The Dust Bowl was a tragic occurrence that lasted nine years throughout the 1930’s. A time when the farming industry was barren and people were poor. A time when millions lost their homes and were forced to move. The Dust Bowl ruined homes, families, and land. This is a time that will never be forgotten. The Great Plains was a big producer of wheat. When the demand for wheat went up during World War I, farmers began to plow grasslands for more farming. Not knowing proper farming techniques, farmers from the 1930’s would pull the plants up as wholes.
Dust Bowl, The Southern Plains in the 30’s written by Donald Worster and published in 1979, is an informative text on the Great Plains during the Great Depression. Donald Worster is a credible author because he not only earned a Ph.D. from Yale in environmental history, but he also had previously written a book on the environment and the economy. This book was written well and Worster did a good job of revealing how people and how they live have effected the areas environment. He spoke of places including, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and many more.
Due to this lack of acknowledgement from the community, it can be inferred that responses or other measures were not highly considered, only issuing forth new and stronger problems through this era. Another document demonstrating this is Document C, which examines how individuals had no plan for recultivating and supporting the land which was tilled to fill their crops. This document describes ways in which new technologies advanced the speed in which land was cultivated, but does not describe agricultural methods to maintain it. This is revealed through how “Folkers plowed nearly his entire square mile, and then paid to rent nearby property and ripped up that grass as well” (C). This uncovers the fact that farmers during the timer period surrounding the Dust Bowl were plowing land at rapid speeds without taking proper precautions into consideration.
The Great Plains suffered from a drought and over cultivation. These factors contributed to the winds sweeping the top layer of dust off the earth. Because of this, the Agricultural industry collapsed. In text 1, the first photo shows an abandoned house with a pile of dirt next to it. Judging from the dilapidated state of the house, it had not had inhabitants for an immense amount of time.
“ Some 850 million tons of topsoil blew away in 1935 alone. "Unless something is done," a government report predicted, "the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert. " The government 's response included deploying Civilian Conservation Corps workers to plant shelter belts; encouraging farmers to try new techniques like contour plowing to minimize erosion; establishing conservation districts; and using federal money in the Plains for everything from grasshopper control to outright purchases of failed farms.
During the Dust Bowl some people made the decision to stay at their farms. Huge drifts of dirt piled up on homesteaders’ doors, came in the cracks of windows and came down from the ceilings. Barnyards and pastures were buried in dirt. After about 850 million tons of topsoil was blown away in 1935 alone. The government responded to this by saying “Unless something is done, the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert.”
The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s was the worst dust storm of them all and there’s many reasons why. First, when a dust storm happened it was very scary. The kid inside of the first paragraph was shouting to his parents that a dust storm was happening and he was showing his fear by his tone because he was yelling. Second, in a situation where a dust storm was happening the family put wet towels at the windows and doors to prevent sand from coming in but it was getting in anyways. Third, the dust storms were destroying the land, making the soil not suitable for farming, they ruined the economy and threatened lives of people.
Dust Bowl and Economics of the 1930s The Dust Bowl was a very desperate and troublesome time for America. The southwestern territories were in turmoil due to the arid effect of the drought causing no fertile soils. As the rest of America was being dragged along with the stock market crash and higher prices of wheat and crops since the producing areas couldn't produce. This was a streak of bad luck for the Americans as they were in a deep despair for a quite some time.
The 1930s in America were not prosperous years for the nation. The time saw a drought that could be compared to biblical proportions. News people were saying conditions were awful. According to source #1, the drought, the drought covered close to 100 million acres. It toke A out of the plans.
While the great depression and the Dust Bowl contributes to the downfall of the “Okies” the problems for the farmers started many years before that. During World War I food supplies were in demand due to the closed European markets, farmers were compelled to invest heavily to invest in land and machinery to meet the demand of the market. Once the war was done the prices of their crops dropped significantly which left the farmers unable to repay the hefty loans they took out from the banks. Therefore while the economy was booming before the great depression at the end of the 1920’s, farmers were experiencing very harsh times and had their assets and land seized by banks and private sectors. Like the Joads, they were evicted from their land and
The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were devistating time for American citizens followed by another terrible time called the dust bowl. Both were devastating times for america. The great depression caused the dust bowl because farmers lost their money and property which cause many to move to urban america in search of work. The great depression had a huge impact on american citizens from 1929-1939.
The conditions that laborers had to work in tending to their crops were ridiculous. This caused many farmers to leave their homes and search for better lands. During the drought in the 1930s, many farmers had to work extremely hard with unrefined machinery to maintain their unfortunately low priced crop, leading to a turning point in agriculture. When the Dust Bowl hit people automatically panicked. It was a time of multiple dust storms which created a big impact on agriculture.
Evidence from Doc D, shows that over 100 million acres were harvested crops. How this was possible was advances in machinery. The tractor at the time was a new type of technology used to help farmers plant soil for crops. Since the soil was not watered because of the drought in the previous paragraph, this caused the soil to turn into dust.
“Dust Storms swept across the land during the 1930s (Douglas-Hurt).” This is when the horrific storms began. As each storm went on, it would lift all the fresh soil, which would take thousands of years to replace. Without this precious soil, it wasn’t very easy for farmers to plant different crops like wheat, and grow it for
“Dry land farming on the Great Plains led to the systematic destruction of the prairie grasses. In the ranching regions, overgrazing also destroyed large areas of grassland. Gradually, the land was laid bare, and significant environmental
Nature’s delicate balance of wind, rain, and grass had been disturbed by human settlement. Fifty years earlier, a strong protective carpet of grass had covered the Great Plains. The grass held moisture in the soil and kept the soil from blowing away (Holley).” Before the Great Plains were settled, its geography was covered in lush grasses that made it perfect for farming and raising livestock. As the population grew and more and more people settled there, the grass was removed so that they could farm the land.