...Name Professor Course Date The Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl refers to the 1930 period when adverse storms resulted in socio-economic and ecological destruction to the Canadian and American economies. The disaster lasted for six years, from 1930 to 1936, but in some areas, it lasted till 1940. The extent of Dust Bowl’s impacts intensified in North America following the event’s concurrence with the Great American Depression. States affected by the weather adversities included the Canadian South, South Eastern region of Montana, South Western parts of North Dakota, and Texas, North Eastern regions of Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, and major regions of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The causative factors for the development of the Dust Bowl were attributed to two main factors; drought and famine condition in existing in Central America and poor farming methods on the vast dry lands from the Canadian prairies in the South to the US, acreage of over 400,000 km2 (Langston-George, 2015). Based on Dust Bowl’s historical naure, it is imperative to understand the causes, characteristics, impact and draw future lessons to mitigate such occurrences in the human and physical environment. Characteristics of the Dust Bowl The Dust bowl region lies on the west side of the 100th meridian. The elevation of the plains was estimated to be 760m on the east side and 1800m to the west. The erosion and drought affected a geographical coverage of about 100,000,000acres. The climatic...
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...Daniel xxxxxxxxx Professor xxxxx History 102 5/17/2015 The Dust Bowl During the 1930’s our country was going through some tough times economically which was known as the “Great Depression”. To make things worse the farmland of America was experiencing what became known as the dust bowl. The Dust Bowl lasted for about a decade and it significantly impacted the southern plains. The northern plains were not hit as hard, but they still experienced major drought, strong winds and saw a big decline in their agricultural industry. The Dust Bowl is also responsible for many Americans leaving and moving from the southern plains. For nearly 10 years a yellowish brown dust from the southern plains and a black wall of dust from the northern plains swept through the heart of our country. This made everyday life in this region extremely difficult. Simple acts such as breathing, eating, and even talking while walking were no longer so simple. Mothers were forced to make their children wear dust mask to and from school, wet sheets were hung in front of windows in an effort to stop the dirt from entering their homes. Many farmers were defeated and slowly watched all their crops blow away (About the Dust Bowl). It was best stated by John Steinbeck in the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” “And then the dispossessed were drawn west from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Car loads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand...
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...Published in 1979, The Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, was written by Donald Worster. It was written with the intent of persuading the general public that the 1930’s Dust Bowl was galvanized due to the idea of capitalism. This writing is predominantly ineffective as it provides bias information, is a secondary source, and gives inconceivable solutions to these evident environmental problems. The Dirty Thirties, or more commonly known as the Dust Bowl, was a phenomenon during the 1930s. It was the case of many detrimental dust storms that took over the Great Plains and caused much havoc. These dust storms are generally thought of as a part of nature that was caused by high winds and dry soil. Contrary to this popular belief, Donald...
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...During the Great Depression, farmers and families had to travel away from their home to find work and a new place to live. In 1930s, the Great Plains, had very little rain accompanied by high winds causing a dust storm called the dust bowl. This affected the agriculture in the United States during the 20th century. Both the government and farmers tried to address the situation with farmer loans and smaller crops. The dust bowl lasted 10 long years and it could very well happen again. Overall the Great Depression majorly affected the people in the southern plains. During the 20th century the United States agriculture changed from good to bad. Before the dust bowl the agriculture was successful, there was enough rain and the...
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...critical dust storms that damaged the agriculture of the United States. Also known as the dirty thirties, the Dustbowl took place in the 1930’s. Not only did the dustbowl bring economical, ecological and human misery to the United states but, this was all during a time when the US was already suffering under the Great Depression. “A failure to apply dry land farming methods and severe drought to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon.” The drought came in different years, 1934, 1936, and 1939 to 1940. Some regions of the high plains went through droughts for up to eight years. But since back then there was insufficient knowledge on “ecology of the plains, farmers conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds....
