"No Men Wanted" — The Train Out of Richwood, West Virginia, 1942
The film of this episode premieres April 20, 2027 on YouTube. The documents, the transcript and the sources are below now.
In September 1942 the paper mill at Richwood, West Virginia had closed and the lumber company's employment office had a sign in the window: No Men Wanted. The Farm Security Administration and the U.S.
Transcript
September 1942
R001 Richwood, West Virginia. The Friends saying goodbye to Richwood, as they leave for upper New York state to help in the harvest
The Friends saying goodbye to Richwood, as they leave... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Two hundred and fifty people are leaving this town on Tuesday, and the federal government is paying the fare.
D02 Richwood, West Virginia. The Friends saying goodbye to Richwood, as they leave for upper New York state to help in the harvest
The Friends saying goodbye to Richwood, as they leave... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026 · detail. View the original.
Here is what the government wrote down about them. Who they were. What the fare cost. And the law Congress passed seven months later so it could not happen again.
R002 Richwood, West Virginia
Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The negatives are black and white. The color was put on by a computer, this year. A good guess, not a record. The documents are as printed.
Richwood
R003 Richwood, West Virginia
Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Richwood, West Virginia. Nicholas County, September 1942.
R014 Richwood, West Virginia. Catholic church, hospital and school
Catholic church, hospital and school · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A lumber and paper town at the end of a Baltimore and Ohio branch line.
R004 Richwood, West Virginia
Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The photographer was John Collier, working for the Farm Security Administration. He spent about a week here, and he wrote a caption on nearly every frame.
R006 Richwood, West Virginia. Last spring this mill was producing paper. Shortage of raw materials and outdated machinery forced it to close
Last spring this mill was producing paper. Shortage of... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
This one: "Last spring this mill was producing paper. Shortage of raw materials and outdated machinery forced it to close."
R007 Richwood, West Virginia. Chimneys of an abandoned tannery
Chimneys of an abandoned tannery · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Chimneys of an abandoned tannery.
R008 Richwood, West Virginia. Employment office of the Cherry boom lumber company
Employment office of the Cherry boom lumber company · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The employment office of the Cherry Boom lumber company. The sign is the company's.
D01 Richwood, West Virginia. Employment office of the Cherry boom lumber company
Employment office of the Cherry boom lumber company · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026 · detail. View the original.
Three words on a card in the window. No men wanted.
R009 Richwood, West Virginia. Company-owned worker's home near the Cherry boom lumber mill
Company-owned worker's home near the Cherry boom lumber mill · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A company-owned worker's home near the mill.
R011 Richwood, West Virginia. Mill workers' homes
Mill workers' homes · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Mill workers' homes.
R013 Richwood, West Virginia. Mill workers' homes in the slums
Mill workers' homes in the slums · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
His caption for this street is one word. Slums.
The plan
The plan came from Washington. After the war the Department of Agriculture wrote its own history of it, and this is that history.
In the fall of 1942 the Farm Security Administration and the United States Employment Service began moving farm workers from places that had too many to places that had too few.
The rules were announced on August twentieth. An employer taking these workers had to offer housing. The minimum was four family members to a floor space of twelve feet by fourteen.
On September fifth the Associated Press filed a story from Richwood. The Washington Evening Star ran it on page fifteen.
"A migration of mountaineer farmers to harvest the tomatoes and peaches of upper New York State has begun with almost 300 volunteers."
"The first contingent of 33 workers left by bus for Rochester, and 250 more will go Tuesday, accompanied by their families, on a special train chartered by the Farm Security Administration."
"Recruited from the hillside farms and gardens of Nicholas and Clay counties, the men, women, girls and boys are among the first in the Nation to be called out under the FSA's new plan."
After the harvest, the story said, the FSA would bring them home. Or they could go on to Florida for the winter crops, if they wished.
R016 Richwood, West Virgninia. The mayor's office was used as a recruiting hall for the FSA (Farm Security Administration) supervised labor migration
The mayor's office was used as a recruiting hall for the... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The recruiting hall was the mayor's office.
R018 Richwood, West Virginia. Talking things over in the office of the United States employment service
Talking things over in the office of the United States... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Talking things over in the office of the United States Employment Service.
