Sublette, Kansas: persistence and change in Haskell County.

Abstract

This chapter examines four key factors that shaped community life in Haskell County, Kansas, during the 1940 and 1965 study and then again in 1993: (1) the environment; (2) federal government programmes; (3) mechanization, commercialization and mono-culturalization of agriculture; and (4) human psychology. In June and July of 1965, a study was conducted in Haskell County to study the changes that had occurred over the 25 years since the 1940 analysis. Case studies are conducted on three communities of Haskell County with sociological theories of community organization and change.

The US great plains, change, and place development.

“…For the western third of the state, where there is very little surface water, there has been great variability in access to water resources, particularly the Ogallala-High Plains aquifer system. Although irrigation has helped mitigate agricultural sensitivity to climate variability (Bloomquist, et al, 2002, following on Bell, 1942, it may actually increase vulnerability in the long term (Dregne, 1980). As the groundwater resource upon which the region has become reliant is depleted, agriculture will be forced to change again in response to this stress .…”