The Dust Bowl Sparknotes

Timothy Egan wrote this book to describe a hard time during the Dust Bowl. He described how the Dust Bowl affected the farmers and effected life overall. The Dust Bowl occurred during a time of economic depression. He focused on untold stories about people who lived in the Dust Bowl.
At the beginning, Egan used the phrase, “the Great Plowup.” He meant the era of large success for the people, who settle in the Great Plains, by changing the grasses with crops of wheat and corn. Those people settled in the Great Plains after moving of the Indians, killing a lot of animals, and removing the few trees on the land. They plowed a million acres and replaced the grass which covered the land with the crops. These crops like a lot of water. The years from 1901 to 1930 were rainy years, so that encouraged the farmers to plow more and more acres. The Great Plowup encouraged more people to settle in the Great Plains, especially when the Government increased the acres for each family. After the nesters moved to the Great Plains, they built a town and lived there.

It was when the Southern Immigration and Development Company sold the land for forty-five dollars apiece. The company made an advertisement and sent it all over the country. The advertisement showed the Boise City as a complete city. In the advertisement, there were aged trees lining the streets, a clean water tower, beautiful houses, the Main street was filled with businesses, and three railroads were buildings lines to Boise City. Also, the company said the people could plant and grow corn, cotton, or wheat in the land near the city limits. However, all of these things were not true. When the people came to the city location, they were shocked. There was nothing, no tower, no railroads, no beautiful houses, and no businesses. Moreover, the company sold a land which didn’t own it. So, the police arrested the company owners for