Dust Bowl Essay

The disaster known as the Dust Bowl was a major setback for American and Americans in the Midwest. The Dust Bowl was a time in history where drought was at its peak. The drought was throughout the states; Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The Dust Bowl lasted for six years, 1930 to 1936. The 1930s was not only known for the Dust Bowl, but for other reasons also like, The Great Depression and WW1. Many people left during the Dust Bowl because The Great Depression was during it. 300,000 people moved to California, but in total 2.5 million people left. However, for those that stayed around lived on milk, potatoes, and canned foods, sometimes if there was nothing people would eat tumbleweeds and dandelions. To try and not inhale

Scientist have concluded about 1.2 billion tons of soil was lost throughout 100 million acres. The amount of money lost is absurd, about 50 billion dollars were lost. Mostly all of the land that was effected from the Dust Bowl is now ghost towns and abandon. The cause of the Dust Bowl is farmers not taking good care of the land. Farmers would clear parts of land, then let their livestock graze in the grass until there was nothing left but dirt. After the livestock would graze and leave the land bare and open, then the wind would pick up the dust from the ground and that created the dust bowl. Another terrible add on, was there was no rain. The effect of the Dust Bowl has dreadful. Residents at the time would move to California and make a living there. However, some residents would stay. The people who stayed would survive by hanging wet sheets or clothing on their doorpost to try and keep the dust from getting in. Also they would eat canned foods and if times got really tough they would eat tumbleweeds and dandelions. The Dust Bowl ended when rain fell heavily on the Great

The amount sand and dirt in the air interfered with human health and it damaged the air quality. When the dust storms would go by, the name or phrase would be “Black Blizzards” because of how dark it would become outside. Even though, the dust storm was in the states like Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, sometimes dust piles were spotted in places like Washington D.C, and New York. However, the dust piles in New York and Washington D.C looked like snowdrifts. After the tremendous disaster, President Roosevelt made programs where farmers would have to learn how to conserve the soil and practicing how to sustain their farms. The farmers that participated were paid one dollar for every acre to use the newly learned techniques. However, the most beneficial was the Civilian Conservation Corps. Also other programs like; the Soil Conservation Services (SCS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. President instructed this corporation to plant over two million trees in the Great Plains to lessen the amount of wind, to hold the water in place, and to keep the soil in place. By 1938, almost five years of the Dust Bowl- reducing mechanisms had paid off. The amount of soil that was blown away reduced by 65% from the earlier years from the