How was the land misused in the Dust Bowl? For the first time in history, farmers were able to use mechanized tractors on a massive scale to remove the sod of the Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland, located in North America. It lies west of the Mississippi River tallgrass prairie in the United States and east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. and Canada.Great Plains
Full Answer
What happened to the land after the Dust Bowl?
The land came through the 1930s deeply scarred and forever changed, but in places, it healed...After more than 65 years, some of the land is still sterile and drifting. But in the heart of the old Dust Bowl now are three national grasslands run by the Forest Service.
What caused the Dust Bowl of 1930?
That grave title belongs to the 1930s Dust Bowl, created by the drought, erosion, and dust storms (or "black blizzards") of the so-called Dirty Thirties. It was the most damaging and prolonged environmental disaster in American history.
How many dust storms were there in the Dust Bowl?
In 1933, the number of dust storms climbed to 38, nearly three times as many as the year before. At its worst, the Dust Bowl covered about 100 million acres in the Southern Plains, an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania. Dust storms also swept across the northern prairies of the United States and Canada,...
Are there any grasslands in the Dust Bowl?
But in the heart of the old Dust Bowl now are three national grasslands run by the Forest Service. The land is green in the spring and burns in the summer, as it did in the past, and antelope come through and graze, wandering among replanted buffalo grass and the old footings of farmsteads long abandoned."
How did the Dust Bowl happen?
What was the Dust Bowl?
How was the land overused in the Dust Bowl?
Farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop and break even. Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away.
How did the Dust Bowl affect the people and land?
The drought, winds and dust clouds of the Dust Bowl killed important crops (like wheat), caused ecological harm, and resulted in and exasperated poverty. Prices for crops plummeted below subsistence levels, causing a widespread exodus of farmers and their families out the affected regions.
What happened to farmers land during the Dust Bowl?
The farmers plowed the prairie grasses and planted dry land wheat. As the demand for wheat products grew, cattle grazing was reduced, and millions more acres were plowed and planted. Dry land farming on the Great Plains led to the systematic destruction of the prairie grasses.
How were farms affected by the Dust Bowl?
And how did the Dust Bowl affect farmers? Crops withered and died. Farmers who had plowed under the native prairie grass that held soil in place saw tons of topsoil—which had taken thousands of years to accumulate—rise into the air and blow away in minutes. On the Southern Plains, the sky turned lethal.
How did the Dust Bowl impact people's lives?
The Dust Bowl killed off livestock, leading to further food shortages. Dust inhalation was probably the most dangerous aspect. The dust was so fine that it was almost impossible not to inhale. Many people, especially children, died from dust pneumonia, a lung condition resulting from inhaling excessive dust.
Who was most affected by the Dust Bowl?
The areas most affected were the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, northeastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, and southwestern Kansas. The Dust Bowl was to last for nearly a decade [1].
How many farmers lost their farms during the Dust Bowl?
In the rural area outside Boise City, Oklahoma, the population dropped 40% with 1,642 small farmers and their families pulling up stakes. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California.
What were the 3 main causes of the Dust Bowl?
Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl.
Why were farmers forced to leave their homes during the Dust Bowl?
The Dust Bowl destroyed many farmers' crops and land on the Plains. Farmers believed that California would have better jobs. Many farmers were forced to abandon their farms after going into debt.
How many acres did the Dust Bowl effect?
The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100 million acres (400,000 km2) that centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Why did people flee the Dust Bowl?
More than a quarter-million people became environmental refugees —they fled the Dust Bowl during the 1930s because they no longer had the reason or courage to stay. Three times that number remained on the land, however, and continued to battle the dust and to search the sky for signs of rain.
How did the Dust Bowl affect the Southern Plains?
On the Southern Plains, the sky turned lethal. Livestock went blind and suffocated, their stomachs full of fine sand. Farmers, unable to see through the blowing sand, tied themselves to guide ropes to make the walk from their houses to their barns. It didn't stop there; the Dust Bowl affected all people.
What was the worst environmental disaster in the United States?
