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What was the dust bowl, and when did it occur?
The Dust Bowl was a series of dust storms that struck the Great Plains region of the United States between the years 1931 and 1939. These storms were so big that they became known as Black Blizzards. These Black Blizzards as they were known would black out the sun for hours or days at a time. The storms were full of static electricity and silica, a particle that can cause severe health risks especially in infancy, children, and the elderly ( this particle often causes Sicilia in miners). In 1935 it was estimated that 850,000,000 tons of topsoil had been blown off the plains in that year alone. It was further estimated that the area affected by the dust bowl would spread to 5,350,000 areas by the spring of 1936. Oftentimes during the storms winds would blow at upwards of 50 miles an hour. The Dust Bowl primarily affected Southeastern Colorado, Southwestern Kansas, Northeastern New Mexico, the panhandles of Texas, and Oklahoma, but on occasion, storms reached the eastern coast of the United States. One such storm occurred on May 11th, 193? when one storm traveled 2,000 miles at 2 miles high to the eastern coast of the United States. The storm lasted five hours and obstructed the Capitol Building and the Statue of Liberty from view. In the year 1932, a total of fourteen storms occurred. In 1933 that number rose to a total of 38 over the course of the year. The worst of these storms occurred on April 14, 1935. The dust storms that struck the Great Plains during the 1930s devastated the region and earned the time period the name of the dirty thirties.
What caused the dust bowl?
The Dust Bowl was caused by many different factors that all combined to create the natural disaster that sweated across the plains in the 1930s. One of the problems that led to the Dust Bowl was the over-cultivation and over-farming of the land. When families started to settle on the land they began to farm it. As the land was farmed the natural grasses of the Great Plains that had kept the soil together during droughts were replaced for crops like wheat. When it stopped raining and a drought came, these plants dried up, withered, and died. This meant that there were no longer any roots to hold the soil in place. Another factor that contributed to the Dust Bowl was the introduction of tractors and other mechanical machines that made farming easier and allowed farmers to plow and cultivate more land. This meant even more of the natural grasses were being replaced with crops like wheat. This helped lead to the over-farming of the land. Overgrazing and poor land management also helped cause the Dust Bowl. Overgrazing and poor land management destroyed large grasslands and made the land bare. Another factor that helped contribute to the Dust Bowl was the American mentality of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea in America that America was supposed to be a coast-to-coast country. This idea led to many people settling in the plains and farming on it as the Homestead Act, the Kinkaid Act, and the Enlarged Homestead Act encouraged people to settle and farm this area of the US The idea of Manifest Destiny also led to the idea that “rain follows the plow”. This idea was an idea that many Americans held when they settled and framed the Great Plains. They believed that since they were setting the land, rain would fall, and that settling land would change it and make it better to farm. During this period there was a series of years where plenty of rain fell which they believed further supported this idea. World War One also helped lead to the Dust Bowl. During World War One there was more demand for wheat (from Europe) at the same time that wheat prices rose so farmers planted even more wheat, as well as other crops (which took up even more of the plain’s natural grasses). Then when the war ended and the Great Depression started Wheat prices dropped severely and farmers planted even more wheat to try to break even. The last factor that contributed to the dust bowl was the drought that struck the nation during this time. This drought lasted for years and affected 75% of the country. When the rain stopped falling the soil dried up and because the native grasses had been replaced with crops that had since withered and died there were no roots to hold the soil down, so when the winds started it blew the topsoil of the plains and the Dust Bowl occurred. There were many interconnected factors that contributed to the Dust Bowl.
What were the effects of the dust bowl on people and cattle?
The Dust Bowl had many effects on the people who lived in the Great Plains. For example, the Dust Bowl affected people’s health. The “Black Blizzards” that would sweep across the plains contained Silica, so when people breathed in the dust, they also breathed in the Silica. This in turn led to people getting Silicosis, a disease typically found in miners. The Dust Bowl also led to people getting what is known as Dust Pneumonia or what was known as the “dust plague”. Children, infants, and the elderly were at more risk for health effects from the Dust Bowl. While the exact number of people who died from health issues related to the Dust Bowl the number is estimated in the hundreds. The Dust Bowl also affected the families in the plain's quality of life. Many families lost their farms during the Dust Bowl, as they were unable to pay for the bank. The dust itself also affected people’s lifestyle as many families slept with wet cloths over their faces, children had to clean dust out from their cow’s nostrils at least twice a day and people had to clean and sweep out their houses daily. Families also went hungry as they lived mostly on cornbread, beans, and milk, “fried jack” (jackrabbits), and biscuits. The Dust Bowl had many effects on the people and the families who lived in the affected areas.
