The Worst Hard Time

The Worst Hard Time

by

Timothy Egan

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Worst Hard Time makes teaching easy.
A rainmaker hired by the citizens of Dalhart, Texas for five hundred dollars “to squeeze the clouds” with “a combination of TNT and nitro-glycerin.” He sent explosives into the sky to try and make it rain—and it did indeed snow afterwards, but it also snowed in other places that didn’t use his method.
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Tex Thornton Character Timeline in The Worst Hard Time

The timeline below shows where the character Tex Thornton appears in The Worst Hard Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 14: Showdown in Dalhart
Environmental Devastation and the Dust Bowl Theme Icon
...People in Dalhart also wanted to test the theory and contributed money to the effort. Tex Thornton was hired to “squeeze the clouds.” They paid him five hundred dollars altogether, and he... (full context)
Chapter 17: A Call to Arms
Environmental Devastation and the Dust Bowl Theme Icon
Dalhart citizens also still believed that they could blast rain from the clouds, and enlisted Tex Thornton to do so. Tex exploded dynamite for several days, to no avail. On the fourth... (full context)