What Caused The Dust Bowl In The 1930's

The dust bowl was a major problem for a many states. The 1930s were the years of The Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. Though people in cities and small towns across the land were suffering from this, the farmers got it the worst. The first farmers arrived in the 1880s because they had heard the Southern Great Plains was a great place to produce wheat and was cheaper than farmland in Arkansas or Illinois. There were many problems that contributed to the Dust Bowl. Some of these causes were technology advancements, lack of rain or water, and the needed supply of wheat. New technology advancements was a huge part of what caused the dust bowl. A farmer named Fred Folkers, and i’m sure other farmers, produced only enough to stay in business. All of that changed when him and the other farmers discovered the tractor. The tractor did the work of 10 horse drawn plows. There were also other machines that helped the farmers produce more and produce faster, like a combine. With the combine, farmers could cut and thresh the grain all at once, without doing as much work. Because of these advances in their technology and it was easier to farm, and the farmers ended up over plowing which made the dust get uncontrollable.

The water helped to keep the soil in place so it would blow away when farmers were farming and plowing the dirt. John Wesley Powell, a Western Explorer, thought that 20 Inches of rain annually was the minimum for successful farming on the plains but predicted that those 20 inches would not be very successful from season to season. John Wesley Powell was right. The chart on Document E shows that from 1923-1940, there were only two years at which reached to 20 inches of water needed. Because a major part of farming wasn’t provided, this cause contributed to the Dust