Historical Insights Number 8

September 2008

Hugh Hammond Bennett and the Creation of the Soil Erosion Service

Douglas HelmsNational Historian

Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDAWashington, D.C.

SUMMARYThe Soil Conservation Service (SCS) wascreated in the U.S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) by an act of Congresson April 27, 1935. However, an earlier date,September 19, 1933 should not passwithout recognition. That date marks theselection of Hugh Hammond Bennett as thedirector of the Soil Erosion Service (SES),predecessor to SCS.1 Creation of the SoilErosion Service was critical to the future ofFederal soil conservation activities, thehistory of SCS, and Bennett’s recognition asthe “father of soil conservation.”

This paper discusses Bennett’s USDAcareer, which made him the logicalcandidate to lead the Federal soilconservation effort, and recounts thesummer of 1933 when the New Dealincluded soil conservation as a purpose forpublic works programs. During June toSeptember 1933, several agencies put forthplans to utilize the public works funds to bedevoted to soil conservation. It was by nomeans certain that the architects of theNew Deal would favor Bennett’s plan overits competitors. Bennett’s selection as theDirector of SES, while logical, was not aforegone conclusion.

BENNETT’S EARLY CAREERBennett earned a Bachelor of Sciencedegree with an emphasis in chemistry andgeology from the University of NorthCarolina in June 1903 and upon graduatingjoined the Bureau of Soils within the USDA.The Bureau had begun to make countybased soil surveys in 1899, which becameregarded as an important Americancontribution to the field of soil science. The

outdoor work suited Bennett, and hemapped soils and wrote a number of soilsurveys.

The 1905 survey of Louisa County, Virginia,in particular, profoundly affected Bennett.He had been directed to the county toinvestigate declining crop yields. As hecompared virgin, timbered sites to erodedfields, he became convinced that soilerosion was a problem not just for theindividual farmer but also for ruraleconomies. While this experience arousedhis curiosity, Bennett recalled that ThomasC. Chamberlain’s paper on Soil Wastagepresented in 1908 at the Governors’Conference in the White House that “fixedmy determination to pursue that subject tosome possible point of counteraction.”2

Hugh Hammond Bennett

114G-90020 National Archives-College Park

2

Bennett wrote increasingly about soilerosion in the 1920s for an array of popularand scientific journals such as NorthAmerican Review, Country Gentleman,Scientific Monthly, and the Journal ofAgricultural Research. He was establishinghimself as the USDA expert on soil erosionand was recognized as such. His campaignreceived quite a boost, when Henry G.Knight, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistryand Soils, placed Bennett in charge of aspecial study of the extent of soil erosionand methods of control, effective January1928.

Bennett’s travels around the country andstudies provided grist for his articles andtalks. He succeeded in arousing nationalattention where others had failed. Amonghis writings of the 1920s, none was moreinfluential than a 1928 USDA bulletincoauthored with William Ridgely Chaplinetitled Soil Erosion: A National Menace.Bennett expressed the motivation for hislater actions: “The writer, after 24 yearsspent in studying the soils of the UnitedStates, is of the opinion that soil erosion isthe biggest problem confronting thefarmers of the Nation over a tremendouspart of its agricultural lands.” The bulletinwas not a manual on the methods ofpreventing soil erosion; rather it wasintended to draw attention “to the evils ofthis process of land wastage and to theneed for increased practical information andresearch work relating to the problem.”3

Bennett followed up momentum gainedfrom the bulletin and well-placed magazinearticles with a campaign for a national soilerosion program. He knew the few soilerosion researchers at the state agriculturalexperiment stations. Important as theirinvestigations were, the experimentscovered only a few spots on the vastagricultural landscape. In Bennett’s mind anational program of soil erosion wasneeded. Bennett’s ally in cause, A. B.Connor of the Texas AgriculturalExperiment Station, enlisted the aid ofRepresentative James Buchanan, whoinserted a clause in the USDAappropriations bill for fiscal year 1929-1930

that authorized the soil experimentstations. (Eventually the stations would berenamed soil conservation experimentstations.)

