In the 1930s, there was a period of time known as the Dirty Thirties, or in other words the Dust Bowl. This period of time consisted of severe dust storms that significantly damaged the economy and agriculture of the U.S and Canadian prairies. The many causes of this crisis is one that has been discussed and debated for many years. However, the main cause of this entire debacle is indeed due to the horrendous drought that destroyed everything in sight. In addition, the other causes included overproduction and improper farming by farmers, high heat and winds, and lastly the unfortunate plague of grasshoppers.
To initiate, the Dust Bowl began during the 1930s. It took place in an area in the Midwest that was severely affected
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New mechanized farming techniques led farmers to be able to increase their profits (Document C). With the help of the new technology for farming, farmers produced more crops than ever. However, the overproduction of wheat and the Great Depression is what unfortunately led to the reduced market prices. As a result, the wheat market was swamped, and people were too poor to buy. Furthermore, due to the great loss, farmers were unable to earn back what they produced, so instead they expanded their fields in an effort to turn their unfortunate circumstance into a profit. However, the prairies they covered with wheat caused the grass to slowly disappear and the fields were left bare (Document …show more content…
For instance, high heat and the plague of grasshoppers are two of the last topics that are part of what created this crisis. The unusually hot summers of that period of time were responsible for creating the horrendous heat. The mixture of the heat and the powerful winds that the dust storms created, it all came together to destroy everything that was in its way. On the other hand, the plague of grasshoppers is one of the many causes that were a part of this occurrence. Grasshoppers tend to relish hot, dry weather, and due to the heat waves that were occurring at that time, swarms of hoppers would eat entire fields. Fields of corn and other crops would be destroyed in terms of hours. Overall, the grasshoppers would literally eat anything, which was made things worse and more difficult to solve. Not only did farmers had to find a way to benefit from their crops but they had to deal with these grasshoppers that would eat their hard
The individuals in the Southern Plains did not acknowledge the dust storms as a threat, and continued to plow up the grass that held the soil together. A book by Donald Worster titled Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, offered vivid descriptions of the effects of dust storms. One example was of a “small town printer [named] Nate White…” who was unable to see and “it was as if someone had put a blindfold over his eyes.” (Doc. A). The citizens in the Southern Plains had experienced the dust storm’s effects but, “ignored the radio warnings, went about their business as usual, and later wondered what had hit them” (Doc. A). In the 1930s, the Great Depression caused the wheat sales to drop due to unemployment in the east. Farmers then
The Dust Bowl was the period of time during the Great Depression in the Southern Plains where colossal clouds and storms of dust and dirt swept through neighborhoods, farms, and houses. It left everything covered in a thick layer of dirt and sand, even blinding those temporarily whom had happened to be caught in the midst of one, plastering their lungs with all of the air’s contents. “Children died from breathing in the dust. They called it ‘dust pneumonia,’” (Background Essay). But, what caused these storms? The source of the Dust Bowl in the plains were the lack of farming experience, the excessive farming America had done, and the drought.
Conditions that produced the Dust Bowl was things such as severe drought with wind erosion. Regional dust storms were forming over time. While this was happening there was an aggressive reform by the federal government. Migration from rural to urban areas was very popular. Leading up to the Dust Bowl from 1933 - 1941 which hurt farmers, rural businesses, and the government. Crops failed over this time period and There were unusually high temperatures during the Dust Bowl. In the 1930s it was usual for people to look around for work so when the farmers took the road to California, it was no surprise since they had families to feed and money to make. Neither was drought, agricultural crisis, or dust storms, but not as severe.
The Dust Bowl a tragic event that occurred during the 1930's primarily in the southern plains states. It hurt the lives of many people, and it was preventable. This event is relevant to what we are studying in class.
The 1930s are a decade marked by devastation; the nation was in an economic crisis, millions of people were going hungry, and jobless. America was going through some dark times. But if you were living in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas (or any of those surrounding states) you had bigger things on your mind than being denied the money in your bank account. From 1935-1939 Winds and dust storms had left a good portion of our country desolate; however our author takes a slightly different, though no less valid, opinion on the matter. In his book Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s Donald Worster blames mans inappropriate interference with nature that allowed these massive storms of dust that happen. "My
Farming wheat was a huge factor. The reason why is because when people farmed they pulled all the grass out and planted wheat. Once it was harvested it left all of the topsoil open for the wind to blow it all away. In document B it says ¨Grass is what counts. It's what saves us all - far as we get saved....
The Dust Bowl was one of the worst economic and tragic events of the 20th century. The Dust Bowl negatively affected people who lived there in a personal way. Some of them included how badly it had affected the children living in that time, how it had affected families health, and how badly it affected the economy causing a mass corruption.
