Texas settlers were lured into Texas by land speculators with claims that Texas was a paradise where rain was plentiful. “Wheels of the wagons heading west in 1883 made music as they turned . . . Tied to their wagons were iron wash pots, coops of clucking Plymouth Rock hens, plows, and crates of squealing pigs. At the heels of the team of mules trotted a dog; and two cows, secured with ropes, followed docilely. Children, tousled headed, sensed the happiness of their parents; they sang and climbed over the mounds of coffee and sugar and played around the jars of peaches, pears, peas, jams, and pickles. But it stopped raining and by 1886 all surface water was gone and there were no crops. In 1886 the “Wheels of the same wagons – dried and aged, headed east . . . , groaning and creaking as the churned the dust. Occupants, disappointed, disgusted and heartsick. A cracked iron wash pot, smutty from numerous fires, was secured to the side of the wagon, and the hound which walked beside the wagon looked like a rattan birdcage draped with hide. No cows followed the wagon; no chickens cackled; and no pigs squealed. These wagons heading east were the same wagons that had gone west three years before.”

C. Richard King. Wagons East: The great Drought of 1886. Austin: The University of Texas, 1965.

Roy Sylvan. Droughts. TSHA: Texas State Historical Association. tshaonline.org