The Rice Bowl

The Dust Bowl, battering the Midwest for nearly a decade with high winds, bad farming techniques, and drought, became a pivotal point in American history. The wind storm that seemed relentless beginning in the early 1930’s until its spell ended in 1939, affected the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and the broader agriculture industry. The catastrophic effects of the Dust Bowl took place most prominently around the Great Plains, otherwise known as the farming belt, including states such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, which were hit extraordinarily hard. Millions of farming acres destroyed by poor farming techniques was a major contributor to what is considered to be one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in American history. This period resulted in almost a decade of unstable farming and economic despair. Thousands of families sought government assistance in order to survive. Luckily, government aid to farmers and new agriculture programs that were introduced to help save the nation’s agriculture industry benefited families and helped the Great Plains recover from the Dust Bowl. Furthermore, the poor conditions in the farm belt were also compounded by the Great Depression as it was in full swing as the Dust Bowl began to worsen. In addition, World War I was also underway which caused a high demand for agricultural products, such as wheat, corn, and potatoes to be at its peak, which lured many people to the farm belt with the false expectation that farming

“We watched as the storm swallowed the light. The sky turned from blue to black, night descended in an instant and the dust was on us…Dust lay two feet deep in ripply waves across the parlor floor, dust blanketed the cookstove, the icebox, the kitchen chairs, everything deep in dust.” -Karen Hesse’s Diary, April, 1935 (Dust Bowl Diary Entries). In the 1930s, a phenomenon called the Dust Bowl swept the people of the Great Plains off their feet. This paper defines the Dust Bowl and its impact on the US economy and American citizens.

The rural depression was a primary component in the Great Depression, as bank advances turned sour, credit became scarce, and banks across the nation shut down. All through the 1930s, more than a million acres of land were influenced in the Dust Bowl, a large number of agriculturists lost their jobs and property, and mass relocation patterns started to arise as ranchers left rustic America looking for work in urban areas. This relocation, or migration, added to Great Depression unemployment hardships, stressed alleviation and advantages programs, and made in many vast American urban areas (The Great Depression Causes).

Farmers did well after the Civil War and into the 1880s with plentiful rainfall and easy credit from banks. In the 1890s, however, American farmers suffered from drought, poor harvests, restrictive tariff and fiscal policies, low commodity prices, and competition from abroad. A downward swing in the business cycle exacerbated their plight, and many farmers in the Plains filed for

During the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, the United States underwent a series of changes that had a drastic effect on people across the nation. As the economy began to slow to a halt, millions of people were left broke and without jobs. As the country’s farmers were paralyzed with debt, food prices increased radically (McElvaine). During the mid-1930s, a series of droughts coupled with poor agricultural methods led to years of soil erosion and dust storms known as the Dust Bowl, a catastrophe that destroyed farms throughout the Southern Great Plains (Shafer, Low). As a result, many farmers were forced to abandon their land to seek employment elsewhere. These migrant workers, attracted by the fertility and familiarity of the area, traveled to California towns such as Salinas, where they labored tirelessly for wealthy planters (Cayton, Gorn, Williams). The events of the Great Depression Era, following years of difficulty and poverty, paved the way to an entirely new way of life for Americans.

In the 1930s, there was a period of time known as the Dirty Thirties, or in other words the Dust Bowl. This period of time consisted of severe dust storms that significantly damaged the economy and agriculture of the U.S and Canadian prairies. The many causes of this crisis is one that has been discussed and debated for many years. However, the main cause of this entire debacle is indeed due to the horrendous drought that destroyed everything in sight. In addition, the other causes included overproduction and improper farming by farmers, high heat and winds, and lastly the unfortunate plague of grasshoppers.

This, combined with the high unemployment and collapsed economy of the Depression, forced families to leave their farms in search of work. In 1932, one in four families living in the Dust Bowl was forced off its land (Conlin, 685). Most of them headed to California (686). They were called "Okies" and once they got to California, things usually weren't much better.