Bennett was disappointed that some of thefunds were allotted to the Forest Serviceand the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering(BAE). Despite this disappointment hesought out locations and cooperating stateswho usually contributed the use of land forthe stations. He designed much of theresearch program and supervised theBureau of Chemistry and Soils researchersat the experiment station. Bennett’s newposition was “in charge [of], soil erosionand moisture conservation investigations,”when the New Deal administration ofFranklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) arrived inWashington, D.C.4

3

A PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM TOSTIMULATE THE ECONOMYFDR and the architects of the New Dealacted early in the administration to providework for the unemployed through federallyfunded projects. Coincidental to providingemployment, these wages would prime thelocal economic pump; and, it was hoped,bring the country out of the economicdepression. The public works legislationidentified soil conservation as one of itspurposes. Roosevelt was inaugurated onMarch 4, 1933 and on March 21st heproposed to Congress that they create "acivilian conservation corps to be used insimple work, not interfering with normalemployment, and confining itself toforestry, the prevention of soil erosion,flood control and similar projects.”5

Congress passed the EmergencyConservation Work legislation on March 31,1933. As the Federal agencies sorted outtheir responsibilities the Forest Service inthe USDA assumed general supervision of asmall number of Civilian ConservationCorps (CCC) camps that worked on soilconservation. Prior to the creation of theSoil Conservation Service in 1935, the CCCworked predominantly on public forest andpark lands.

The CCC addressed only a segment of theunemployed, young men aged 18 to 25;consequently there remained the need for abroader public works program. The FederalEmergency Relief Act (May 12, 1933)provided direct relief to states. Meanwhile,the Cabinet and “Brain Trust” – FDR’spersonal advisors – continued crafting aFederal public works bill. Harold L. Ickes,Secretary of the Interior, had suggested toFDR that conservation of natural resourcesbe among the objectives of the bill. Heconfided the following in his diary on May16:

I made two suggestions as to thisbill which met with the approval ofthe President. The first was thatthere be a definite revision madeto include conservation of naturalresources among the objects of thebill; and the other was instead ofappointing an independent PublicWorks Administrator, the newofficial be assigned to somedepartment.6

President Franklin Roosevelt visited with CCC enrollees near Camp Roosevelt on August 12, 1933, atBig Meadows, Skyline Drive, Virginia. Seated from left are Maj. Gen. Paul B. Malone, Louis M. Howe,Harold L. Ickes, Robert Fechner, FDR, Henry A. Wallace, and Rexford Tugwell.

35-GE-3A-5 National Archives – College Park

4

Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture,discussed potential public works projectswith some of his staff. On May 30th, headvised Samuel H. McCrory, Chief of theBAE, that he had talked to the President“about the matter of getting some of thepublic works money for erosion control. Thepresident seems to be very much interestedin the general problem of erosion but timedid not permit getting any detailed viewsfrom him as to action under the publicworks bill.” 7

Title II of the National Industrial RecoveryAct (NIRA), enacted on June 16, createdthe Federal Emergency Administration ofPublic Works. All powers of the newadministration were to be exercised by theFederal Emergency Administrator of PublicWorks, who could establish new agencies,utilize Federal and state employees, andappoint employees without regard to civilservice laws. In keeping with the Ickessuggestion, FDR appointed the Secretary ofthe U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI),to the dual post of Federal EmergencyAdministrator of Public Works on July 8th.8

Among the eligible purposes enumerated inthe act were the “conservation anddevelopment of natural resources, includingcontrol, utilization, and purification ofwaters, prevention of soil or coastalerosion, development of water power…”9

It seems likely that FDR needed littlepersuasion to include soil conservation as apurpose of the Act given his interest inforestry, erosion, and conservation. He hadcarried out reforestation and soilconservation work on his estate at HydePark, New York, and on his small farm nearWarm Springs, Georgia. As governor ofNew York, FDR had hired some of thestate’s youth to reforest abandoned farmland purchased by the State. His personallife and public career indicate that not onlywould he be receptive to the idea, but alsothat he would have arrived at that thoughtindependently.

Within the USDA, some bureaus werealready thinking about public worksprojects that could be funded under the billthen being drafted and making its waythrough Congress. Before the bill wassigned, the BAE had formulated a plan for anational terracing program for erosioncontrol. The BAE proposed that it supplythe technical direction, while the Stateadministrators in the new public worksagency would administer the program andemploy a supervising engineer for eachState. The Federal government wouldsupply the terracing equipment while thefarmer signed an agreement to provide thelabor, power, and future maintenance. Thestate extension services could help farmersform cooperating organizations to facilitatethe agreement process. Rexford G. Tugwell,acting for Secretary Wallace, forwarded theplan to the Administrator, FederalEmergency Administration of Public Works