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...The Dust Bowl, an event that will live in infamy. It terrorized American farmers and affected nearly everyone in America. It wrecked homes destroyed towns and also messed with the economy. This made the Dust Bowl a challenging time in American history. It dramatically affected American lives, caused the economy to go into a downward spiral, and created political disorder. So I decided to write this paper informing you about the tragedy that the dust bowl caused for American culture. I have split my paper into five parts. In the first part I will explain how the dust bowl affected farming. The second part will be about the affect the dust bowl had on how it affected american society and the devastation it caused families. The third part will...
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...The Dust Bowl was a major sandstorm that was caused by ripping up the grass that held the topsoil down. When this was to happen the winds picked up and caused all the topsoil to go with it causing massive clouds of sand. This Dust Bowl was bad timing because around this time the Great Depression was happening. Another cause of the Dust Bowl was drought, the topsoil was now dry and loose, any wind could pick up and bring the dirt with it. Many farmers were forced to migrate because of all the sand covering everything leaving them with nothing. The Dust Bowl lasted for about a decade it started in the 1930 s and did not end until 1940. This disaster is not natural it was a man made disaster. Farmers ripped up all the roots and grasses holding that soil to plant things,then later did not plant anything due to costs.Then the Great Depression hit and farmers could not pay their loans or keep their farming equipment. The farmers could not pay for equipment they needed which lead to the soil being bare.”The region’s exposed topsoil, robbed of the anchoring, water-retaining roots of its native grasses, was carried off by heavy spring winds.”(Cited from: "Dust Bowl." Britannica School, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15 May. 2007. School. Eb. com /levels/high /article/Dust -Bowl/31604#. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.)...
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...The Dust Bowl is an area of land where plants stop growing and soil turns into dust, mainly caused by poor farming techniques. In 1931, the midwestern and southern plains began experiencing severe droughts and crop damages. These crop damages were caused by “black blizzards.” A black blizzard is when the soil dried, then turned to dust and blew to the east and south in large dark clouds. Dust storms were caused by drought and overused land. In some places the dust would drift like snow, covering cities and farms. These dark clouds would leave well sealed homes covered in dust. By 1932, there were fourteen dust storms reported. In 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt became president, he declared a fourday bank holiday. During this time, the Congress...
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...Dust Bowls 1930s and 1940s Introduction The dust bowls of the ‘dirty thirties’[1] hurt and helped our nation. They cost us not only currency, but in lives, land, and social instability. Years before, the world has just gotten out of a huge economically depression, and right around the corner, another World War would insure. Beginning of the Events The Great Depression did wonders and caused a lot of problems for the American republic, and the rest of the world. This caused farmers to rush west for the land that became available. This, in turn, caused a great increase in wheat. The price of wheat increased and that meant more profit was made. The land practices became crude, and the same plant planted in the same place ruined...
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...Howard ES 110G The Dust Bowl April, 28, 2014 The Dust Bowl The dust bowl happened in the 30’s. It was a period of severe drought. Severe drought and wind erosion ravaged the Great Plains for a decade. The drought damaged the agriculture and the environment in a detrimental way. Because of the drought and the farmers not using dry land farming methods at the time to prevent wind erosion during the dust bowl. The farmers had plowed the soil before the dust bowl disrupting the grasses that would have normally kept the soil in place during high winds. Excessive cultivation of the land in the 1930s exposed dry soil to the wind. The water that was in the ground no longer soaked in it just ran off because there were no roots to help it soak into the ground. When the winds blew it turned the soil into dust that blew everywhere. The dust storms were called “black blizzards”. Visibility was greatly reduced during these times of high wind and made it very hard for people to see in front of them. The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected many people and a lot of land was compromised. The dust storms greatly degraded the productivity of the soil. People’s health was hindered greatly by breathing in all of the dust and particles in it. The air quality was horrible making it unbearable to live in those circumstances. Families had to leave their homes because they couldn’t breathe with the dust getting into their lungs. They were getting pneumonia from the dust in their lungs....
