The Dust Bowl a Long Series of Harsh Storms

The Dust Bowl was a long series of harsh storms that took place in the 1930's and lasted about a decade. It was brought about due to over-farming and severe drought during the early 1930's and possibly late 1920's. The Dust Bowl did nothing but worsen the impact of the Great Depression by depriving the nation of valuable crops as well as livestock. It also impacted natural occurrences such as flora and fauna all throughout the southern plains and some of the northern plains. The Dirty Thirties was mostly brought about due to bad farming practices, the stock market crash, as well as a severe drought that lasted nearly a decade. Some of the bad farming practices included over farming, bad plowing methods, lack of crop rotation to help maintain the nutrients and structure of soil, as well as underwatering. The Dust Bowl also came into occurrence because of the fact that the government had installed federal land policies which provided new homesteaders all across the nation with a generous 160 acres of land that they didn't know how to farm. These newfound farmers were very inexperienced, and after a few farming seasons, discovered that they were not prepared for extreme drought and other terrible weather conditions thanks to their bad farming. The inexperienced, new farmers drained the soil of nutrients, which denied both natural occurring plants and crops the opportunity to grow. Then, when plants wouldn't grow, powerful winds did not have anything to block their force. Thus, the conclusion is that winds swept away the soil necessary for planting, as well as choked out livestock and what few plants that would grow without quality soil. During the Dust Bowl, black blizzards would take over the plains and drown out the sky. People would be sent running into their homes to block up window sills, door frames, as well as covering up their mouths and noses with wet rags. However, dust would always work itself into any home no matter how tightly it was sealed, and leave a thin layer of dust on all furniture, food, and person. On the outside of homes, sand dunes similar to snow drifts would accumulate against the sides of homes and other structures. If any living being was caught outside during a black blizzard, they could possibly die due to the inhalation of fine dust particles that build up over time within their lungs, or possibly being smothered when directly exposed to a particularly strong storm. Different forms of livestock such as cattle, swine, horses, poultry, as well as goats was quickly wiped out. Large numbers of people contracted dust pneumonia and perished painfully. It's unknown how many people passed during the Dirty Thirties, but historians have estimated it could be anywhere from several hundred to several thousand people.

Cite this page