Henry Agard Wallace

LC-USZ62-49956Prints & Photographs Division, Library of

Congress

5

on June 9. Secretary Wallace had penned anote on the outgoing letter. “I have hadthis matter of expenditure of Public Worksmoney for erosion control [brought] up withthe President and he is very muchinterested."10

JOHN COLLIER AND CULTURALPLURALISM ON THE RESERVATIONSSimultaneously, another USDA branch wascooperating with the Department of theInterior on soil conservation. The Bureau ofChemistry and Soils and their soilconservation expert, Hugh HammondBennett, had come to the attention of JohnCollier, Commissioner of Indian Affairs,through Secretary of Agriculture Wallace.Wallace soon had plans for Mr. Bennett touse his conservation skills to help Collier inhis mission to preserve and perpetuateNative American cultures.

Before the New Deal, Collier was active inIndian affairs and had been critical ofFederal Indian policy and the Office ofIndian Affairs. He was a potential candidateto be Commissioner of Indian Affairs, but sotoo was Harold Ickes. During thepresidential campaign, Ickes had soughtsupport among fellow progressiveRepublicans for FDR and aspired to beCommissioner of Indian Affairs. Collier andothers persuaded him to seek the Cabinetpost of Secretary of the Department of theInterior. Collier, perhaps the leadingadvocate for reform of government policiestoward Tribes, wanted to lead the Office ofIndian Affairs himself. Ickes was certainlysympathetic toward the Tribes, but Collierregarded him as too inexperienced in thearea and temperamentally unsuited to thejob of reform.11

Collier’s selection as Commissioner ofIndian Affairs revolutionized governmentpolicy toward Tribes. For most of the late19th and early 20th century, Indian policypromoted assimilation into Americansociety. Collier’s experiences, especially anepiphany at Taos Pueblo, converted him tocultural pluralism in which Tribesperpetuated and strengthened their uniquecultures. Retaining their land base and

economic viability was critical to thesuccess of cultural pluralism in Collier’sview. 12

In viewing the potential for the reservationsto support a viable livelihood, Collier andIckes focused first on the Navajoreservation for some obvious reasons. The16 million acre reservation was about one-fourth of the acreage in all reservations,and the Navajo were one-sixth of the nativepopulation of the United States.13 TheNavajo had adapted their economy andculture to the sheep, goat, and horseintroduced by the Europeans. After theNavajo release from captivity at BosqueRedondo and Fort Sumner and theirresettlement in New Mexico, the U.S.Government supplied about 15,000 sheepand goats and distributed food, seed, andimplements. From 1870 to the beginning ofWorld War II, the Navajo population grewfrom around 10,000 to 50,000. Theirlivestock increased from a few thousand tomore than a million at times and thereservation was expanded from 3.5 to 16million acres. By the 1930s many familiarwith the Western range, including theNavajo reservation, thought it had sufferedland degradation from periods ofoverstocking.14

HUGH HAMMOND BENNETT ANDCOOPERATION OF BUREAU OFCHEMISTRY AND SOILS WITH THEOFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRSJohn Collier’s eldest son and assistant inthe Office of Indian Affairs, Charles W.Collier, took on the mission of identifyingthe people to be consulted on conservingand rehabilitating the reservation lands.15

Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallacesuggested cooperation with HughHammond Bennett and others in theBureau of Chemistry and Soils.

On or before May 24, 1933, an employee ofthe Bureau of Indian Affairs, probablyCharles Collier, met with Bennett, W.Ridgley Chapline of the U. S. Forest Serviceand Frank Craighead of the Bureau ofEntomology, and sought their adviceconcerning erosion problems on the

6

reservations. According to Collier’s notes,Bennett believed erosion on the Dakotareservation could be “economicallycontrolled,” and offered to send George W.Musgrave, director of the erosionexperiment station at of Clarinda, Iowa, toinvestigate and make recommendations.Concerning Oklahoma, Collier reported thatBennett “believes that it would be veryprofitable to undertake erosion control inalmost unlimited amounts.” Bennettrecommended H. G. Lewis, director of theRed Plains Soil Erosion Experiment Stationat Guthrie, Oklahoma, and endorsed evenmore strongly, Dr. Nathaniel E. Winters ofthe Oklahoma Agricultural ExperimentStation. Winters was a State, not a Federalemployee, but Bennett thought it might befeasible to get him assigned to the Federalproject. Winters, a Kansan, had the addedadvantage of partial Indian ancestry.

