The 1930 's was a time of despair and devastation, leaving millions in ruins. America was at an all time low during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The stock market had crashed and a severe drought turned into a disastrous storm. The 1930 's effected the nation and nobody knew the answer to the million dollar question, what caused Americas downfall? Historians have tried hard to solve the impossible puzzle and many have their theories, but the exact cause of the Dust Bowl continues to be unknown. At the core of understanding the Dust Bowl is the question of whose fault it was. Was it the result of farmers tilling land beyond what the environment could bear, or is it just a natural fluctuation in the atmosphere. These questions have The Dust Bowl grazed across the Midwest of the United States, destroying the ecology and agriculture of the United States and Canadian Prairies"1. The Midwest had been experiencing a severe drought when the wind started to collect any loose dry dirt building up gigantic dust clouds. The 1920 's were so prosperous with many new inventions and lifestyles being adapted. Farmers now had the aid of a tractor to help plow the fields faster and farther.2 Was the newly plowed dirt the cause of the Dust Bowl, historian, Professor R. Douglas Hurt seems to think so. Professor R. Douglas Hurt is the Director of the Graduate Program in Agricultural History and Rural Studies at Iowa State University in Ames. Professor Hurt wrote the book, The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History, based on historical events and his opinion of the what caused the Dust Bowl.3 Professor Hurt The nature of the Southern Plains soils and the periodic influence of drought could not be changed, but the technological abuse of the land could have been stopped. This is not to say that mechanized agriculture irreparably damaged the land-it did not. New and improved implements such as tractors, one-way disk plows, grain drills, and combines reduced plowing, planting, and harvesting costs and increased agricultural productivity. Increased productivity caused prices to fall, and farmers compensated by breaking more sod for wheat. At the same time, farmers gave little thought to using their new technology in ways to conserve the
The farmers had torn out millions of miles of prairie grass so that they could farm there. Without the grass, dust began to kick up and storm around the air causing dust storms.
Egan notes, “No group of people took a more dramatic leap in lifestyle or prosperity, in such a short time, than wheat farmers on the Great Plains” (Egan 42). The revenue from selling wheat far exceeded the cost of producing the wheat, so the large profit attracted people to produce more and more wheat. On top of the high profit from wheat, the Great War caused the price of wheat to rise even more. The supply of wheat rose with the price, but Egan points to information to demonstrate that the rapid increase in production can lead to overproduction, which is damaging to the land. Also, the invention of the tractor also lead to overproduction of the land by creating the ability to dramatically cut the time it took to harvest acres. When the prices for wheat began to fall due to overproduction, this caused the farmers to produce even more output to be able to make the same earnings as when the prices were higher. The government also played a part in promoting the overproduction of the land. The Federal Bureau of Soils claimed that, “The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possessed. It is the one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up” (Egan 51). Egan points to factors such as a high profit margin, the Great War, tractors, increased outputs when wheat prices fell, and governmental claims that caused the people to overproduce the land of the Great Plains. Egan then gives examples of how the overproduction destroyed the land. Egan explains that the farmers saw their only way out was to plant more wheat. This overproduction tore up the grass of the Great Plains, thus making the land more susceptible to the severe dust storms of the Dust
He will maintain that the criterion of right interpretation is its own suitability to some present purpose (Carr, 1961, p. 31). A number of prejudices, assumptions, and beliefs contributed to not seeing the bigger picture. The wisdom of the time suggested that the Dust Bowl affected all of Oklahoma. Removing that assumption and looking at the facts, it shows that the affected area was the panhandle of Oklahoma.
The Dust Bowl occurred for many reasons, most all our fault. “Some of the reasons that the Dust Bowl occurred were over-farming, livestock overgrazing, drought and poor farming practices.” (Dust Bowl facts and summary) Because of this negative experience it now teached us to be careful and now we know what to do to prevent this.“When drought struck from 1934 to 1937, the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor.”("Dust Bowl Facts and summary") That's really bad for the farmers because then the wind can easily pick up the dirt off the
“Farming techniques such as strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation, contour plowing, and cover crops were advocated.” ("About the Dust Bowl")These new techniques were advocated in order to try and prevent more dust from getting picked up by wind and starting the dust storm again. “But for years, farmers had plowed the soil too fine, and they contributed to the creation of the Dust Bowl.”(Ganzel) This was a big mistake farmers had made. This was one of the huge factors in contributing to the Dust Bowl. This has definitely changed now. “Now, many farmers are learning how to raise crops without tilling their fields at all. (Ganzel) Farmers now not tilling their fields at all is a new farming
Unfortunately, the circumstances in the Great Plains all came to a head, resulting in a horrific ten years for citizens of the Great Plains. The Dust Bowl caused government and people to look at farming practices and evaluate their output. These policies resulted in overproduction of crops, causing the prices to fall. The conclusion of World War I and countries that stopped importing foods added to the pain the farmers were already feeling.
Farming was the major growing production in the United States in the 1930's. Panhandle farming attached many people because it attracted many people searching for work. The best crop that was prospering around the country was wheat. The world needed it and the United States could supply it easily because of rich mineral soil. In the beginning of the 1930's it was dry but most farmers made a wheat crop. In 1931 everyone started farming wheat. The wheat crop forced the price down from sixty-eight cents/ bushels in July 1930 to twenty-five cents/ bushels July 1931. Many farmers went broke and others abandoned their fields. As the storms approached the farmers were getting ready. Farmers increased their milking cowherds. The cream from the cows was sold to make milk and the skim milk was fed to the chickens and pigs. When normal feed crops failed, thistles were harvested, and when thistles failed, hardy souls dug up soap weed, which was chopped in a feed mill or by hand and fed to the stock. This was a backbreaking, disheartening chore, which would have broken weaker people. But to the credit of the residents of the Dust Bowl, they shouldered their task and carried on. The people of the region made it because they knew how to take the everyday practical things, which had been used for years and adapt them to meet the crisis.