The Dust Bowl added quickly to the chaos of The Great Depression during the 1930s. The Dust Bowl was a natural disaster and mainly erosion of topsoil which caused dusters and black blizzards. It mainly hit the area of the southwest which included the following states Kansas,Oklahoma, Arkansas, Dakota etc. A quick brief of what The Dust Bowl did … it affected more than a million of acres of land that were used mainly for farming. Also, thousands of farmers lost their livelihoods and properties, and migration began to emerge as farmers left rural areas to find work in the suburbs. Some people who were mainly affected by The Dust Bowl were people in the
The dust bowl was a devastating time in the United States history that occurred during the 1930s, caused by atypically high temperatures, perpetual drought and new farming methods. Vigorous winds disturbed the topsoil, resulting in overwhelming dust storms which destroyed an immense amount of farms, in upwards of 100,000. These storms devastated the source of income for the farmers affected. The dust bowl was located in the Great Plains region, which includes the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Northern Texas. Thousands of workers were faced with an impasse, become a laborer, doing mindless work for miniscule wages, or move away and search for better work. (San José State University) The people brought to these decisions that chose to
The timeline of the dustbowl characterizes the fall of agriculture during the late 1920s, primarily the area in and surrounding the Great Plains. The Dust Bowl was created by a disruption in the areas natural balance. “With the crops and native vegetation gone, there was nothing to hold the topsoil to the ground” (“Dust Bowl and” 30). Agricultural expansion and dry farming techniques caused mass plowing and allowed little of the land to go fallow. With so little of the deeply rooted grass remaining in the Great Plains, all it took was an extended dry season to make the land grow dry and brittle. When most of the land had been enveloped by the grass dust storms weren’t even a yearly occurrence, but with the exponentiation of exposed land, the winds had the potential to erode entire acres. This manmade natural disaster consumed such a large amount of the South's agriculture that it had repercussions on the national level. The Dust Bowl was a “97-million-acre section
The tragedy began when people had started traveling across the United States looking for exceptional farming land. They found this “promise land” in the midwest with the extensive amount of grasslands throughout the area. After settling, farmers began grazing cattle and plowing the grassy areas in order to plant wheat. Cattle grazing and plowing spread throughout millions of more acres in the midwest. An innumerable amount of these areas were destroyed as a result of the overgrazing. When the grazing was decreased and the demand for wheat products rose, farmers begun to plow more instead. With the land mostly uncovered and tons of topsoil apparent, the tragedy commenced when a severe drought struck. The lack of rain caused the soil to dry up and, essentially, turn into dust.
The Dust Bowl was "the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains," (pg. 4) as described by Donald Worster in his book "The Dust Bowl." It was a time of drought, famine, and poverty that existed in the 1930's. It's cause, as Worster presents in a very thorough manner, was a chain of events that was perpetuated by the basic capitalistic society's "need" for expansion and consumption. Considered by some as one of the worst ecological catastrophes in the history of man, Worster argues that the Dust Bowl was created not by nature's work, but by an American culture that was working exactly the way it was planned. In essence, the Dust Bowl was the effect of a society, which deliberately set out to
In what was one of the most fertile areas of the United States, one of the Nation’s worst agricultural disasters occurred. No rain came so crops did not grow, leaving the soil exposed to the high winds that hit the area in the 1930s. Stretching over a 150,000 square mile area and encompassing parts of five states—these being Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico—the Dust Bowl was a time where over 100 million acres of topsoil were stripped from fertile fields leaving nothing but barren lands and piles of dust everywhere (Ganzel). While things were done to alleviate the problem, one must question whether or not anyone has learned from this disaster. If not, one must look into the possibility that the United States may be struck
The Dust Bowl was a series of devastating events that occurred in the 1930’s. It affected not only crops, but people, too. Scientists have claimed it to be the worst drought in the United States in 300 years. It all began because of “A combination of a severe water shortage and harsh farming techniques,” said Kimberly Amadeo, an expert in economical analysis. (Amadeo). Because of global warming, less rain occurred, which destroyed crops. The crops, which were the only things holding the soil in place, died, which then caused the wind to carry the soil with it, creating dust storms. (Amadeo). In fact, according to Ken Burns, an American film maker, “Some 850 million tons of topsoil blew away in 1935 alone. "Unless something is done," a government report predicted, "the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert." (Burns). According to Cary Nelson, an English professor, fourteen dust storms materialized in 1932, and in 1933, there were 48 dust storms. Dust storms raged on in the Midwest for about a decade, until finally they slowed down, and stopped. Although the dust storms came to a halt, there was still a lot of concern. Thousands of crops were destroyed, and farmers were afraid that the dust storm would happen
One major cause of that Dust Bowl was severe droughts during the 1930’s. The other cause was capitalism. Over-farming and grazing in order to achieve high profits killed of much of the plain’s grassland and when winds approached, nothing was there to hold the devastated soil on the ground.