The Dirty Thirties: The Dust Bowl

Devastation pervaded the decade of the 1930s, which left many people struggling with hardships. High unemployment and homelessness rate preceded the nation. This destruction became known as the Dust Bowl. During the Dust Bowl, high winds referred to as the black blizzards wreaked havoc on the land. A principal, infamous author, Donald Worster, demonstrates in his book, “Dust Bowl The Southern Plains in the 1930s” the living conditions and obstacles people had faced along with the various explanations for the Dust Bowl.

An estimated thirty states were affected by the dust bowl era, and approximately fifty million acres of farm land were devastated in the aftermath (Knudson). Multiple causes led to the Dirty Thirties, most of which were due to wasteful farming practices (Robert

The Dust Bowl was severe dust storms that happened in three waves. These dust storms occurred in 1934, 1936, and 1939 - 1940. The Dust storms were centered in a 150 thousand square area. This area stretched from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles to the neighboring states of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. The extensive deep plowing of the topsoil in the Great Plains during the previous decade was the main factor for these storms.

The dust bowl started in 1930 and ended in 1940. It affected many states such as Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas,

While analyzing the nature of American stimulus, Scott Russell Sanders proclaimed, “But who would pretend that a history of migration has immunized the United States against bigotry?” (Sanders 40). Sanders was a firm believer that America had transformed into a state of take-and-abandon. He made several observations and analogies that highlighted the privation of conservatism. Sanders saw that when people fished a stream, they did not fish it with concern for population of the fish, they fished it until not a fish was left, before moving on to the next stream; when a farmer utilized a field, rather than caring for the field, when the soil quality dropped, the farmer would find somewhere new to settle.

The dust bowl was a period in the 1930’s of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies. The Dust Bowl was in southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. Eventually, the entire country was affected. In 1931 a severe drought hit the Midwestern and Southern Plains.

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.

The Dust Bowl started during 1930’s and it lasted at least a decade. In 1934 the Dust Bowl was announced the worsted drought of the of the 1930’s. The main area that was affected was the southern plains. The northern plains were still affected not as badly as the south.

The Dust Bowl received its name in April 35, 1935, the day after Black Sunday. Robert Geiger, a reporter wrote: “Three little words achingly familiar on a Western farmer’s tongue, rule life in the dust bowl of the continent – if it rains.”. It was also one of the worst disasters for its time. The depression lasted from 1930 to 1941, and it impacted the poor, such as delaying marriages, dropping the birth rate and many children became sick and ill.

The Dust Bowl of the 1930 's caused devastation for the mid-west at the time. It went on in Oklahoma,Texas,New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas; however, slimmer areas were actually affected by the Dust Bowl like the Oklahoma panhandle, the Texas panhandle, the Northeast of New Mexico, the Southeast of Colorado, and the western third of Kansas. The drought that caused the Dust Bowl affected about 27 states and covered about 75% of the country. It was in April of 1934 that Black Sunday, the worst storm of the Dust Bowl, occurred. Shortly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Conservation Act.

The dust bowl was considered the “Worst hard time” in american history. The Dust Bowl was a big cloud of dust that took place during the 1930’s in the middle of the Great Depression. The dust bowl was located in the southern great plains as it affected states like Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The three main causes of the Dust Bowl were drought (Doc E), amount of land being harvest (Doc D), and the death shortgrass prairie (Doc C).

In the dust bowl there was so much dust it was everywhere it was in the air it was in your house it was on you if was everywhere. Drought in 1930, the overfarmed and overgrazed land began to blow

The Dust Bowl is an environmental disaster that hit the Midwest in the 1930s. A combination of a severe water shortage and harsh farming techniques created it. Some scientists believe it was the worst drought in North America in 300 years (History.com staff)

Max Drucker October 18, 2017 Donald Worster Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s Topic: Donald Worster focuses on the events that lead up to the dust bowl, how it happens, what causes it to happen, the factors, and how it causes the push for farmers to move toward mechanization to achieve higher profits. He talks about the new deal created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and how it effects the situation with the dust bowl. It is also talks about the living conditions of people during this time and high demand for these farming jobs.

The dust bowl is very serious. “But in the summer of 1931, the rains disappeared. Crops withered and died. There had always been strong winds and dust on the Plains, but now over plowing created conditions for disaster. There was dust everywhere, because the people couldve worried about others than themselves.