In 1887, Erath County residents had been suffering from drought for nearly two years and residents were moving back east. Reserve seed had been lost in hopeful planting. “Word reached Texas in February that President Grover Cleveland had vetoed the drought bill appropriating $10,000 in seed for the Central Texas area.” Cleveland explained that the drought was a local problem.

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