R019 Richwood, West Virginia. A family talking over the prospects of work with the United States employment service
A family talking over the prospects of work with the... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A family talking over the prospects of work.
R020 Richwood, West Virginia. FSA (Farm Security Administration) representative signing up high school boys to go by special train to upper New York state to help bring in the harvest
FSA representative signing up high school boys to go by... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The man at the desk is the Farm Security Administration's representative, signing up high school boys.
R022 Richwood, West Virginia. Charles Lindbherg Rhone, sixteen years old, and ready to lick the world. One of the many young men who went to New York to help bring in the harvest
Charles Lindbherg Rhone, sixteen years old, and ready to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Charles Lindbergh Rhone, sixteen years old. The caption says he was "ready to lick the world."
R023 Richwood, West Virginia. Sixteen year old high school boy making a contract to help in the harvest in upper New York state
Sixteen year old high school boy making a contract to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A sixteen-year-old high school boy making his contract.
R024 Richwood, West Virginia. A high school boy who is slightly under age is trying to convince the FSA (Farm Security Administration) representative that he should go to New York state to help bring in the harvest
A high school boy who is slightly under age is trying to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
This boy was slightly under age. The caption says he is trying to convince the representative that he should go.
R025 Richwood, West Virginia. A high school boy who is slightly under age is trying to convince the FSA (Farm Security Administration) representative that he should go to New York state to help bring in the harvest
A high school boy who is slightly under age is trying to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The file does not say whether he did.
The Friends
R027 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) The Friends' home
The Friends' home · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
One family got more of Collier's film than anyone else. The Friends, from outside town.
R028 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) The Friend family on the stoop of their home
The Friend family on the stoop of their home · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Bryant Friend. His wife, Hazel. Their son, Darrell. And Bryant's father, whom the captions call Grandfather Friend.
R029 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) Hazel Friend cooking lunch in her little mountain home
Hazel Friend cooking lunch in her little mountain home · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Hazel, cooking lunch in what the caption calls her little mountain home.
R030 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) Bryant Friend and his family in their home
Bryant Friend and his family in their home · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Bryant Friend and his family in their home.
R032 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) The Friend's home had only one room, twenty by twenty feet, but mother, father, son, and grandfather all found room to sleep
The Friend's home had only one room, twenty by twenty... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The caption: "The Friend's home had only one room, twenty by twenty feet, but mother, father, son, and grandfather all found room to sleep."
R033 Richwood, West Virginia. (vicinity) Darriel Friend gets a headstart on the evening meal at his home
Darriel Friend gets a headstart on the evening meal at... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Twenty by twenty, for four people. The government's minimum for the housing it would send them to was twelve by fourteen, for four. The Friends' one room was more than twice that size.
R026 Richwood, West Virginia. The Friend family contracting with the FSA (Farm Security Administration) representative to go to upper New York state to work during the farm labor storage
The Friend family contracting with the FSA... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The Friend family contracting with the FSA representative to go to upper New York State.
R036 Richwood, West Virginia. Bryant Friend
Bryant Friend · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Bryant Friend.
R038 Richwood, West Virginia. Hazel Friend
Hazel Friend · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Hazel Friend.
What the town said
R039 Richwood, West Virginia. Doctor Carl Kesling, druggist, says that sending our young men to other parts of the country to work will make a better attitude toward "getting ahead"
Doctor Carl Kesling, druggist, says that sending our... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Collier asked the town. Doctor Carl Kesling, the druggist, said sending the young men away to work "will make a better attitude toward getting ahead."
R040 Richwood, West Virginia. William Thomas, a hardware dealer, says, "The boys should be allowed to work younger. I worked in the wheat fields when I was eight. Work is more important than school. Regardless of the war, any form of government hiring is dangerous. It should by handled privately"
William Thomas, a hardware dealer, says, "The boys... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
William Thomas, hardware dealer: "The boys should be allowed to work younger. I worked in the wheat fields when I was eight. Work is more important than school."
R041 Richwood, West Virginia. B.E. Thompson, editor of the Nicholson Republican, let his own son go to New York state to work in the harvest but feels the recruiting has interfered too much with schooling and feels that the break in education for many of the boys and girls will be permanent
B.E. Thompson, editor of the Nicholson Republican, let... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
B. E. Thompson edited the Nicholas Republican. He let his own son go, the caption says, but felt the recruiting had interfered too much with schooling.
