Dust Bowl Research Paper

Imagine living on a farm out west during the 1930s. In the middle of a series of terrible dust storms. The dust storms were so horrific, children were dying from “dust pneumonia” which was a result of breathing the dust in. These dust storms would trap plains settlers in their homes for hours, days at a time. This series of dust storms is better known as the Dust Bowl. It forced 3 million settlers out of their homes. Drought, increased mechanization, and destruction of grass all lead to the Dust Bowl.

The "dirty thirties," as many called it, was a time when the earth ran amok in southern plains for the better part of a decade. This great American tragedy, which was more devastating environmentally as well as economically than anything in America's past or present, painstakingly tested the spirit of the southern plainsmen. The proud folks of the south refused at first to accept government help, optimistically believing that better days were ahead. Some moved out of the plains, running from not only drought but from the new machine-controlled agriculture. As John Steinbeck wrote in the bestseller The Grapes of Wrath, "it was not nature that broke the people-they could handle the drought. It was business farming, seeking a better return on land investments and buying tractors to pursue it, that had broken these people, smashing their identity as natural beings wedded to the land."(pg. 58) The machines, one-crop specialization, non-resident farming, and soil abuse were tangible threats to the American agriculture, but it was the capitalistic economic values behind these land exploitations that drove the plainsmen from their land and created the Dust Bowl.

"Methods Prevent Another Dust Bowl." Methods Prevent Another Dust Bowl. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb.

The Dust Bowl was a treacherous storm, which occurred in the 1930's, that affected the midwestern people, for example the farmers, and which taught us new technologies and methods of farming. As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 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. Carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless - restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do - to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut - anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place

The Dust Bowl was a treacherous storm, which occurred in the years of the 1930’s, which affected the Midwestern people, an example the farmers, which taught us new technologies and methods of farming. John Steinbeck wrote in his novel from 1939 The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, Caravans, carloads, and homeless. Totals of 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 people. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, food, and most of all for land." The early thirties opened with prosperity and growth. At the time the Midwest was full of agricultural

Natural disasters can cause massive damage, but few realize that many barely last a few days. If so much can be done in such a minute amount of time, imagine what a decade would do. The dust bowl was a weather event that lasted for the entirety of an eight-year drought and lingered for multiple years after. The result: Economic devastation for the agriculture of the area. The dust bowl was a large contributor to agriculture’s role in the great depression and defines how we approach environmental protection today.

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms occurring in the American and Canadian prairies in 1930-1936. At the same time, the Dust Bowl was not just a natural disaster that struck the large territory and affected the natural environment and economy of the US and partially Canada. In fact, it was the disaster which revealed the full extent of the negative impact of human activities on the environment. The Dustbowl was provoked by humans and put many people on the edge of survival. At the same time, the Dust Bowl proved to be the warning made by the nature to people to change their attitude to their environment and their economic activities.

“We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it,watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possession”- Avis D. Carlson, a farmer that went through the hard times in the 1930’s. Many people thought the same way as Davis. The Dust Bowl could have easily been prevented, and is crucial to be educated on because it still affects us today, it could be repeated, and the Dust Bowl was entirely man made, meaning North America needs to learn from their previous mistakes to prevent a repeat.

overproduction. People in America thought there was so much land that they did not worry

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

In November 1933, the worst drought in the history of the United States occurred across the Great Plains. The farming economy had already been hit hard by the depression and these storms created even more devastation. This large area of the plains became tagged with the name the “Dust Bowl”. Also known as “the dirty thirties” the dust bowl affected many farmers and their families in the Southwest/Midwest. The dust clouds caused by wind erosion, drought, and hardships led to a turning point not only in the agriculture effects of the world, but also the economic views.

" The dust Bowl Odyssey" written by James West Davidson and Mark Lytle. Tells the readers of a story not too different from "Mirror with a memory" also written by James West Davidson and Mark Lytle. The concept and story line portrayed in this book discusses struggles of many early American citizens, the life as well as hardships that was endured, the poverty, worry and hopelessness that was lived. Interestingly enough I my self not being born a citizen of the United States of America look at the booming business industries and the housing industries which gives a portrait of a thriving economical system. But reading the "Dust Bowl Odyssey" allows me along with other readers to understand that although America is a successful and thriving country it is not without its sacrifices.

You’re a kid living in the Dust Bowl. “Cough-cough.” You try to force down. Moving your plow back and forth you try to look over the barren wasteland you call home. Wind roaring in your eyes as you see a brown funnel full a dirt and dust less than a mile away. Driving for cover your world fads black. The Dust Bowl was made by a drought and high winds. The drought killed the prairie grass keeping the soil down and the high winds picked it up to make dust storms. The Dust Bowl was harmful to children that affect their education, how they had fun, their health, and spilt families apart.

It was around 1931, we lived in the rural area outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were on the brink of becoming homeless. The rent on our rather modest farm house had become three months overdue. We were unable to grow anything in the state the land had been in. I knew with my sister’s condition, we couldn't afford any further complications. My mother and the oldest of my younger brothers took their time to aid my sister with her asthma. My other younger brothers were twins and mainly just ran around playing, since they were too young to truly grasp the misfortune of our ordeal. My Aunt had recently moved in with us as well. She had become too depressed to genuinely help after the death of her husband, caused by an illness from the Dust Bowl. Our

Have you ever thought about going outside one day and just seeing a large cloud of dust rolling at you. That’s basically what happened to people that lived in the dust bowl. The Dust Bowl is a severe dust storm that greatly damaged the economy around the area. The Dust Bowl was found in southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma, and Texas. The Dust Bowl lasted from 1931 to 1939 and started because of wind blowing the dust left over from plowers and the cattle that grazed there. People and animals got diseases from the dust that got into their lungs and killed most. The Soil Conservation Service was an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private