The Dust Bowl: The Worst Environmental Disaster in the United States. South of Lamar, Colorado, a large dust cloud appears behind a truck traveling on highway 59, May 1936. PhotoQuest/Archive Photos/Getty Images. Many accidents and natural disasters have done serious environmental damage to the United States.
How many dust storms were there in 1932?
Frequency and Severity of Storms. The weather got worse long before it got better. In 1932, the weather bureau reported 14 dust storms. In 1933, the number of dust storms climbed to 38, nearly three times as many as the year before.
What are the dangers facing the Southern Plains?
Looking Ahead: Present and Future Dangers. In the 21st century, there are new dangers facing the Southern Plains. Agribusiness is draining the Ogallala Aquifer, the United States' largest source of groundwater, which stretches from South Dakota to Texas and supplies about 30% of the nation's irrigation water.
Where did dust storms hit?
Dust storms also swept across the northern prairies of the United States and Canada, but the damage there couldn't compare to the devastation farther south. Some of the worst storms blanketed the nation with dust from the Great Plains.
What was the Dust Bowl?
It was the most damaging and prolonged environmental disaster in American history.
What happened to the western plains in 1935?
Overgrazing by cattle and sheep herds stripped the western plains of their cover. When the drought hit, the land just blew away in the wind. A letter from an Oklahoma woman, later published in Reader's Digest magazine, recalls June of 1935.
What was the land of the southern plains covered with?
Originally covered with grasses that held the fine soil in place, the land of the southern plains was plowed by settlers who brought their farming techniques with them when they homesteaded the area. Wheat crops, in high demand during World War I, exhausted the topsoil.
Why were farmers defensive?
Farmers were defensive when outsiders criticized their farming methods. Only when they were paid did they begin to put the new farming techniques into practice. The dollar per acre they earned often meant the difference between being able to stay a bit longer or having to abandon their land.
What was the worst blizzard in the Dust Bowl?
Black Sunday. The worst “black blizzard” of the Dust Bowl occurs, causing extensive damage. April 27, 1935. Congress declares soil erosion “a national menace” in an act establishing the Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture (formerly the Soil Erosion Service in the U.S. Department of Interior).
How many acres of land were destroyed in 1934?
December 1934. The “Yearbook of Agriculture” for 1934 announces, “Approximately 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land have essentially been destroyed for crop production…. 100 million acres now in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil; 125 million acres of land now in crops are rapidly losing topsoil….”.
What was the worst drought in the US?
May 1934. Great dust storms spread from the Dust Bowl area. The drought is the worst ever in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states severely.
How much topsoil was there in 1935?
December 1935. At a meeting in Pueblo, Colorado, experts estimate that 850,000,000 tons of topsoil has blown off the Southern Plains during the course of the year, and that if the drought continues, the total area affected would increase from 4,350,000 acres to 5,350,000 acres by the spring of 1936.
What is the FDR Shelterbelt Project?
The project calls for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from erosion.
What was the date of the 1935 drought?
April 8 , 1935. FDR approves the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which provides $525 million for drought relief, and authorizes creation of the Works Progress Administration, which will employ 8.5 million people. April 14, 1935. Black Sunday.
What was the purpose of the 1935 drought relief program?
January 15, 1935. The federal government forms a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The DRS buys cattle in counties that are designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Those unfit for human consumption – more than 50 percent at the beginning of the program – are destroyed.
Process Part TWO
Answering the following questions will help you understand the Dust Bowl era more completely. Use the websites provided to find the answers to these questions. Your answers should be typed IN YOUR OWN WORDS AND IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have completed the assignment and now have a much better idea of what caused the Dust Bowl, as well as what it would have been like to live through the Dust Bowl years.
How did the Dust Bowl happen?
For the first time in history, farmers were able to use mechanized tractors on a massive scale to remove the sod of the Great Plains. This removed the root systems that held the soil together, caused dirt to turn to dust, and helped cause the Dust Bowl of the 1920s.
What was the Dust Bowl?
The Dust Bowl was a series of dust storms that plagued the United States and Canada throughout the 1930s. It is believed that about 75% of the topsoil blew away during the Dust Bowl.
