Effects Of The Great Plains Region

According to answers.com, a dust bowl is a region reduced to aridity by drought and dust storms. The best-known dust bowl is doubtless the one that hit the United States between 1933 and 1939.

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 Dust Bowl was a time during the 1930’s when a drought and over-farmed land caused years of dust storms to ravage the American southwest.Loose topsoil was picked up by strong winds to form black storms of dust and dirt. Farmers had to board up their houses in preparation for when the growing black cloud on the horizon would come crashing down on their houses. Thousands of farmers couldn't pay their loans due to lost crops and banks foreclosed on their farms. This event coincided with the height of the Great Depression, strengthening the effects of both terrible phenomena.

In the summer of August 7, 1931, farmers have been preparing for this year’s crops to be planted. Although there has been a severe drought occurring and the Great Depression not far behind, farmers continue to plow and plant, hoping for golden rows of wheat to sell. Little did they know that all of this over plowing and drought would lead to a disaster that will sweep through the southern plains for about eight harsh years. The dust bowl or the dirty thirties affected states such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arkansas. The people that had lived there were not prepare for what was about to come. High winds caused dust to blow in clouds, creating huge storms that were unavoidable.

In the summer of 1931, the weather conditions in the Prairies were very dry. Although the rain came again in 1932, soon a year after the drought reoccurred. For five terrible years, no rain came to irrigate the crops.

California’s mild climate was one to provide great living conditions for settlers. Those in the Great Plains were used to constant and drastic changes of the weather. These changes were not gradual. One could experience blizzard, floods, earthquakes, and more in a short period of time. High and low temperatures were also record breaking. Winds were the culprits of the land that was blown away from locations. This became a frequent site as the conditions of the Dust Bowl headed down the wrong direction (“Dust Bowl Worst Weather of Century”). A settler stated, “Suddenly there appeared on the northern horizon a black blizzard, moving toward them; there was no sound, no wind, nothing but an immense boogery cloud” (Donald Worster). It has been

During the “Dirty Thirties”, this is a period of dust storms that damaged the ecology and agriculture of the United States and Canadian prairies in the 1930’s. Drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939-1940. Some regions experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.

During the 1930’s, a period of severe dust storms caused great damage to the ecology and agriculture of the Great Plains region in the United States. This period, known as the Dust Bowl, was caused by severe drought conditions and poor farming practices put into place without proper understanding of Great Plains ecology. The erosion of topsoil during this time produced extreme dust storms that could reduce visibility down to one metre and had some dust storms even reaching the east coast.

America during the thirties was being attack by a major epidemic, the dust bowl. The dust bowl was the Great Plains region of America that was destroyed due to drought, during the depression. When the drought struck from 1934 – 1937 the soil lacked roots because of the farmers’ ignorance of farming (Dust Bowl). The soil was loosed like sand, not being able to hold any crop, and when the great winds came from the north, a giant dust storm engulf the center of America. The dust storm brought havoc to everything that was in its way, the land was no longer suitable for the farmers.

During the 1930’s the southern part of the Great Plains of the United States of America was affected by a severe drought

The Dustbowl lasted many years and many U.S. countries are suffered its consequences. Many crops were damaged from low amounts of rain, high winds and many insect infestations. Dust storms whirled through the country and tore everything to pieces. This agricultural recession contributed to many bank closures, loss of employment and even business loss. People in these areas also faced many emotional and even physical misfortunes. Water shortages were also widespread affecting many people. These shortages didn’t just impact humans, animals and plant life was also harmed.

In the 1930s, drought maintained its negative influence in all of the Plains for nearly 10 years. The drought’s primary characteristics of damage are regarded as agricultural for the most part. High temperatures, lack of rain, insect infestations, and heavy winds all in unison with the dust storms that accompanied these detrimental instances damaged countless crops. In addition to the Great Depression’s bank closures, various economic damages, increased unemployment, and other hardships, the agricultural depression just worsened the situation in America. It is also important to note that the lack of precipitation may have most likely affected the overall conditions of plant life and wildlife in a negative manner, as well as caused potential shortages of water for various conventional purposes. Although this almost always goes unnoticed by most readers, it is extremely important to acknowledge such regressions as they appropriately contribute to the overall negative and destructive connotation of the Dust Bowl in its respective era.

From watching the first 50 minutes of the Dust Bowl film and comparing my prior knowledge I feel as though I have a solid grasp of the concept and effects of this catastrophic man-made disaster. The film stated that there were several events leading up to the Dust Bowl, many of which were man-made or stemmed from the consequences of human interference or ignorance. The first event mentioned was the beef bonanza and removal of natives from their hunting and ancestral lands and as a result, the homestead act which further leads to the development of home and agriculture in the great plains. The second wave of events occurred in the 1880’s with a severe drought following the removal of buffalo grass in order to provide more land for homesteaders

One of the worst droughts occurred during the 1930s in the Southern Great Plains of the Midwest. It was known as the Dust Bowl. During this time, there were high temperatures, a lack of rain, and strong winds. The strong winds created clouds of dust from dry soil and mounds of dust were blown all around. The drought and dust devastated agriculture in the Midwest. The lack of rain killed crops. The dust suffocated livestock. The dust storms forced farmers out of business.

Now, the Great Depression was over and things started getting better, there was rain and people were able to start farming again. The Dust Bowl is now known as the worst drought in American