The complement of erosion experimentstations that Bennett supervised did notinclude a southwestern station, and thegroup discussed the possibility ofestablishing one. The idea of an experimentstation would find favor with the Office ofIndian Affairs group. After the meetingBennett departed for a five-day fieldworktrip and his supervisor, Dr. A. G. McCall,chief of Soil Investigations in the Bureau ofChemistry and Soils, wired Musgrave andLewis to prepare for travel to thereservations. 16

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT SOILCONSERVATION ON THE NAVAJORESERVATIONPrior to asking Secretary Wallace to arrangea meeting of the primary parties in USDAand USDI, the Office of Indian Affairs metwith Bennett and McCall several times.Wallace called on Henry G. Knight, Chief ofthe Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. Knightheld the meeting in his office on June 8th,and it included John Collier, Commissionerof Indian Affairs, Charles W. Collier,Assistant to the Commissioner, and Jay B.Nash, Special Assistant to the IndianCommissioner. Attending from the USDAwere Knight, McCall, and Bennett of theBureau of Chemistry and Soils. Attending

from the BAE were Samuel H. McCrory,Chief, and Lewis A. Jones, Division ofDrainage and Soil Erosion Control. WilliamRidgely Chapline, who had coauthored SoilErosion: a National Menace with Bennett,and who was in charge of range landinvestigations for the Forest Service, alsoattended.

At the meeting Collier and colleaguesexpressed an interest in developing aresearch station to study erosion problemson reservations in the Southwest. This ideaprobably developed from the earlierdiscussions with Bennett and others. Forthis reason, Bennett, with his experiencesetting up the soil erosion experimentstations, was a logical collaborator.Additionally, Collier saw the station as aneducational center to which Navajos wouldtravel for instruction in soil conservationmethods. Knight understood the objectivewould be to develop “local leadershipamong the Indians themselves.” The groupdecided that a team of representatives fromthe Office of Indian Affairs and USDA wouldmeet at Harvey Hotel, Gallup, New Mexicoon June 26 to study the conditions,especially the areas of eroding land. Thegroup would select tracts where variousknown control measures would be utilized.

The Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, at therequest of the Office of Indian Affairs,assumed leadership of the project andBennett was made chairman of thecommittee.17 Importantly, the proposedcooperation had the enthusiastic support ofSecretary of Agriculture Wallace. Heresponded to Knight's report on themeeting. “Thanks for your prompt andthoroughgoing cooperation withCommissioner Collier and his associates.This work has my very great interest and itis a pleasure to see how you haveresponded to the suggestion ofcooperation.”18 John Collier cleared the planwith Secretary Ickes, who was "powerfullyinterested” and Collier expressly asked thatBennett serve as “informal chairman of thiscomposite groups."19

7

Photographs attached to “Report of the Conservation Advisory Committee for the NavajoReservation, July 2, 1933.”

File 1-275, Central Classified Files, RG 48, National Archives – College Park

8

Late in June 1933, the committee met atthe Navajo Reservation. Bennettrepresented the Bureau of Chemistry andSoils. C.E. Ramser, Senior DrainageEngineer, represented the BAE. Ramseralso had researched and written onterracing and gully control techniques.Representing the Forest Service was C.K.Cooperrider from the Southwestern Forestand Range Experiment Station, who wasalso in charge of the erosion andstreamflow research.

During the brief tour Bennett notedobservations in his field diary about rangeconditions, erosion, and grazing by goatsand sheep. Bennett met the peopleknowledgeable about reservation conditionsand collected oral tradition stories aboutchanges in land conditions and the namesof other contacts that could be helpful.Some of these people such as E.A. Johnson,forester for the Office of Indian Affairs atAlbuquerque, would later work with SCS onthe range program. Bennett noted citationsfor further reading such as the works ofanthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber andAncient Life in the American Southwest byEdgar Lee Hewett. Toward the end of thetrip when he was no doubt looking forwardto writing the committee report, Bennettstated what he termed “The Problem,” inhis field diary, “We find that the NavajoIndian Reservation has suffered so seriouslyfrom overgrazing that range areas nowhave little present value.” 20

NAVAJO TRIBAL COUNCIL APPROVESEXPERIMENT STATIONJohn Collier called a meeting of the NavajoTribal Council at Fort Wingate on July 7 and8, toward the end of Bennett’s trip. It wasCollier’s first appearance before the Councilas Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Thereformer and outside critic was now centerstage at the meeting of the Council andanother 1,200 Navajo Tribal members.Indian Service officials from the Southwestand Washington, who had previously beenthe objects of Collier’s criticism, attended.Collier’s primary objective for his firstmeeting with the Council was approval ofthe experiment station. Bennett spoke to

the Council and emphasized the erosionthat had taken place and the need forexperiments and education.21

