I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew there was a good chance that there wouldn’t be much left of the Weedpatch Camp aka the Arvin Federal Government Camp. But Tom and I decided to locate it last week on our return home from a funeral near Bakersfield.
Weedpatch, by the way, is mentioned in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and alluded to in one of my recent readings, The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah. Both describe the struggles of California camp life in the poor 1930s.
If you were to look for the Weedpatch Camp on a map, it would hardly be worth noting. Weedpatch is ten miles south of Bakersfield. The camp was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. People who were fleeing the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri, populated the camp in the 1930s. They were referred to as “Okies” and faced much discrimination.
Documentation from 1937 shows that 25% of the roughly 300 migrants in Weedpatch had valley fever because of exposure to agricultural dust. There were also outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases.
Currently, the camp is open about six months of the year for migrant workers, who pick carrots, potatoes, and radishes in the area. The Kern County Housing Authority assists them with services and maintenance of the buildings. It is still one of the poorest areas in California, however, with almost half of the residents in the Weedpatch area living below the poverty level.
As you can see below, the sign outside the camp states that the Dust Bowl Festival is held in Weedpatch the third Saturday of October. That would be this weekend. The last and final festival, though, was held in 2019 since there are few Dust Bowl survivors. The sign has not been removed.
Very interesting . . . I would not have guessed there was anything like this – still remaining from that era . . . let alone still being used – – again – by migrant workers.
Thanks
When we were there, we didn’t see a soul. But down the road, there were many migrant workers, walking near some fields. I wondered whether they might be living at Weedpatch.
Makes me think of “The Poor Farm” in Milton Bradley’s “Game of Life”
Boy, it’s been a long time since I played the game. Thanks for your comment.
Is the weed patch camp still open in Oct? I lived in the cherry lane camp from 1946 to the later part of 1948, our camp was between Stockton and Linden just off Jack Tone Road. I still remember as a young boy, the wonderful times we had. We met some nice people that we all got along with great. We met families from Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and many other states.
It sounds like you have some great memories of those days. I have no idea if the Weedpatch Camp is open in October of this year. We were there a year ago in October and it looked pretty quiet then. I will need to do some research about the camp you mentioned. It sounds interesting. Thanks for your comment.