The Dust Bowl also affected the cattle and other animals who lived on the plains. For example, many animals died of starvation, suffocation, and dust pneumonia, and because families had no other way to make money, many farm animals got sold. For example, cattle were slaughtered to help farmers financially, so they could avoid bankruptcy. The Drought Relief Service (DRS) bought cattle at fourteen to twenty dollars per animal, while other cows were given to the Federal Surplus Relief to be used and distributed as food to families nationwide. Cows were not the only animals to be sold and slaughtered as six million young pigs were killed to stabilize prices, and unfortunately, most of this meat went to waste. Another way that the Dust Bowl affected farm animals was that storms could and would bury the animals ( even the cows on occasion). Wild animals were also affected by the Dust Bowl, as “plaques” of jackrabbits and grasshoppers descended upon the plains during the Dust Bowl and ate any crops that could grow. The grasshoppers appeared in large clouds that had as many as 23,000 grasshoppers per acre. The Dust Bowl had many effects on the animals that lived on the plains during the thirties.
What was the effect of the dust bowl on the economy?
What was the effect of the dust bowl on the economy?
The Dust Bowl had economic effects on both the nation as a whole and the people who lived on the plains during the thirties. One of the biggest effects that the Dust Bowl had on the national economy was that it prolonged the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a period of economic turmoil that started when the stock market crashed in 1929 and affected not only everyone in the United States but other nations as well. Another effect that the Dust Bowl had on the nation’s economy was that the federal government spent millions of dollars to try to solve the problem. The Dust Bowl also affected the economy of the Great Plains. One way it affected the economy of the plains was that it lessened the agricultural value of the land, something that did not recover until well after the rain started falling again. Another effect on the economy of the plains region was that the population continued to decline, even after the Dust Bowl ended. Families and their financial stability were also affected by the event of the Dust Bowl. Oftentimes families who lived in the region affected by the Dust Bowl lived in poverty, something that was only worsened if they moved to California with the hopes of finding a better life. However, because so many people had migrated to California in such a short time, there was no work, and when people could find work they would earn twenty-five cents an hour. That meant they could work sixteen hours a day for seven days and only make four dollars the entire week. Families who stayed in the plains did not fare much better. Oftentimes they had to sell their farm animals to avoid bankruptcy and even then many families lost their farms and homes because they could not afford to pay the bank. The Dust Bowl prolonged the Great Depression and caused economic devastation especially to the families who lived in the region affected by the Dust Bowl.
How did the people in the plains respond to the dust bowl?
How did the people in the plains respond to the dust bowl?
People responded to the Dust Bowl in many different ways. For example, some families choose to move to the San Joaquin Valley in California, in hopes of finding a job and a better life. However, this did not happen. When they got there they found no jobs, only camps full of people just like them. These people were called “Okies” by the local population, regardless of where they were from ( in fact only about 250,000 of the 440,000 people who left Oklahoma moved to California). These migrants lived in makeshift camps of cardboard and tin. These camps became known as Little Oklahomas and were very unsanitary and had no running water, plumbing, floors, or electricity. Furthermore, the local population was very unsympathetic to the Okies' conditions and in fact refused to let them enter their shops, businesses, and hospitals. The migration of people off the plains was the largest in US history, by 1940 about 2.5 million people had moved from the Dust Bowl states to the Pacific states. While many families chose to move to California, even more, decided to stay where they were (though some did move from their home to another Dust Bowl state).
