The stock market crashed in October of 1929 and by 1933 Cumberland County was literally starving. During the Great Depression one in four workers were unemployed, farmer’s could not afford their land anymore, sharecroppers were evicted, and wages were slashed. There was a walkout at the Harriman Hosiery Mill, a strike at the mines in Wilder, and “impending civil war.” Residents were tired, hungry, fed-up, and feeling overlooked.