The next day, July 8, the Council approvedthe government’s selecting a representativearea for the “Erosion Control Station.” Theresolution stated that “unless sound plansfor the control of this erosion are developedand carried into practice without furtherdelay, the greater portion of the reservationwill be damaged beyond repair.”22 Afterapproval, CCC crews started fencing thearea at Mexican Springs almostimmediately. Bennett had chaired thecommittee that wrote the report on theconservation work needed on thereservation. The committee report becamethe blueprint for the action program thatCollier proposed to Secretary Ickes.

ASSISTANCE TO OTHER INDIANRESERVATIONSWhile Bennett traveled to the Navajoreservation, some of his experiment stationsuperintendents traveled to otherreservations and wrote reports to the Officeof Indian Affairs on the erosion conditionsand needed conservation methods. GeorgeW. Musgrave, superintendent of theClarinda, Iowa station surveyed theRosebud and Pine Ridge reservations.Musgrave explained that the reservationswere “so large and the problems so diversethat a minimum of several days seemsnecessary to do anything like an adequatejob.” Musgrave assured the Office of IndianAffairs staff that the entire soil surveydivision staff, including director A. G.McCall, were interested and would“endeavor to give to you the very bestpossible service.”23

J. M. Snyder superintendent of the erosionexperiment station at Statesville, NorthCarolina, wrote a report on erosionconditions on the Cherokee reservation.24

H.G. Lewis of the Guthrie, Oklahoma stationwas an advisor on the Indian CivilConservation Corps camps in Oklahoma. Hewrote a technical bulletin "EmergencyConservation Soil Erosion Control Work onIndian Lands in Oklahoma.” The request

9

from John Collier was giving McCall,Bennett and the experiment stationsuperintendents an opportunity to achieveone of their objectives, seeing that theirresearch findings were utilized.

ALLOTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS FUNDSFOR SOIL CONSERVATIONIckes, acting in his capacity as FederalEmergency Administrator of Public Works,allotted $5,000,000 to the Department ofthe Interior on July 17 for soil erosionprevention work on public and privatelands. McCrory and Lewis A. Jones, head ofBAE’s Division of Drainage and ErosionControl, believed that their Bureau wouldbe given leadership of the erosion controlproject. The project would be operated asoutlined in their plan of June 9, which hadbeen sent forward a week before the NIRAwas signed.25 Acting on the samesupposition, USDA’s Daily Digest of newsstories on July 25 reported on the allotmentof $5,000,000 for soil erosion prevention. Itquoted the Special Board for Public Worksas saying the plan ”provides for the practiceof terracing, which agricultural engineershave found to be the most effective meansof controlling erosion.” Funds were to beallotted to the States in proportion to theircultivated acres.26

As it turned out, the announcement waspremature. In early June as the Collierswere meeting with USDA officials, butbefore the passage of NIRA and before thecommittee had studied the Navajoreservation, Samuel H. McCrory, Chief ofthe BAE, drafted a plan that called on theFederal Emergency Administration of PublicWorks to fund a national terrace-buildingprogram. In the letter that Acting SecretaryRexford Tugwell sent to Harold Ickes, USDArecommended that the BAE be designated“to handle the administrative andengineering features of this work.”Secretary Wallace penned a note to theoutgoing letter. “I have had this matter ofexpenditure of Public Works money forerosion control up with the President andhe is very much interested."27

BUREAU OF AGRICULTURALENGINEERING PROPOSAL ANDBENNETT’S ANGERThe announcement of the BAE’s proposalevidently touched off the episode recountedin Wellington Brink’s Big Hugh and inRexford Tugwell’s Roosevelt’s Revolution:The First Year – A Personal Perspective.Tugwell was writing more than forty yearsafter the incident and Bennett’srecollections were obviously the source forBrink’s account. While somewhat differentin details, the two accounts comport in theessential elements.

