Historic Photograph: Hugh Bennett visits Oklahoma, May 1943

Hugh Bennett came to Oklahoma many times during his early career as a Soil Surveyor and later as Chief of the Soil Conservation Service. This historic photo from the National Archives documents a trip he made to Oklahoma in the Spring of 1943. The original caption reads: “F.S. Hurd, Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Arkansas Verdigris SCD, and H.H. Bennett, Chief of the Soil Conservation Service examine some native little bluestem in the 12-acre meadow of the C.B. Ritberger farm. This meadow land contributing a large amount of run-off to streams was formerly waste before Ritberger developed it under a plan worked out with the aid of technicians of the Soil Conservation Service assigned to assist the district. Grass today is helping to hold most of the rain on the land.” Photo from the Records of the Soil Conservation Service, General Photographic File, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.