R043 Richwood, West Virginia. Louise Thompson, daughter of a newspaper editor in Richwood. She is a printer's devil
Louise Thompson, daughter of a newspaper editor in... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
His daughter Louise was the paper's printer's devil.
R042 Richwood, West Virginia. Mrs. Burt Marshall thinks girls should not go away to work, and that the boys should be seventeen years old, but thinks on the whole, that the government-supervised labor recruiting is good for the boys, because it helps them be good citizens and participate in the war effort
Mrs. Burt Marshall thinks girls should not go away to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Mrs. Burt Marshall thought girls should not go away to work, and that the boys should be seventeen. On the whole, she thought the government-supervised recruiting was good for the boys.
R048 Richwood, West Virginia. Young citizens
Young citizens · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Collier's caption for these: "Young citizens."
R050 Richwood, West Virginia. These boys stayed at home when the special train left Richwood carrying agricultural workers to upper New York state to help in the harvest
These boys stayed at home when the special train left... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
And for these: "These boys stayed at home when the special train left Richwood."
Tuesday
R051 Richwood, West Virginia. Waiting for the train
Waiting for the train · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Tuesday, September eighth, 1942. Waiting for the train.
R053 Richwood, West Virginia. Waiting at the station for the train
Waiting at the station for the train · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Waiting at the station.
R055 Richwood, West Virginia. United States employment agent checking off boys going to upper New York state to help in the harvest
United States employment agent checking off boys going... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A United States Employment Service agent checking off the boys who were going.
R057 Richwood, West Virginia. Women and girls waiting to board train for Batavia, New York where they will work in the harvest
Women and girls waiting to board train for Batavia, New... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Women and girls waiting to board.
R058 Richwood, West Virginia. Boys and girls, single men and families, waiting to board special train which will carry them to Batavia, New York where they will help bring in the harvest
Boys and girls, single men and families, waiting to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"Boys and girls, single men and families, waiting to board special train."
R059 Richwood, West Virginia. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnished a special train to carry the 300 men, women and children to upper New York state where they will work in the harvest
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnished a special... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnished a special train to carry the 300 men, women and children to upper New York state."
R061 Richwood, West Virginia. Migratory workers having contracts checked before boarding train
Migratory workers having contracts checked before... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Contracts checked.
R063 Richwood, West Virginia. Loading sandwiches aboard special train which will carry migratory workers to New York state
Loading sandwiches aboard special train which will carry... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Loading sandwiches aboard the special train.
R064 Richwood, West Virginia. Boys boarding train for Batavia, New York, where they will work in the harvest
Boys boarding train for Batavia, New York, where they... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Boys boarding.
R065 Richwood, West Virginia. Father and son boarding train for Batavia, New York, where they will work in the harvest
Father and son boarding train for Batavia, New York,... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Father and son.
R067 Richwood, West Virginia. Migratory workers boarding train to go to Batavia, New York to work during the farm labor storage
Migratory workers boarding train to go to Batavia, New... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Migratory workers boarding, in the language of the file.
R068 Richwood, West Virginia. Migratory worker and his little girl leaving Richwood for upper New York state to work during the farm labor storage
Migratory worker and his little girl leaving Richwood... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A worker and his little girl.
R069 Richwood, West Virginia. Saying goodbye, Richwood station
Saying goodbye, Richwood station · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Saying goodbye, Richwood station.
R074 Richwood, West Virginia. Trainload of migratory workers bound for the harvest fields in New York state
Trainload of migratory workers bound for the harvest... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"Trainload of migratory workers bound for the harvest fields in New York state."
R075 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train leaving Richwood, West Virginia
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train leaving Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Leaving Richwood.
The train
R077 Richwood, West Virginia. Serving free coffee on special train carrying workers from West Virginia to the fields of upper New York state
Serving free coffee on special train carrying workers... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
On the train, the coffee was free. Two captions say so.
R079 Sandwiches were served free aboard the special train carrying migratory workers to upper New York state to bring in the crops
Sandwiches were served free aboard the special train... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
So were the sandwiches.
