DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna let it breathe a little. Back in 1929, out here in Smith County, somebody decided the dirt itself was worth saving. One of only ten erosion control research stations in the entire United States was set up southeast of this very site.
Ten. In the whole country. And one of them landed right here, for the purpose of studying erosion problems and the effectiveness of erosion control methods.
This was, the marker makes a point of saying, one of the first organized efforts to solve the nation's soil erosion problems in a planned, scientific manner. Not guesswork. Not hope and a prayer.
A plan. Five years on, in 1934, the Duck Creek watershed near this site was approved as something bigger: a demonstrational project for working with all known methods of erosion control. Now that's an ambitious word, all.
They weren't picking favorites. They were going to try everything anybody knew. The project covered twenty-five thousand acres, and here's where it gets interesting.
They didn't just rope it off and run tests from a distance. They went to the landowners. In cooperation with those landowners across that whole twenty-five-thousand-acre stretch, a plan of conservation treatment was devised for each individual farm.
Every single one. Then somebody had to actually do the work. Building dams.
Putting up fences. Planting trees and pasture grass. And much of that labor was provided by a nearby Civilian Conservation Corps camp.
The CCC, right there in the thick of it, turning a scientific plan into something you could walk across and touch. Word got out. The success of the Duck Creek project attracted much attention and many visitors to the area.
People came to see what was happening here. And the Soil Conservation Service saw the potential for something more than a local fix. Duck Creek became a training ground.
Agronomists, soil surveyors, engineers, biologists, foresters, economists, and others all came through, and they didn't stay. They carried the knowledge learned here to many other states across the country. Twenty-five thousand acres of Texas dirt, and what grew out of it wasn't just grass and trees.
It was a method. A way of thinking about the land that spread from this creek to a whole nation that badly needed it.
What the marker says
In 1929, one of ten erosion control research stations in the United States was set up southeast of this site for the purpose of studying erosion problems and the effectiveness of erosion control methods. This was one of the first organized efforts to solve the nation's soil erosion problems in a planned, scientific manner. Five years later, in 1934, the Duck Creek watershed near this site was approved as a demonstrational project for working with all known methods of erosion control. In cooperation with the landowners in the 25,000-acre area, a plan of conservation treatment was devised for each farm. Much of the labor used in carrying out these plans, such as building dams and fences and planting trees and pasture grass, was provided by a nearby Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. The success of the Duck Creek project attracted much attention and many visitors to the area. Duck Creek was used by the Soil Conservation Service as a training ground for agronomists, soil surveyors, engineers, biologists, foresters, economists, and others who carried knowledge learned here to many other states across the country.