Dust Bowl Essay

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The Dust Bowl

It is the “worst environmental disaster in the United States” (West). This environmental disaster was called the Dust Bowl. It was nearly a decade of a horrible drought that made dust storms. A time where many people had to leave their homes to find refuge. Although it is now way back in the past, it’s important to learn from disasters like this one in order to avoid them in the future. There were many causes to this horrible disaster, and even more effects, some of which lasting for years. One thing for sure was that this disaster wasn’t going to be forgotten. While there are many things that caused the Dust Bowl, probably the biggest factor that played into it was the Homestead Act of 1862, Kinkaid Act of 1904, and Enlarged …show more content…

In 1932, there were about 14 storms. By 1933, there were about 38 storms. On April 14, 1935, the worst storm during the time of the “Black Blizzards” (West) happened. This day is now nicknamed Black Sunday. Farmers' crops withered as their livestock were blinded and suffocated to death, all because “their stomachs were full of sand” (West). A 100 million acres of the Southern Plains were all covered in dust, and a storm in May of 1934 had left a total of “12 million tons of dust in Chicago” (West). Even ships far out at sea were covered in dust. With all of this dust there was an epidemic of dust pneumonia. It killed many people, making many seek refuge from these awful …show more content…

Rain had finally fallen. But about 35 million acres of land were now useless for farming. Some of this land is still recovering today. But because of this disaster, we learned some things as a country. Prior to the end of the Dust Bowl, “Congress established the Soil Erosion Service as well as the Prairie States Forestry Project” (History.com Editors). This was to plant trees to act as windbreakers. Farmers around the country now try to keep the nutrients in the ground. Coming from a farmer family, my dad always rotates his crops and tries to leave some of the roots of the plant in the ground. This leads to perfect soil for farming and helps avoid another Dust

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