In an agitated state, Bennett ignoredprotocol and went straight to the AssistantSecretary’s office, where Tugwell invitedhim in. Tugwell had the various plans laidout on his desk. He tried to assure askeptical Bennett that he, Tugwell, hadplanned to consult Bennett before making adecision. The two knew each other, at leastthrough correspondence, before Tugwell–a

Rexford G. Tugwell

LC-USF344-003738-ZBPrints and Photographs Division,

Library of Congress

10

professor of economics at ColumbiaUniversity–became Assistant Secretary onMarch 7, 1933. Tugwell also served inFDR’s “Brain Trust,” the personal advisorsselected more for their expertise andcommitment than for their politicalconnections and acumen. Bennett hadsupplied material on soil erosion forTugwell’s American Economic Life and theMeans of Its Improvement.28 Both Bennettand Tugwell, from their differentperspectives had come to view soil as akind of public trust.

Reacting to the national terracing proposal,Bennett repeated his familiar arguments forinterdependent, mutually supportingpractices for soil conservation. Terracescertainly contributed to soil conservationwhen designed properly and when built onthe appropriate soils. However, terraceswere no panacea, and should be supportedby strip cropping, contour plowing, croprotations and grassed waterways. The soilconservation experiment station underBennett’s supervision had been researchingsoil-conserving efficiency of all thesepractices. Furthermore, Bennett feared thatthis propitious moment for a national soilconservation program might be squanderedif a narrow approach were taken. Asrecounted through Brink, Tugwell agreedsaying "That sounds reasonable to me,"Tugwell agreed. "I'll see what I can do todirect the use of the money approved bythe public works board under SecretaryIckes.” Further Tugwell assured Bennettthat he would have a leading part in theprogram.29

PLANS OF THE OFFICE OF INDIANAFFAIRSAnother problem with the national terracingplan was that it did not seem toaccommodate the work John Collier wanteddone on the reservations. Collier requested$2,500,000 for work on the reservationswhich would be handled by The Office ofIndian Affairs, “rather than through theDepartment of Agriculture.”30 Collierremained enthusiastic about Bennett. Inresponse to an inquiry he wrote toCongressman Will Hastings, “I have seen a

good deal of Dr. Bennett in recent monthsand have developed the highest regard forhim.”31 Collier understood that improvedrange management, in addition to waterdevelopment and control of erosion, wouldbe needed on the reservation. He saw thewisdom in Bennett’s interdisciplinaryapproach, and heartily recommended himto Ickes to head up the soil erosion work.John Collier assessed Bennett thusly, “Hesees the matter steadily and whole, and isnot an engineering fanatic nor a re-seedingan ecological fanatic nor an animalhusbandry fanatic.”32

TUGWELL’S INFLUENCERexford Tugwell’s actions confirm theassurances given to Bennett in theirmeeting. Tugwell held a conference on July24 and directed changes in the Bureau ofAgriculture Engineering plan which hadbeen submitted to Ickes on June 9. Therevised plan bears Bennett’s handiwork.The work would be limited to approximatelyten large areas where, “Terracing, strip-cropping and seeding to permanentpastures are to be the principal controlmeasures employed on the crop land, withpossibly some tree planting on the steepestand most severely washed slopes.” Eachproject would include specialists inagronomy, engineering, range or forestryand other disciplines. The outline generallyfit with the future organization of thedemonstration projects that Bennett wouldinitiate as director of the Soil ErosionService. Also, the idea of large work areasaccommodated Collier’s plans for theNavajo Reservation. The Navajo Project wasdestined to be the second demonstrationproject initiated and the largest in realextent of all the projects.33

Tugwell had influence with the Presidentand with Secretary Ickes. Ickes would soonbe making his ill-fated case to Roosevelt toevolve the Interior department into aDepartment of Conservation that wouldnecessitate transferring the Forest Service.Ickes regarded Tugwell’s ability highly andhoped to entice him to assume the chiefadministrative position in the newDepartment of Conservation. Given the

11

conflicts in USDA over supervision of thesoil conservation work, Tugwellrecommended placing the soil conservationoperation, based on Bennett’s plan, in thenew Public Works Administration. Tugwellthought Ickes had agreed to thisarrangement. While on a trip in the West,he was surprised to learn that Ickes hadplaced the new Soil Erosion Service in theDepartment of the Interior on August 25.