R080 Bryant Friend helped distribute free sandwiches to the migratory workers en route to help with the harvest in upper New York state
Bryant Friend helped distribute free sandwiches to the... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Bryant Friend helped hand them out.
R081 Richwood, West Virginia. The Friend family aboard the train which carried them to Batavia, New York to help with the harvesting
The Friend family aboard the train which carried them to... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The Friend family aboard.
R087 Boys sleeping as best they can on special train from Richwood, West Virginia to upper New York state to work in the harvest
Boys sleeping as best they can on special train from... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"Boys sleeping as best they can."
R088 The Friends sleeping as best they can. En route from Richwood, West Virginia to Batavia, New York to work in the harvest
The Friends sleeping as best they can. En route from... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"The Friends sleeping as best they can."
Batavia
R090 Batavia, New York. The Red Cross feeding farm laborers who have just arrived from Richwood, West Virginia.
Batavia, N.Y. The Red Cross feeding farm laborers who... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Batavia, New York. The Red Cross fed them when they got off.
R092 Batavia, New York. David Nesbitt, contracting with United States employment service for the help of Bryant Friend and his family from Richwood, West Virginia in harvesting his crops
Batavia, N.Y. David Nesbitt, contracting with United... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
David Nesbitt, a farmer, contracting through the Employment Service for the help of Bryant Friend and his family.
R093 Albion, New York. The Friends of Richwood, West Virginia and their new employers, the Nesbitts
Albion, New York. The Friends of Richwood and their new... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The Friends and their new employers, the Nesbitts, at Albion.
R094 Batavia, New York. Elba FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Recreational director signing out books from the camp library to newly-arrived high school girls from Richwood, West Virginia.
Elba camp, Batavia, N.Y. Recreational director signing... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The Elba camp was a Farm Security Administration camp. It had a library. The recreation director is signing out books to the girls from Richwood.
R096 Batavia, New York. Elba FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Bryant Friend and his father getting their first meal since leaving Richwood, West Virginia.
Elba camp, Batavia, N.Y. Bryant Friend and his father... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
Bryant Friend and his father. Their first meal since leaving Richwood.
R099 Batavia, New York. Elba FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Boys and girls from Richwood, West Virginia settling themselves into their tent home
Elba camp, Batavia, N.Y. Boys and girls from Richwood... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
"Boys and girls from Richwood settling themselves into their tent home."
R101 Batavia, New York. Elba FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Child of farm worker from Richwood, West Virginia
Elba camp, Batavia, N.Y. Child of farm worker from Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
A child of a farm worker from Richwood. That is the last frame in Collier's file on them.
Washington
Five months later the program went to Congress for money. The House Appropriations subcommittee opened hearings on February seventeenth, 1943.
The Department of Agriculture gave the committee a table. What it had cost to move seasonal workers, state by state.
West Virginia to New York. Three hundred ten people. Transportation, five thousand seven hundred eighty-six dollars. Subsistence on the way, medical care included, four hundred seventy-nine. Total, six thousand two hundred sixty-five dollars. About twenty dollars a person.
The administrator, Clifford Townsend, told the committee the plan for 1943. About ten thousand workers out of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, to the Northeast.
Why those states. "The source is from the Appalachian Mountains. The people that are farming there, a majority of them, are not now producing any more than they are consuming." "People who are not producing more than they are themselves consuming do not help the war effort."
The farm organizations had a different view. On March first the Farm Bureau, the Grange and the farmer cooperatives told the committee, in writing, that "all unworkable, hampering restrictions and controls, including the fixing of minimum wages, restrictions of hours, housing standards," should "be immediately discontinued."
And that Congress should "specifically exclude the Farm Security Administration from any further responsibility" for recruiting, transporting or housing farm workers.
On March seventeenth the resolution reached the House floor.
Congressman Stephen Pace of Georgia had the clerk read his amendment. No federal money to move a worker out of his county without the written consent of the county extension agent. Nor out of his state without the state's commissioner of agriculture.
His reason. "It would be most unfortunate if we permitted a system to be set up here, which would be accepted as instructions"
"from the Congress, to permit the United States Employment Service to go into a county or a State where there is now a critical shortage of labor to recruit and transport those workers to other sections."
The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Clarence Cannon of Missouri: "The committee is glad to accept the amendment."
