Before the 1880’s the growth of little bluestem grass was “so tall and thick that tender green sprouts grew under it as in a hothouse throughout the most severe winter, attracting countless geese, ducks, and pigeons which swelled the winter’s abundant food supply.” (Julia Kathryn Garrett, Fort Worth: A Frontier Triumph, Austin: The Encino Press, 1977) In January, 1936, the Empire-Tribune noted that a soil survey found that up to 75% of Erath County’s topsoil had been lost due to management.