Some Postwar Rural Trends in the Pacific Northwest

Excerpts from the Introduction: The purpose of this report is to state changes that are taking place and adjustments which are being made in the rural Pacific Northwest since the end of the war. Particular attention is given to population migration and occupational shifts, employment conditions, veterans’ adjustments, and farmers’ use of increased incomes and savings. Field data were collected and observations were made in four counties: Ada and Bingham in Idaho and Clark and Franklin in a Washington. Information was obtained during October through December 1945, by interviews with county and local agency and organization officials, with representative farmers and by tabulation of records kept by agencies within the counties. Other brief surveys on rural-life trends in these same counties over a period of 1 to 3 years gives a basis for better observing current changes.