American Outback: The Oklahoma Panhandle in the Twentieth Century (review)

This well-researched book compiles four of Richard Lowitt's previously published essays into one volume. Lowitt argues that the state's panhandle—cut off geographically and historically from the rest of Oklahoma—holds a "degree of exceptionalism, an outback status, that merits examination as a separate entity" (p. 16). The relationship between rural land use, the "elemental forces of nature" (p. 9), and human ingenuity, suggests the author, is vital for understanding the historical development of the region and its people. While the panhandle was an unsettled no-man's-land at the turn of the century, adequate annual rainfall and success with Kafir corn and grain sorghum made the 1920s a period of prosperity for the area's farmers and ranchers. Economic success also allowed panhandle residents to use new forms of power machinery in an effort to modernize and streamline their operations.

Like other histories of the Great Plains, this work shows that drought, dust, and economic depression during the 1930s undermined agricultural prosperity in the panhandle. The author emphasizes that a plunge in crop and livestock prices led to a significant drop in the regional population. However, it is not always clear where Lowitt sits in the debate that continues to divide historians who study the history of the Dust Bowl. Was irrigated farming and modern machinery critical in shaping adverse environmental conditions across the panhandle? Or did human ingenuity and perseverance reflect an undying spirit among farmers and ranchers to overcome an unfortunate, but uncontrollable, natural disaster? Readers may be disappointed that American Outback does not go further in uncovering the degree to which modern farming practices before the 1930s amplified the environmental conditions, economic situation, and cultural atmosphere of the Dust Bowl years.

Despite this criticism, Lowitt deserves praise for his discussion of human adaptation to economic and environmental hardship. Significantly, he counters Paul Bonnifield's notion that New Deal agencies acted as merely "useful" in easing the pressures created by Dust Bowl conditions. Particularly important were the voluntary projects created by the Soil Conservation Service, which encouraged panhandle farmers to "work with nature" (p. 58) in an effort to regenerate depleted soils. Similar programs created during the depression years had a lasting impact on the region. By the 1950s, recuperation of native vegetation and deferred grazing emerged as important tools for ranchers seeking to recover their lands.

At the same time, Lowitt criticizes overzealous attempts to alleviate water problems in the panhandle. In particular, he shows that climatic conditions did not support protracted plans to build Optima Dam on the Beaver River. Despite efforts by local farmers and Oklahoma congress members to rationalize the project, it never fully satisfied its purpose as either a drought-proof water supply or a practical leisure space when completed in 1978. As commercial oil and gas companies and large feedlots invaded the panhandle, farmers increasingly turned to the precarious water resources found in the Ogallala Aquifer.

While Lowitt is occasionally censorious of such plans, his analysis of how panhandle residents learned to understand their environment emerges as the greatest accomplishment of American Outback. He not only questions conventional wisdom that suggests Great Plains farmers and ranchers overlooked environmental degradation but also shows that after World War II they increasingly questioned the ways in which commercial oil ventures and large pig farms affected the area's water and soil. Readers interested in how the relationship between nature and culture shaped the history of the twentieth-century panhandle will find this concise book both interesting and relevant.