Families and towns who stayed in the Dust Bowl states responded to the Dust Bowl in creative and practical ways. For example, some killed snakes and hung them belly up to try to get the rain to fall. Towns would sage rabbit drives in which men in the town would corral jackrabbits into pens and beat them to death ( this was to try to combat the large number of jackrabbits found on the plains during the Dust Bowl). Another town in Texas paid a supposed rainmaker five hundred dollars to fire rockets that contained dynamite and nitroglycerine into the atmosphere to try to make it rain ( this endeavor did not succeed). Families tried to combat the effects of the Dust Bowl by stuffing rags under their doors and windows and sleeping with wet rags over their faces to try to keep the dust out of their homes and mouths. Children cleaned out cows' nostrils two to three times a day and farmers united jackrabbits to eat and coyotes to collect the bounty that was offered by the state for each coyote killed. To combat the electricity brought on by the Dust Storms motorists drove with chains dragging behind the backs of their cars. Companies also suggested ways to respond to the Dust Bowl. For example, one asphalt company in Jew Jersey proposed paving the plains, while Sisalkraft wanted to cover farms with waterproof paper. People responded to the Dust Bowl in different ways.
How did the government respond to the Dust Bowl?
How did the government respond to the Dust Bowl?
The Government also responded to the Dust Bowl. One way the government responded to the Dust Bowl was by making a film titled “ The Plow That Broke the Plains”. This film was created to illustrate the relationship between farming practices and the Dust Bowl. Another way in which the government responded to the Dust Bowl was with the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of 1931 which set aside 200 million dollars to refinance mortgages to help farmers who were facing foreclosure. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) also opened the first soil erosion control camp in Clayton County, Alabama, on June 18, 1933. By September of the same year, there were 161 soil erosion control camps. The Civilian Conservation Corps also responded to the Dust Bowl by spreading insecticide of arsenic, molasses, and bran to try to get rid of the grasshoppers that plagued the plains during the Dust Bowl. The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC) diverted and distributed agricultural commodities ( apples, beans, canned beef, flour, and pork products) to relief organizations, and on June 28, 1934, President Franklin D Roosevelt signed the Taylor Grazing Act which took 140 million acres of federally owned land out of the public domain to established carefully watched grazing districts. The Government also passed the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act which prevented banks from evicting farmers in times of distress. On January 15, 1935, the government created the Drought Relief Service (DRS) to “coordinate relief activities”. The Drought Relief Service brought cattle from emergency areas at fourteen to twenty dollars per animal, with the remaining cattle going to the Federal Surplus Relic Corporation (cattle that were deemed unfit were destroyed, this was about fifty percent of the cows). Present Roosevelt on April 18, 1935, also approved the emergency Relief Appropriation Act which gave 525 million dollars to drought relief. In 1936 the Farm Security Agency which is part of the Department of Agriculture started building twelve farm-labor camps in San Joaquin Valley to give the Dust Bowl migrants in the area shelter and better living conditions. It cost families a dollar a week to live at these camps but if they could not pay the dollar they could work at the camp instead. One of these camps became known as Weedpatch Camp, and the residents there built a school for children to learn at. On April 27, 1935, Congress established the Soil Conservation Service which became part of the Department of Agriculture. The Soil Conservation Service was responsible for enacting programs that were aimed at keeping topsail and preventing damage to the plain's land. In March 1937 the Shelterbelt Project which called for the planting of native trees along property lines in the area between Canada and Texas ( a 100-mile wide area) began. The project was estimated to cost 75 million dollars (over twelve years) and people from the Civilian Conservation Corps were paid to care for the trees with the idea that the trees would help prevent soil erosion. The plan called for more than 200 million trees to be planted. The idea was that these trees would be windbreakers and hold the soil in place ( as well as hold water in the soil). The Government also responded by sending the National Guard to get rid of the swarms of grasshoppers which they did by crushing them with tractors and burning infested fields.ht government( the Soil Conservation Service) also paid farmers to practice land management like replanting native grasses, rotating crops, and not planting fields. The government also bought ten million acres to convert to grasslands. The government also responded to the Dust Bowl by educating farmers on proper soil management and conservation techniques such as strip farming, contour, plowing, and plant rotation. It is estimated that by 1938 the federal government’s response to the Dust Bowl had reduced the amount of topsoil being blown off the plains by sixty-five percent. The federal government responded to the Dust Bowl in many different ways.
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