Tugwell was more successful inrecommending the first director. He favoredHarlan Barrows, professor of geography atthe University of Chicago. Barrows taughtcourses in conservation and naturalresources and, reputedly, the first course inhistorical geography in the United States.True to his word, Tugwell passed along thesuggestion to Barrows that Bennett shouldhave a prominent role in the organization.At Ickes request, Barrows travelled toWashington where Ickes offered him thejob on August 30, 1933.34 After conferringwith the Dean of the Physical ScienceDivision and the President of University ofChicago, Barrows declined the job.35 Ickes,

dismayed at the delay, wrote to Wallace; “Iam anxious to have this matter undertakenat once, as I know you are, and I regret thedelay due to our waiting for Dr. Barrows,since, in the end, his decision was in thenegative. How about H. H. Bennett of theBureau of Chemistry and Soils, of yourdepartment?”36

SELECTION OF HUGH HAMMONDBENNETT AS DIRECTOR, SOIL EROSIONSERVICESecretary Wallace called Bennett in todiscuss his transfer to the Soil ErosionService and they reached an agreementthat it was best he take leave without payfrom USDA while working on the soilconservation project. Bennett asked that anumber of the specialists at the experimentstations under this direction be detailed tothe work, and Wallace agreed. Although thejob had initially been offered to Barrows atTugwell’s suggestion, Wallace assured Ickesthat “I have the feeling that Mr. Bennett isthe best qualified man available to takeover these duties. He has devoted more

12

study to the problem of erosion than anyother man in the country…” 37

Bennett prepared a plan for the newservice, and discussed it with Ickes onSaturday, September 16.38 The followingMonday Bennett wrote Ickes trying topersuade him that the best name for theagency would be the Soil ConservationService. Bennett favored the moreoptimistic, positive term. The term in factmore accurately described the interrelatedmethods used to conserve and improvesoils, not just hold them in place. Ickeswould not relent and Bennett becameDirector, Soil Erosion Service (SES). TheSoil Erosion Service was moved to USDA atPresident Roosevelt’s direction in March

1935 and an act of Congress on April 27,1935, created the Soil ConservationService. 39

Wallace’s assessment that Bennett was thebest-qualified person to lead a concertedFederal action for soil conservation wascorrect. Preparation and opportunityintersected in his selection as Director ofthe Soil Erosion Service. The events of Junethrough September of 1933 wereparticularly decisive, demonstrating the roleof contingency in historical developments.In this case those events were critical tothe history of the Soil Conservation Serviceand Hugh Bennett’s recognition as thefather of soil conservation.

1 SCS was renamed the Natural ResourcesConservation Service as a result of theFederal Crop Insurance Reform andDepartment of Agriculture ReorganizationAct of 1994 (P.L. 103-354).2 Hugh H. Bennett, The Hugh BennettLectures (Raleigh: North Carolina StateCollege, The Agricultural Foundation,1959), pp. 12-13.3 Hugh. H. Bennett and William. R.Chapline, Soil Erosion A National Menace.U.S. Department of Agriculture Circular No.33 (Washington, D. C.: U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, 1928, pp. 20-23.4The first part of the essay is based onDouglas Helms, “Hugh Hammond Bennett,”In Press, Modern AmericanEnvironmentalists (Baltimore, Maryland:Johns Hopkins University Press).5 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 1st sess., 77:1,650, 659-660.6 Ickes Diary, May 16, 1933, Papers ofHarold L. Ickes, Manuscript Division,Library of Congress. Hereinafter cited asIckes Diary.7 Henry A. Wallace to S. H. McCrory, May30, 1933, File 3-20-C Soil Conservation,General Correspondence, 1931-39,Records of the Bureau of AgriculturalEngineering, Record Group 8, NationalArchives and Records Administration-College Park, Maryland. Hereinafter thefollowing abbreviations will be used: RG forRecord Group and NARA for NationalArchives and Records Administration.

8 Executive Order No. 6198, July 8, 1933.9 48 Stat 195, 201.10 Rexford G. Tugwell, Acting Secretary, toAdministrator, Federal EmergencyAdministration of Public Works, June 9,1933, File 19414 – 1933 – Control ofErosion - 344, Records of the CivilianConservation Corps-Indian Division,Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, RG75, NARA—Washington, D. C.11 Donald L. Parman, Indians and theAmerican West (Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 1994) pp. 92-93.12 Parman, Indians and the American West,pp. 76-77.13 E. R. Fryer, “The Navajo Service.” pp.1-8. Proceedings of the First Navajo LandManagement Conference, March 2-6, 1937,Falstaff, Arizona, pp. 1-8, SoilConservation Service Region EightRecords, Center for Southwest Research,University of New Mexico.14 Solon T. Kimball and John H. Province,“Navajo Social Organization in Land UsePlanning.” Applied Anthropology 4(Number1, 1942): 19-20.15 John Collier, From Every Zenith: AMemoir and Some Essays on Life andThought (Denver: Sage Books, 1963), pp.237-238.16 “Report on interviews with H. H.Bennett, W. R. Chapline, and FrankCraighead. (Stamped received in Bureau ofIndian Affairs, May 31, 1933. Jay B. Nash,Director, Indian Emergency ConservationWork. John Collier wrote to A. G. McCall onMay 24, requesting Musgrave’s and Lewis’s

