The large island, known as Hurricane Island, located in the Ohio River a short distance from the Tolu shore line has fascinated me for many years. An interesting article from the Crittenden Press of June 14, 1973, by John Lucas tells some later day history of the island. I believe the island is still used for farming.
Farming is by its nature hard work and one of the world's biggest gambles, no matter where one tries it. But three Crittenden County farmers like to take those conditions and make things even a little more difficult.
They farm an island - the five mile long, approximately 1,000 acre Hurricane Island is the in the middle of the Ohio river below Tolu.
The three farmers are Douglas "Gene" Brazell, James Champion and Donald Champion. While Brazell's upland ground is adjacent to the island, the Champion brothers must bring equipment from their farms which are several miles from Hurricane, this is an added problem for them.
The other islands in the county - McKinley and Cave-In-Rock - are farmable, but Hurricane is the largest operation.
Brazell farms about 200 acres on the island and the Champions 550. They grow corn, soybeans and grain sorghum.
Timing is of the utmost importance in farming the island. A week in the spring can mean the difference between gain or loss in the fall, according to Brazell.
Everything must be ferried to the island, and both Brazell and the Champions have their own barge and ferry tug.
Loyd Brazell, Gene's father, keeps a watchful eye from the pilot house of their ferry, he was once a riverboat pilot.
Brazell says he usually tries to put a tractor and fuel supply on the island in the spring before the water goes completely off the island and while he can still land at the top of the bank.
The island normally stands about 20 feet above the level of the river, and once the water goes down, it is nearly impossible to get a tractor up the steep landing cut until it is cleared of sediment. This is the purpose of the tractor placed on the island early - to help clear the landing and assist getting the first of the other equipment ashore.
In the almost 25 years that Brazell has been farming the island, he says that he can recall only one year that water did not completely cover it during the winter. By the time the river reaches a stage of 34-38 feet, it usually covers a large portion of the island.
It is covering the island during the winter and spring rises that the Ohio acts as the farmer's friend. The deposits that the river leaves are so rich that nitrogen is really the only fertilizer requirement, although starter fertilizer is usually used.
The ability to get the crop off the island is also a limited factor when it comes to cropping Hurricane. It isn't feasible to take each wagon or truck load of grain to storage bins immediately after it is harvested as one would do on upland ground. Brazell says, too, that neither is it possible to store grain on the island the year round.
The introduction of the sheller combine changed all that. Today he said that he simply harvests all day, filling all his trucks and wagons and then moves them across the mainland at the end of the day.
In farming the island today, the practice is to alternate between the upland ground and the island, working them as the ground drys.
It hasn't always been such Brazell recalls when it was the practice to move over to the island in the spring, taking family chickens and cows, and stay until the crop was planted. The target date, he said then was to have the crop planted and be moved back across by July 4. This was continued until as late as 1938.
At that time all the farming was done with a team or by hand. Fifty acres were about all that a man and a team of mules coup crop during a growing season. And with the first tractors, 100 acres were enough for one man.
(I don't know who owns the Hurricane Island today and if it is still farmed or not. With that rich soil, I'd say it is still farmed today.)
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