Dust Bowl Papers

The Dust Bowl Dust clouds, filthy homes, sickness, death, and migration were none other than the Dust Bowl. In the 1930s some of the toughest people survived this era. It wasn’t just the worldwide depression that made a lasting impact on the United States, the Dust Bowl changed the nation’s perspective on conserving soil and protecting the Earth. From the 1910s through the Roaring 20’s, farmers flocked into the Plains searching for wealth and prosperity. The farmers and settlers then plowed up 100 million acres in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Texas, and New Mexico, because there were some wet years.. Therefore, this event became known as the Great Plow-Up (Legacy and Worster 3). After the Great Plow-Up, there was a major drought that swept across the country. When drought, eager farmers, and loose land are combined, the result is catastrophic.

The immense dust storms began in 1931 and they finally ended in 1939. From 1931 on, loose dust became an everyday sight, however, enormous clouds of dust took the pioneers by

Alas, then government stabilized and many people earned their jobs back. The Civilian Conservation Corps helped farmers advance their techniques in farming. “The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing and other beneficial farming practices.” The efforts the nation had to make to conserve and build up the soil were meaningful because it takes almost one thousand years to form and inch of topsoil (How Long Does Soil Take to Form?).

The Dust Bowl was caused by a combination of dust, drought, and ignorant farmers. Though many lives were lost, the nation as a whole learned lessons about modern farming techniques. If the Dust Bowl hadn’t happened, we might not have the knowledge of soil conservation that we have