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...The Dust Bowl SWOOSH! BOOM! The rocks are hittin houses banging on windows.What is happening? The year of 1930 there this storm that killed mostly about 7 thousand people. This storm was called the “The Dust Bowl”.The dust bowl was a serious storm it affected a lot of people especially children. This storm had spread all over a good section of the great plains of the united states that had also extended over Southern Colorado,Southwestern Kansas the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma,and now New Mexico. The Dust bowl was known as the “Dirty Thirties”, because it happened in the 1930’s and its main supporter was the dirt so it was basically a storm made mostly of dirt. In 1932 there was about 14 storms on the great plains. Some reasons that may have caused the dust bowl were over-farming, livestock overgrazing, droughts, and poor-farming practices. More than 100 million acres was destroyed while this storm was happening. The Dust gots it’s name after the black Sunday that was on April 14, 1935....
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...During the early 1930’s America had struck poverty, but for the people living in the central plains of the United States had other challenges to face as well. Along with the nationwide depression, these people had to overcome an eight-year drought. This drought brought huge dust storms that lasted from 1931-1939 and had prolonged the Great Depression. For the people living during this time the struggle to live forced many out of their homes, towns, and even state. The Dust Bowl not only prolonged the Great Depression and forced many people to become homeless, but affected them for the rest of their lives. The Dust Bowl affected southern Colorado, southern Kansas, northern Oklahoma, northern Texas, and northeast New Mexico from 1931 to 1939....
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...The Okies/Migrants The Dust Bowl was a time of hard work, sacrifice, and most of all: sadness. The Dust Bowl occurred in the 1930's and was a time of great depression when droughts had struck the Great Plains in America. These droughts dramatically effected farmers in Oklahoma and Texas, and other neighboring areas, and eventually lead to farmers being forced off of their land in search of work in the West (“History”). These farmers who migrated to the West were formally known as “Okies”, a nickname given to them by Californians. Therefore, the Okies played a significant role during the dust bowl due to the incredible amounts of people who migrated to places, such as California, the hardships they experienced during the Dust Bowl era, and the long journey it took to find work in the West. Certainly, Okies experienced the most heartache and difficulties during the period of the severe droughts that struck America. Something that really catches the eye...
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...In the 1930’s, the Great Plains Region was devastated by drought, and at a time when America was already depression ridden. The harse agricultural decline extended the Depression which was felt worldwide. There were many causes for the Dust Bowl, which had profound social, economical, and agricultural impact on America. The Dust Bowl stretched over 50 million acres from western Kansas to eastern Nevada. “The drought is the worst ever in United States history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states severely” (The Dust 2). “The Dust Bowl resulted from unusually prolonged dryness and heat, coupled with a surge in farming on suboptimal land, using techniques based on a poor understanding of soil ecology.” (Richards 3) In essence, the...
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...A. Justify your choice of the two most significant environmental/geographic factors that contributed to the development or expansion of the United States. I am choosing the Gold Rush and the Dust Bowl as my two significant factors that have contributed to the development or expansion of the US. The Dust Bowl. In the middle of the 19th century many people were traveling across the US looking for land to farm and make homes on. When they reach the Midwest they thought they had found paradise. The grass was tall and rich all the way from Canada to Texas. Men started to clear the land and started planting crops of wheat. The most ideal was the Southern Plains. The only down side was once the trees and grass was removed the top soil had nothing to hold it into place. The water from the ground that would have gone to the roots of the trees and grass flowed into nearby water ways, such as creeks and rivers. The southern plains were the place to be in the 1930’s. They grew wheat which the government was paying top dollar for because of World War I. The wheat and corn was used to help feed the soldiers and other countries as well as many Americans. In the summer of 1931 a great drought hit the southern plains, turning the once fertile ground into dry brittle dirt. But the lack of water was not the only reason the ground was so dry. The farming practices at that time were depleting the soil of all the nutrients needed to help crops grow. The drought did not stop...
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