2012 drought brings back Dust Bowl memories - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

This year's drought is so extreme that it is being compared to the Dust Bowl era in the 1930s. Eyewitness News visited a Putnam County farm to get a firsthand account of just how bad it was then, and what we're facing now.

Back in the days of black and white film, when dust storms ravaged the Great Plains and the Indy Star cost just three cents, Noble Fry was living off the land.

"I was born on a farm, and I'm 92, so I've been here all my life," he said.

A lifetime Hoosier, Noble remembers the summer of 1936.

"I can remember that it was hot and dry. That was the days that we farmed with horses," he said.

Noble and wife Edith, who is 89, have been married for 71 years. Edith remembers the toll it took on her family's farm.

"It was so hot that our garden dried up, our food supply was low."

Rising death tolls and record-setting heat made newspaper headlines. Relief was hard to find.

"No, we didn't have air conditioning. No electricity. It was gasoline lanterns," said Noble.

"We slept outdoors on the ground 'cause the house was so hot. We slept outside," said Edith.

"Drought did play a big factor in it. Our wells went dry," said Noble.

That was then. This is now on the Roachdale farm the Frys have run since 1963.

"I think it's been worse, worse than we've ever seen," said Edith.

The soybeans: "Ordinary them would be waist high. Now you see they're only about knee high," said Noble.

The corn: "Pretty sad. You see a lot of brown leaves on there. Lack of moisture," he said.

And the reality: "Even if we get adequate rain now, it won't bring back the crops. It won't help them."

The Frys know this too shall pass, just like other rough times.

"We're a family that trusts in the Lord to take care of us and we know there's a reason behind it. And we've never been hungry and we've always kept warm," said Edith.

The Frys say the drought in their eyes is much worse this year than back in the 1930s, but because of all our modern conveniences, most people outside the farming community aren't suffering as much.

Noble and Edith have three children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren, most of whom have followed in their footsteps with a love of the land, working in agriculture.