In one of the most fertile places in the United States, one of the nation's worst disasters occurred, the Dust Bowl. It began when an area in the Midwest was severely affected by an intense drought throughout the 1930s or what proceeded to be called the Dirty Thirties. The drought killed crops that had kept the rich soil in place, and when the strong root system was not there the soil was not kept grounded. Due to the soil left with no crops, the high and strong winds blew the topsoil away. This drought lasted for almost a decade, and during that time, many people had to learn new ways to adapt, make new innovations, or move to a different region. Though the difficulties it had brought about were
The article “Blizzard!” by Jeanie Mebane and the poem from “The Blizzard Voice” by Ted Kooser both portray the blizzards of 1888. For example, the first sentence of the article “Blizzard!” says “no one on the prairie was prepared for the violent blizzard” that shows the reader that it's not just a couple of inches of snow, it shows that the blizzard will be windy and there will be a lot of snow and damage, also the fact that no one was expecting it makes it a whole lot worse. Another example is in paragraph 5 “Hunt and her students were blinded by the force of the blizzard and almost immediate felt their eyelashes crust over with ice.” Even though it doesn't specifically say that it's windy you just know because of the details. Also in the
We read an interesting short story in English class. “What Happened During the Ice Storm” by: Jim Heynen. In the story that we read, the story had a plot twist that was very unexpected. It was a logical and illogical decision that the boys had made. The story was trying to teach us a lesson. What I pulled out from the story was that sometimes, others have it worse than you. In the story, it was the pheasants. When that situation comes to you, you have to have some sympathy for those others. Even though the boys were there to hunt, they saw the “helpless pheasants” as the author describes, and decided not to take them. The boys were going to hunt the pheasants as their fathers would. They saw the pheasants up on the fence and their first thought
David Laskin’s The Children’s Blizzard explains the devastating force of an intense blizzard, which caught several people unprepared, and it tells the tragic stories of these people. On January 12, 1888 a massive blizzard struck the center of North America, killing between 250 to 500 people and affecting thousands. There were many factors that made this blizzard exceptionally deadly. Many farmers and children who were outside were unprepared to deal with any cold conditions, “a day when children had raced to school with no coats or gloves and farmers were far from home doing chores they had put off during the long siege of cold” (Laskin 2). The reason for this is because they had no idea the blizzard was coming. In this time the weather forecasts
The blizzard on January 12, 1888 will forever be known as one of the most disastrous storms in history. The storm earned the name “the children’s blizzard” because so many children lives were taken in this malicious storm. Could something have been done to prevent such a large death toll? Yes. If the proper steps had been taken to warn the people of the approaching bad weather, then many could have taken the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their family and livestock.
The Dust Bowl was caused by a variety of unfortunate circumstances at the worst time. The dust bowl refers the 1930’s when during the Great Depression, powerful winds ripped off the top soil (the soil that is best used for farming) and killed many crops. The farmers that were hit the hardest were the ones in the southern great plains. This region was soon known as the Dust Bowl. In the off season, farmers would plant grass to keep the topsoil from being taken with the wind. Document B states “Grass is what counts. It’s what saves us all – far as we get saved…. Grass is what holds the earth together.” This clearly refers to the fact that grass hold the soil in place. However, when it was time to farm farmers had to plow their land in order
When you think of a blizzard, you usually don’t think of tragic 40 below zero temperatures. You don’t always imagine extremely high winds blowing the snow every which way, making it very difficult to see what’s in front of you. You certainly don’t think of a blizzard to kill 235 people, including 213 children just trying to make it home from school. The Children’s Blizzard of 1888 included many details common to blizzards, had incredible devastation due to the welcoming conditions beforehand, and involved some very surprising circumstances.
The reality of life can often differ from childhood to adulthood. Twelve-year-old Pablo Medina experienced this first hand. In the reflective essay, “Arrival: 1960,” Medina tells about his experiences of moving from Cuba to America. Upon arriving, his expectations for America are set high. Coming from the communism he saw in Cuba, Medina was expecting a land of freedom, apart from violence, and segregation; he was expecting an overall better life for himself. After just a few days of being in New York, the young boy was exposed to the harsh realities of his new life in America.
On January 18, 1978, the Hartford Civic Center experienced the largest snowstorm in it’s 5 years of existence
By the time Irene reached Pennsylvania and my house, it had downsized from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm. Saturday, August 27, Irene thrashed through southeastern Pennsylvania. It was not long before my power went out. When the power goes out in my house it is hard not to be frightened. My bedroom windows look out into my backyard, which is where most of the trees surrounding my house are. That night, I looked out my window only to see tree limbs whipping around and snapping in half. I was so scared to sleep in my bedroom, I kept dreaming that a tree was going to come crashing into my room and crush me. Instead of sleeping, I stayed up all night with my dad. My dad was always interested in finding out what took out our power, but the conditions were too rough outside for him to go searching through the
The “Black Blizzard” from Scholastic Scope is about how a major drought caused a horrible disaster in the middle of the U.S.A. When all of this happened, thousands of animals and people died of suffocation when a 7,000 foot tall wave devoured the area. After that, all of the other stuff just went down hill. All of the crops died because of the major drought, farmers lost money and couldn’t afford their houses they lived in, and they couldn’t care for their family. Then another storm hit and scooped up all of the dead crops and the soil that the crops were in.
The Mississippi never freezes over. I guess that’s why everybody claimed it to be a miracle. I was already missing the Beautiful City by the time my new leather boots set foot on the frozen river. Months before the journey Momma was already sewing us new clothes and saving her coins to purchase us boots from the tailor. Leaving Nauvoo, was one of the hardest things I’ve done. Prophet Brigham Young taught us faith and how that will keep us going on this trek to Zion. I found that it is much easier to sing about Zion than actually making the journey. A few days into the trek several families turned around and headed back.
Through the AAA, numerous aids became accessible, including the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of May 1933, which administered two hundred million dollars in federal funding in hopes of remortgaging farmers who anguished over their foreclosures. That same month, the Farm Credit Act was adopted to allocate a complex of banks with the purpose of dispensing loans on minimal interest. Although disapproved by Franklin Roosevelt, Congress ratified the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act of 1934, which was promoted by North Dakota Representative and Senator, William Lemke and Lynn Frazier, respectively. The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act restricted the bank’s power of reclaiming land from farmers suffering economic issues (“Dust Bowl” 3). Those opposed
The Blizzard of 1888 was one of the worst natural disasters to occur in U.S. history. It dramatically affected the Great Plains of Montana, the Dakota Territories, Nebraska, and Minnesota. This devastating weather event impacted the land, people, and migration during one of the worst times in America. The land’s temperature reached record low numbers around 40 degrees below zero (Laskin 41). Hundreds of people heavily struggled in the cold and some would eventually froze to death. Originally, there was a massive increase of settlements in the western frontiers but, there was also a huge decrease in migration as farmers head back to the eastern cities. Nicholas D. Kristof, writer of New