13

assistance. The meeting took place on orbefore that date). File 19414 – 1933 –Control of Erosion - 344, Records of theCivilian Conservation Corps-IndianDivision, RG 75, NARA-Washington, D.C.17 Knight to Wallace June 9, 1933, File37017, General Correspondence, Recordsof the Bureau of Soils, RG 54, NARA-College Park.18 Wallace to Knight, June 14, 1933, File37017, General Correspondence, Recordsof the Bureau of Soils, RG 54, NARA-College Park19 John Collier to Wallace, June 10, 1933,Records of the Civilian Conservation Corps- Indian Division, 194141 - 1933 - Controlof Erosion – 344, RG 75, NARA—Washington,D. C..20 Navajo Dairy, Hugh Hammond BennettPapers, Southern Historical Collection,University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.21 Donald L. Parman, The Navajos and theNew Deal (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1976), p. 42.22 Navajo Tribal Council Resolutions, p.151.23 Musgrave to J. B. Nash, June 29, 1933,File 19414 – 1933 – Control of Erosion -344, Records of the Civilian ConservationCorps-Indian Division, RG 75, NARA-Washington, D. C.24 A. G. Rice to A. G. McCall, October 10,1933, File 19414 – 1933 – Control ofErosion - 344, Records of the CivilianConservation Corps-Indian Division, RG 75,NARA-Washington, D. C.25 Lewis A. Jones to S. H. McCrory, July 19,1933, and Jones to C. E. Ramser, July 20,1933, File 3-20-C Soil Conservation,General Correspondence, 1931-39,Records of the Bureau of AgriculturalEngineering, Record Group 8, NARA-College Park.26 Daily Digest, Vol. 50, No. 20, July 25,1933. Copy in Civilian Conservation Corps -Indian Division, 194141 - 1933 - Control ofErosion – 344, RG 75, NARA-Washington,D. C.27 Rexford G. Tugwell, Acting Secretary, toAdministrator, Federal EmergencyAdministration of Public Works, June 9,1933, File 19414 – 1933 – Control ofErosion - 344, Records of the CivilianConservation Corps-Indian Division, RG 75,NARA—Washington, D. C.

28 Some colleges had adopted the book asa text but dropped it when Tugwell becamethe lightening rod for critics of theadministration’s land and agriculturepolicies.29 Wellington Brink, Big Hugh: The Fatherof Soil Conservation (New York: Macmillan,1951), pp. 82-84; Rexford G. Tugwell,Roosevelt’s Revolution: The First Year, APersonal Perspective (New York :Macmillan, 1977), pp. 246-249.30 Ickes, Federal Emergency Administratorof Public Works to Colonel Waite, August 9,1933, File 1-275 Soil Erosion, CentralClassified Files, Records of the Office of theSecretary of the Interior, RG 48, NARA-College Park.31 John Collier to William Hastings, July 281933, Chronological File, John CollierPapers, Microform of the original papers inYale University Library. Sanford, N.C.:Microfilming Corp. of America, 1980.32 Douglas Helms, “Hugh HammondBennett,” in press, Modern AmericanEnvironmentalists. (Johns HopkinsUniversity Press).33 Memorandum in Regard to ErosionControl Project of the United StatesDepartment OF Agricultural UnderAuthority of the National IndustrialRecovery Act, July 31, 1933, File 1-275Soil Erosion, Central Classified Files, RG48, NARA-College Park.34 Ickes Diary, August 30, 1933, Page 253.35 Harland Barrows to Rexford Tugwell,September 1, 1933, “Positions-Outside,”General Correspondence, Records of theOffice of the Secretary of Agriculture, RG16, NARA-College Park.36 Ickes to Wallace, September 3, 1933,“Positions-Outside,” GeneralCorrespondence,” RG 16, NARA-CollegePark37 Wallace to Ickes, September 12, 1933,“Positions Outside,” GeneralCorrespondence, RG 16, NARA-CollegePark.38 Ickes Diary, September 16, 1933.39 Bennett to Ickes, September 18, 1933,File 1-275 Soil Erosion, Central ClassifiedFiles, RG 48, NARA-College Park