Essay On The Dust Bowl

In the early 1930s through the 1936, a massive event called the Dust Bowl occurred also known as the Dirty Thirties, dramatically affected areas within Oklahoma, Kansas, and Northern Texas due to extensive windstorms. This event forced numerous people to evacuate their hometowns. The Dust Bowl had a significant impact on society, it caused farmers to have no control of their agriculture because of the dried up land. Once the land dried up there was no way to renovate or replace the soil. This dilemma lead to more citizens to depend on the government for help, financially.

Fine powder coating people's lips, inhaling dust with every breath you take. That is what it was like during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. On Thursday. April 18, 1935, a huge, black, billowing cloud piled up on the western horizon. The people in the Southern Great Plains called the the dust storms dusters. It darkened the midday sky and carried off valuable topsoil and made topsoil erosion. Children and the elderly died from breathing in the dust they called it “dust pneumonia.” Cattle such as chickens and cows couldn’t protect and defend themselves from the dust. They ran around in circles until they fell and died from breathing in so much dust. While humans could cover their mouths and eyes with cloth, scarves, and goggles to protect themselves. Some people had even considered that it was the end of the world. Some of the many factors that caused the Dust Bowl to happen were, over plowing the soil and the cows and buffalo over grazing the grass and, the lack of rainfall or drought in the great plains region.

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

The dust bowl was known as the “Dirty Thirties” because it happened during the 1930s. The dust bowl was a terrible dust storm covering hundreds of miles and affecting thousands of people. Not to mention, also during this time there was the largest most devastating economic crash ever known to America. The dust bowl was both devastating and unbelievably scary for those involved.

Wind and dust rage over your tiny farm house, out in the depths of Oklahoma. You are startled awake, to find piles of dust on the creaky wood floor. You hurry out of bed and prepare for a long day out in the Dust Bowl. The Dust bowls was a disaster that tore apart the United States. The uprooting of soil sent dust and dirt in every direction. Dust traveled through the wind, hundreds of miles over the dry and weak farmland. The Dust bowl was a terrible event that lead to migration to the west, destruction of farmland, devastation of the health of family and cattle, and the creation of the soil conservation service.

One of the most devastating and influential events in American history was the Dust Bowl. This catastrophe occurred in 1930s during the Great Depression. All across the Great Plains, a disaster was formulated by a combination of factors; some of these factors included little to no precipitation, light weight soil, and high wind speeds. Without plant roots holding down the earth, major dust storms or “black blizzards” would sweep through the farming regions blinding and killing cows and destroying any chance of future crop. This resulted in majority of agricultural based families moving.

“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.

The human brain has been responsible for some of the greatest inventions, movements, and global phenomenons, but not all were positive. With the power of human tenacity comes the even greater capacity for oversight. The American Dream boasted numerous jobs, freedoms, and an expanse of land to enjoy these liberties on. The abundance and fruitfulness in which citizens basked in seemed boundless, but to their horrendous revelation, there was indeed a limit to these resources. After the pivotal stock market crash in 1929, and the onset of the Great Depression, many were left with nothing. The apocalyptic storm of consequence and dust ravaged the land and hope of families across the nation, especially in the West. As the economy and Earth’s surface dried up, and obliviousness faded away, people realized these disasters were caused by humans themselves. The Dust Bowl was a synthetic manipulation of land that resulted from an impetuous proposal from the government, which promised rich land in the west in need of cultivation and thus,

Many states, especially “Farmland in parts of Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas simply disappeared” (Wertz 1). For thousands of Americans, the Dust Bowl was one of the harshest times in History, because of the many food shortages and closed businesses. The Dust Bowl was an interesting event because “The dust did not always stay west of the Mississippi. When conditions were right, the wind would carry it easy on the jet stream in enormous clouds and drop it in the form of filthy unseasonal snow on Chicago, Indianapolis, Washington, New York, and even on the decks of Atlantic linears” (Gerdes 93 & 94). The winds were surely that strong enough to carry tons of dust across America like that.

The Dust bowl was a crucial event in the history of the United States. The dust bowl was made up of many dust storms in the 1930’s. This damaged the agriculture of the United States. The places that were hit the hardest were Kansas, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma. The Dust Bowl was a Man-Made disaster caused by the tearing up grass, drought, and new machinery.

The Dust Bowl was "the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains," (pg. 4) as described by Donald Worster in his book "The Dust Bowl." It was a time of drought, famine, and poverty that existed in the 1930's. It's cause, as Worster presents in a very thorough manner, was a chain of events that was perpetuated by the basic capitalistic society's "need" for expansion and consumption. Considered by some as one of the worst ecological catastrophes in the history of man, Worster argues that the Dust Bowl was created not by nature's work, but by an American culture that was working exactly the way it was planned. In essence, the Dust Bowl was the effect of a society, which deliberately set out to

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

The Dust Bowl was a series of devastating events that occurred in the 1930’s. It affected not only crops, but people, too. Scientists have claimed it to be the worst drought in the United States in 300 years. It all began because of “A combination of a severe water shortage and harsh farming techniques,” said Kimberly Amadeo, an expert in economical analysis. (Amadeo). Because of global warming, less rain occurred, which destroyed crops. The crops, which were the only things holding the soil in place, died, which then caused the wind to carry the soil with it, creating dust storms. (Amadeo). In fact, according to Ken Burns, an American film maker, “Some 850 million tons of topsoil blew away in 1935 alone. "Unless something is done," a government report predicted, "the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert." (Burns). According to Cary Nelson, an English professor, fourteen dust storms materialized in 1932, and in 1933, there were 48 dust storms. Dust storms raged on in the Midwest for about a decade, until finally they slowed down, and stopped. Although the dust storms came to a halt, there was still a lot of concern. Thousands of crops were destroyed, and farmers were afraid that the dust storm would happen

"What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation." Population and Environment, vol. 35, no. 4, June 2014, pp. 417-40. ProQuest Central, https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs11111-013-0190-z#citeas. Accessed 27 May 2018.

One major cause of that Dust Bowl was severe droughts during the 1930’s. The other cause was capitalism. Over-farming and grazing in order to achieve high profits killed of much of the plain’s grassland and when winds approached, nothing was there to hold the devastated soil on the ground.