The Department's historian filed it under its own heading. The Pace Amendment.
One witness at the Senate hearings, a Catholic priest named John O'Grady, told the senators: "we have had no Government agency other than the Farm Security Administration, which has come close to the problem."
The new War Food Administrator, Chester Davis, told them: "I certainly wouldn't want to turn the program over to F.S.A. to administer."
Public Law 45. Approved April 29, 1943.
Twenty-six million, one hundred thousand dollars, for farm labor for the calendar year 1943.
Section four. Limitations. "No part of the funds herein appropriated shall be expended for the transportation of any worker from the county where he resides or is working to a place of employment outside of such county without the prior consent in writing of the county extension"
"agent of such county."
Section four, part b. No part of the funds "shall be used directly or indirectly to fix, regulate, or impose minimum wages or housing standards."
"The law was approved April 29, 1943." Seven months and three weeks after the train left Richwood.
Section five. The receipts from the camps "heretofore used by or under the control of the Farm Security Administration" would go to the Treasury. The camps stayed. The law gave the agency that had run the train no other part in the program.
What the record does not say
By February 1943 the Department counted 287 workers moved out of West Virginia. The hearing table says 310. The captions say 300. Nobody wrote down how many came back.
R100 Batavia, New York. Elba FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm labor camp. Girls from Richwood, West Virginia.
Elba camp, Batavia, N.Y. Girls from Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
The file does not say whether the Friends went home to their one room, or stayed in New York, or went on to Florida.
R076 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train leaving Richwood, West Virginia
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train leaving Richwood · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026. View the original.
It says the train left Richwood.
D03 Richwood, West Virginia. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnished a special train to carry the 300 men, women and children to upper New York state where they will work in the harvest
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnished a special... · John Collier, Sept. 1942 · FSA/OWI, LOC · colorized 2026 · detail. View the original.
If your people rode a harvest train out of the mountains during the war, where did they go, and did they come back?
Sources
- John Collier, Richwood, W.Va., and Batavia and Albion, N.Y., September 1942 — Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information black-and-white negatives, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division (LC-USF34-083886 through 084194). Federal works, public domain. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Richwood%20West%20Virginia%20Collier&;co=fsa - The negatives are black and white. The color was put on by a computer (DDColor) in 2026 and audited for missed patches; it is a guess at the colors, not a record of them. - The Buffalo News of Sept. 5, 1942 (below) fixes the special train's departure as Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1942; Collier's captions carry only "1942 Sept."
- Public Law 45, 78th Congress (H.J. Res. 96), "Making an appropriation to assist in providing a supply and distribution of farm labor for the calendar year 1943," approved April 29, 1943 — as printed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's bound Legislative History of Public Law 45 (Office of Budget and Finance, 1943), pdf pp. 801–804. https://archive.org/details/PL7845 - Sec. 1: "$26,100,000, to remain available until December 31, 1943" - Sec. 4(a): "No part of the funds herein appropriated shall be expended for the transportation of any worker from the county where he resides or is working to a place of employment outside of such county without the prior consent in writing of the county extension agent of such county" - Sec. 4(b): "shall be used directly or indirectly to fix, regulate, or impose minimum wages or housing standards, to regulate hours of work, or to impose or enforce collective-bargaining requirements or union membership, with respect to any agricultural labor" - Sec. 5(d): receipts from "camps and facilities heretofore used by or under the control of the Farm Security Administration, shall be deposited in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts"
- Congressional Record — House, March 17, 1943, pp. 2191–2192, in the same volume (pdf pp. 323–324). https://archive.org/details/PL7845 - Rep. Stephen Pace of Georgia, recognized for five minutes; the amendment as read by the Clerk (county extension agent's consent, and the state commissioner of agriculture's consent for out-of-state moves; the state half was dropped in conference) - Pace: "It would be most unfortunate if we permitted a system to be set up here, which would be accepted as instructions from the Congress, to permit the United States Employment Service to go into a county or a State where there is now a critical shortage of labor to recruit and transport those workers to other sections." - Rep. Clarence Cannon of Missouri, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations: "The committee is glad to accept the amendment."
