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The Dust Bowl: The Dirty Thirties

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The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, lasted for about a decade and was a period in time in which dirt clouds billowed over the Great Plains that afflicted over 75% of the country (Riney-Kehrberg 32). The Dust Bowl affected a section of the Great Plains that extended over to Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Northeastern New Mexico. The Dust Bowl was both a manmade and natural disaster that received its name from the "bowl-shaped" area it covered. In the 1930 's the United States suffered severe dust storms as high winds and asphyxiated dust swept the region until the early 1930 's. The Dust Bowl was the inevitable result of people intentionally exploiting the grasslands to its fullest extent (Richardson). Because of the Homestead …show more content…

The changes in the sea surface temperatures created shifts in the large-scale patterns and low level winds that reduced the normal supply of moisture and inhibited rainfall throughout the Great Plains (Deneke). Climatic conditions in the 1920 consisted of good rainfall and reasonable winters, which increased cultivation in the region and accumulated settlement (Deneke). At the same time, the federal government was encouraged the farmers that the Great Plains will provide the best profit, but they were wrong. It was until the early 1930 's that the disruption of climatic events fell apart and gave many false impressions. As soon as the temporary vital climate conditions fell apart vital fertile farms began turning into dust. It was not long until the heat took a toll on the what once was fine …show more content…

This unusually wet period mistakenly led settlers to believe that the region 's climate had changed for the better. Farmers took notice that without the grass in place the fine soil easily eroded from heat. The persistent dry weather triggered failure for crops to grow because there wasn’t enough moisture necessary for seeds to sprout leading soil to dry up (History). If no seeds sprouted then the loose crumbled topsoil was impotent in fighting back against the bulk movement of air. Heat ways were then entitled to fry the what once was grassland into a fine-grained dust consistency, evidently leading to storms. A survivor from the Dust Bowl stated, "severe, extended drought and high winds easily blew my farms soil, leaving it useless and vulnerable, my hard work and future was destroyed in an instant" (Henderson). The unanchored topsoil then turned to tiny particles, in which continental winds billowed huge clouds that blackened the

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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.

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The third cause of the Dust Bowl was short grass prairie. In Doc B, it states that a lot of the grass was mostly Buffalo grass for the animals to eat. This ties in with the first and second paragraph because the soil was killing the grass. How it was killing the grass was since there was so much soil not being watered, the grass would die as well. The animals would starve as well since the grass was not watered.

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The poor farming practices that were put in place by profit farmers disregarding the state of the land coupled with the sudden explosive growth in farming technology allowing these farmers to farm much larger plots of land with much more ease left the topsoil completely vulnerable. While it was natural phenomena that sparked the Dust Bowl, it was not the cause, as these natural phenomena on their own would not have been nearly enough to cause anything on the scale of the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was a direct causation of the poor farming methods of the farmers of the

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Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to

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Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930’s Donald Worster’s Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930’s was written by a Kansas Native who demonstrates the horrendous plague that destroyed the once prosperous plains in the American West. Worster depicts the primary reasons of the economical and agricultural struggles that generated the ‘Dirty 30’s’. In the Preface of the book Worster explains his reasoning for writing his book as ‘selfish’, due to the fact that he wrote it for himself in remembrance of the plains where he grew up. He explains the derivation of his information as so, “It is, however, based on not only on extensive library research, but on conversations with farmers, agronomists, and storekeepers;...”

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“ The story highlights a very real and relatable experience about a family driven out of their home due to economic hardship and drought. Also known as “The Dirty Thirties,” the Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms causing major agricultural damage to the American west—especially the Oklahoma panhandle area, Kansas, and northern Texas. Farming methods at the time contributed to the severity of the problem. The arrival of farmers to the Great Plains created conditions for significant soil erosion during naturally occurring periods of cool sea surface water temperatures that regulate precipitation. “ http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/legacy/ 3.

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This over farming diminished the nutrients in the ground and removed all of the grass and sod holding the dirt in place which resulted in it creating the giant dust storms. Storms like this have happened in the past but not to the same degree. He mentions how the climate in the Southern Plains is problematic as there is little rain and every so many years there are big storms that tear throughout the area. The difference between the storms that occurred before the Dust Bowl, is that there was grass and sod keeping the soil in place instead of just bare earth with shallow roots for anything that managed to cover the earth. Worster claims capitalism and the farming practices are responsible for this as the farmers strive to make a profit without caring about the state of the land is in.

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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.”

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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.

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Fields in the United States have lots of natural grass and nice temperatures. Later on, farmers removed the grass with other crops like corn. This caused the soil to be loose and with wind and no water it could easily cause a storm in the United States. The dust bowl was a storm that was caused by a drought and not having enough trees to stop the dust from the fields, it caused many sufferings to not only the people but the farmers too. After the Dust Bowl, there was lots of dust everywhere.

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The story starts off by telling you to imagine what it’d be like to live in the 1930’s when the Dust Bowl had taken effect. When dust storms came everyone in the area had to prepare quickly to withstand them. The wind combined with the dust and gravelly dirt was very strong and loud, easily getting into houses and cutting off fresh oxygen. Dust storms of the 1930’s were supposedly one of the worst natural disasters. They had affected everyone and everything in the area, so many Migrated West.

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In the 1930s, drought covered most all of the Great Plains for nearly a decade. “At one time the Great Plains were some of the most fertile grasslands on Earth, with topsoil reaching as deep as six feet. Overtime though, farmers had dug up the topsoil for agricultural uses, and eventually the sun dried it all up.” Around this time, rainfall had become an issue seeing as there wasn't very

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During the Great Depression a Midwestern phenomenon called the Dust Bowl affected many lives of newly settled Americans throughout the Great Plains region. Otherwise known as the “Dirty Thirties”, a storm of dry weather caused farmers and villagers to abandon their homes in hope to survive the deadly threat of the storm. The Dust Bowl was a big contributing factor to the Great Depression agriculturally, and economically. During the 1930’s America suffered extreme temperatures. A drought forming across all farm lands due to failure of successful crop rotation cause dust to form.

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“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

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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.

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