouse today as it was in 1898.
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