During the 1930s, the United States faced various struggles such as The Great Depression- a time in which farmers suffered severely through many challenges. One of the challenges faced by farmers was the Dust Bowl tragedy; a dust storm affecting many farms throughout the midwest. The tragic Dust Bowl was a consequence due to lack of rainfall in the dry prairie lands, decreasing crop growth, and overproduction in farming causing more exposed land. It occurred because of advancements in farming technology, drought in the Great Plains, and the harvesting of grasslands.

Poor American farmers might have moved to the cities during the Great depression simply because they felt economically disenfranchised. The country was undergoing a very hard time economically wise which motivated many people (mostly farmers) from all parts of the country to move to cities. All of the documents (1, 2, 3, 4,5,6,7, and 8) we read in class actually do show that most Americans had lost their jobs and consequently couldn’t take care of their families unless they moved to cities.

The 1930s were seasons of extensive hardship on the Great Plains. Settlers managed with the Great Depression, as well as with years of droughts that dove an already suffering society into an attack of tireless dust storms that lasted for months. The Dust bowl conveyed an enormous agrarian and monetary hit to the Great Plains and destroyed what was left of the United States Economy during the Great Depression. It continued for a decade, 1930 to 1939, and wrecked ranches and lives all over Texas, Oklahoma panhandles, Colorado, parts of New Mexico, Canada, and Kansas. Monstrous dust storms wrecked pretty much everything from harvests, overwhelming ranches, in such a way it crushed the income and careers of thousands of farmers.

The people who lived on the Great Plains suffered greatly and this in turn changed America. Since there was too much dust everywhere this time period was called the “dirty 30s”. Farm families usually did not have an indoor bathroom, heat, or electricity like the people who lived in town. All of the farmers worked with each other through these rough times because they believed it would get better. Although, whenever the crops were destroyed by the drought; farmers were left with no one to buy food or make payments on their farm loans. “Yet, a majority ‘toughed it out’ and stayed. And millions continue to stay, despite decades economic pressure to leave”(Reinhardt and Ganzel). This quote shows how people believed it could get better. The government started programs to hook up electricity to make farm life easier. “The Great Depression changed the lives of people who lived and formed on the Great Plains, and in turn changed America”(Reinhardt and Ganzel). The Great Depression changed millions of lives. Farm life was very difficult during the Great

The book, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, written by Donald Worster, includes his commentary as a reflection on how capitalism destroyed the land in the 1930s and even currently. Worster argues that humans, specifically farmers, producers and consumers felt entitled to exploit the land without regulations for personal profit. As the capitalistic system destroyed the grassland of the Great Plains, in which loose topsoil was displaced during wind storms, many exodusters and Okies migrated west toward California. With Worster being a history professor at the University of Kansas, there is merit to his commentary. Although it is not a primary source, considering he wrote it after the Dust Bowl and does not have first-hand experience,

The early 1900's were a time of turmoil for farmers in the United States, especially in the Great Plains region. After the end of World War I, overproduction by farmers resulted in low prices for crops. When farmers first came to the Midwest, they farmed as much wheat as they could because of the higher prices and

“Many California farms were corporate-owned. They were larger and more modernized that those of the southern plains, and the crops were unfamiliar”(American Experience). When families left their homes, most went to California to look for jobs. However, there was already a high unemployment rate because of The Great Depression. Also, when farmers got to California, the farming ways were different than what they were use to. Finding a job within their range of skill was very challenging. “With the onset of World War 1, the demand for wheat had been astonishing. Farmers were paid record prices. Thus, to the farmer, it made sense to turn every inch of the Southern Plains into profit. During the war, the land produced millions and millions of bushels of wheat and corn, which helped to feed America as well as numerous nations overseas”(United States History). War had affected farmer’s choices a great deal. Farmers had put so much effort into their plantations. When the drought came, all their hard work had been destroyed. The farmers did not have their beautiful plantations anymore and were not able to make the money to pay for their homes. Many farmers were kicked out of their homes. This was the beginning of an unstoppable

In October 1929, the stock market crashed causing thousands of people to lose their jobs.