September 21 1937

While swathing the fields of Nevardland today I thought about the Nevards that worked this land before me and what they might have been doing about this time of year. So here is a page from Bill Nevard's journal for September 21 , 1937, the driest year of the dirty thirties......

I had intended to go cutting hay on 25 today but found other matters more pressing. Uncle Horrie and Bud tried deepening the drinking water well at the big slough but the water seemed to have given out there. I left the mower at Winstanley Grove and took the water tank down to the big slough. We started digging a new well and trying to deepen the stock well simultaneously. Bud was down in the old well but was not able to get on very good. Dad took a tank of water home. The others went to dinner and I stayed on digging the fresh well. Dad came back for another tank of water and by the time that Bud got back I had dug through the sand and gravel which seemed to be full of water.
I took the tank home and found that the two little pigs had escaped from the sty. We had to leave them out as they run around too fast to catch or drive where you want them. After dinner it rained and came over very smokey.
Towards evening I took Gleam and Barney with the stoneboat and got a barrel of drinking water from the new well which Bud had dug until it had started to cave in. It contained several barrels of water. Pretty dark when  I got back.