Historical Background: Throughout the 1930’s, a significant drought hit the mid west and practically destroyed the agriculture market. This near natural disaster was called the “Dust Bowl.” The economic crash for farmers caused many to lose their houses and farms and this forced them to move westward in search of opportunity.
The Dust Bowl was a time period in which many dust storms affected the agriculture and economy of the United States. Before the dust storms and droughts, the land being used by the farmers was already being damaged. Overuse had caused the soil to become useless, and by over-cultivating the land, farmers were no longer able to use the once fertile soil, causing a major impact on the lives of those involved in agriculture.
During the 1930s, the Untied States’ southern plains suffered a period of horrible dust storms known as the Dust Bowl. These terrifying storms carrying great amount of dusts were also known as black blizzards. The Dust Bowl dwelled and encircled massive sections of five states: the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, eastern portions of Colorado and New Mexico, and western Kansas. Residents believed that they could determine where the dust was coming depending on the color of the dirt. Black dust was believed to be from Kansas, red dust from Oklahoma, and gray dust from Colorado and New Mexico. The main reasons for this historical tragedy was relentless droughts and poor farming methods. After the Great War,
Some of the many contributing factors that cause a dust bowl include poor agricultural practices, extended periods of drought, high temperatures and wind erosion. The main contributor to the dust bowl was the poor agricultural practices. Farming and agriculture was such an important task for farmers to keep up with because if farmers failed to keep up with their land and crops, then the crops and land that was growing would begin to deteriorate into compost. Once broken down into little grains of dirt and dust, the wind would pick it up in bulk amounts and travel throughout the country gathering more and more as it goes on. Finally, a huge ...
According to the book and article, the reason for the start of the Dust Bowl is described for the most part, in the same way. Both texts supported the idea that during World War 1, the Great Plains supplied people with wheat, and with the invention of bigger tractors they were able to farm more substantial amounts of land resulting in abundant harvests. However, this led to rents, bills, and mortgages, so when the war ended and Europe no longer needed their supply of wheat, the farmers had to pay the bills. Therefore, more cattle were squished into a smaller amount of land, and this eventually led to overgrazing, and the extensive plowing had also done significant damage to the soil. The once fertile soil became completely dry, and when the wind blew, the topsoil was blown off causing dust storms (Hesse 83). This shows that both sources agree that the reason for the start of the Dust Bowl involves human activity. Another similarity is that in the book, Karen Hesse describes that each time a dust storm swept in, wheat that was planted for harvest later in the year was flattened and destroyed. After each storm came rain, but whenever it rained, it was either too much or barely anything. In the articles, the authors describe many of the same devastating outcomes of the dust storm as well, “The wind and the flying dust cut off the wheat stalks at ground level and tore out the roots. Blowing dirt shifted from one field to another, burying crops not yet carried away by the wind,”(Holley). Both, the article and book are able to depict that agriculture suffered a lot due to the disastrous dust storms. Altogether, almost all of the facts are accurate in the book when compared to the two
Throughout the history of the United States, never before was there a longer period of dust storms to occur as The Dust Bowl, most commonly known as “the dirty thirties.” The Dust Bowl affected farmers in parts of the United States and Canada, but it was most commonly found in the Southwest/Midwest. Unlike other severe catastrophes which caused damage to ones ecology and agriculture, “Georg Borgstrom, has ranked the creation of the Dust Bowl as one of the three worst ecological blunders in history” (Worster 4) due to the fact it only took fifty years to accomplish. Many living in the Southern plains during this time of period struggled to maintain a living, “The bank, the fifty-thousand-acre owner can’t be responsible. You’re on land that isn’t yours. Once over the line maybe you can pick cotton in the fall. Maybe you can go on relief. Why don’t you go to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold” (Steinbeck 23). The greed within the farmers during the 18th century unfortunately led to the Dust Bowl because they were too focussed on obtaining available rich acres to expand their industry and business for money. Ultimately, this led to the occurrence of “Black Sunday,” the migration of farmers fleeing to the Western parts of America, and the economic factors of those affected by the Dust Bowl.
Plowing is when a machine is drawn and used to cut soil, then is repeatedly turned over. The purpose of plowing was to give farmers the fresh nutrients at the surface, but bury weeds at the same time. What this did was push previous crops below the surface, once they are deep in the ground they would break down and allow new fields to be opened. Deep plowing was not effectively used by farmers. In the 1930s, farmers believed in the myth "rain follows the plow." With expectations of rainfall in the future, farmers kept plowing and sowing wheat. They plowed up to five million acres of land attempting to make profit. But for many years, the farmers plowed the soil too fine. With the wheat market flooded and reduced prices, people were too poor to buy. With people being too poor farmers did not receive their financial gain. Following the market farmers were convinced that if they tear up more grassland they could break even. Although, the over plowing of the land for wheat reduced the agricultural value of the
In his award-winning account of the devastating environmental and cultural effects of the Dust Bowl that enveloped America’s Midwest in the 1930’s, Timothy Egan attributes the disaster to the collective cause of reckless man-made agricultural practices, even as he surveys the tragic individual stories of the people who suffered from it. He argues that the combined effects of drought and a heat wave in the early 1930s, and man’s hubris and environmental ignorance and irresponsibility throughout the decade caused the Dust Bowl, and yet finds compassion for the small homestead farmer and the weak and powerless families who inhabited the region and lived through the disaster rather than picking up stakes and moving on. His story is a traumatic