Dr. Hugh Bennett Photo from the Archives of Union County
Why We Have Soil and Water Conservation DistrictsOf the layers of soil that we walk on every day, we are perhaps most concerned with topsoil which, oddly enough, lies just below the surface. This is where seeds germinate, and the healthier and richer it is, the more productive a crop. It was the degradation and loss of topsoil that led to the Dust Bowl, compounding the economic stress of a nation already in the throes of the Great Depression.
Location: US 74 east of Polkton
County: Anson
Original Date Cast: 1962
(The Brown Creek Soil Conservation District marker is an oversized marker with extended text. That text follows.)
Here was established the first district in America for a systematic program of land erosion control. Known as the Brown Creek District because it embraced the area of the Brown Creek Watershed, it heralded the beginning of a national program of soil conservation districts.