- Farm Labor Program, 1943: Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, 78th Congress, 1st Session (GPO, 1943), in the same volume (pdf pp. 31–). https://archive.org/details/PL7845 - p. 22, table "United States Department of Agriculture farm labor program—Cost to Jan. 31, 1943, of transporting seasonal laborers": West Virginia to New York, 310 transported as of Feb. 15, 1943; transportation $5,786; subsistence, health protection and medical care en route $479; total $6,265. ($6,265 ÷ 310 = $20.21.) - p. 43, M. Clifford Townsend, Administrator, Food Production Administration: "We hope to recruit from within the area, and in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina about 10,000 workers and move them to the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States during the year." "The source is from the Appalachian Mountains. The people that are farming there, a majority of them, are not now producing any more than they are consuming. That is one area where we do have what we call a plus labor supply. People who are not producing more than they are themselves consuming do not help the war effort."
- Wayne D. Rasmussen, A History of the Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program, 1943–47, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Agriculture Monograph No. 13 (September 1951). https://archive.org/details/historyofemergen13rasm - p. 27: the transportation program "was announced on August 7, 1942, and was followed on August 20, 1942, by an explanation of the administrative machinery"; "Minimum housing standards, subject to local adaptations, included the equivalent of not more than three single workers or more than four family members to a 12 by 14 foot floor space" - pp. 27–28: "got under way in the fall of 1942 under the joint direction of the Farm Security Administration and the United States Employment Service"; "by February 18, 1943, 6,808 workers had been recruited and transported. Of this number, 114 had come from Virginia, 46 from Ohio, 287 from West Virginia ... 1,508 from Kentucky ... 1,517 from Tennessee" - p. 42, note 2, joint statement of the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and National Grange, March 1, 1943: "we insist—irrespective of what funds are appropriated—that all unworkable, hampering restrictions and controls, including the fixing of minimum wages, restrictions of hours, housing standards, unionization of workers be immediately discontinued" - p. 43, Farm Bureau plan of March 4, 1943, point (7): "Congress should specifically exclude the Farm Security Administration from any further responsibility or activity with respect to recruitment, transportation, housing, subsistence, or placement of farm workers" - p. 44: "Pace Amendment.— During consideration of the resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives, the 'Pace Amendment' was adopted."; "No other provision was made for the Farm Security Administration" beyond a 30-day allocation to wind up the Mexican program; note 4, Rt. Rev. John O'Grady: "we have had no Government agency other than the Farm Security Administration, which has come close to the problem." - p. 45, Chester C. Davis, March 30, 1943: "I certainly wouldn't want to turn the program over to F.S.A. to administer" - p. 46: "The law was approved April 29, 1943"
- The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), Sept. 5, 1942, p. 15, "West Virginians to Aid New York State Harvest" (Associated Press, Richwood, Sept. 5) — Chronicling America, Library of Congress. Public domain by the Library's determination. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1942-09-05/ed-1/?sp=15 - "A migration of mountaineer farmers to harvest the tomatoes and peaches of upper New York State has begun with almost 300 volunteers ready to help the Government's food-for-victory drive." - "The first contingent of 33 workers left by bus for Rochester, N. Y., and 250 more will go Tuesday—accompanied by their families—on a special train chartered by the Farm Security Administration." - "Recruited from the hillside farms and gardens of Nicholas and Clay counties, the men, women, girls and boys are among the first in the Nation to be called out under the FSA's new plan" - "After that, the FSA will bring them back home, or they may go on to Florida to help with winter crops if they wish."
- The Buffalo News (Buffalo Evening News), Sept. 5, 1942, p. 3, "500 More Farmers Being Sent North to Harvest Crops" — read on newspapers.com (not shown on screen). https://www.newspapers.com/image/841486008/ - "A group of almost 300 mountaineer farmers from Richwood, W. Va., will leave Tuesday for this area."; camp populations as of that day: Brant 180, Elba 190, Newfane 120.
- The Evening Star, Oct. 2, 1942, p. 16 (Chronicling America): "More than 1,000 farm workers ... have been shifted from West Virginia and Kentucky to assist in harvesting fruit and vegetable crops in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey." https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1942-10-02/ed-1/?sp=16
- Richwood's own weekly, the Nicholas Republican, whose editor and printer's devil Collier photographed, is not digitized anywhere reachable for September 1942. If a copy of that month's issues exists, it would carry the names on the train.