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Economical devestation of the dust bowl
Economical devestation of the dust bowl
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The Great Depression was a huge economic crash, which put countries into terrible debt and put people on the streets. During the Great Depression people were living in ghettos, they had no food to eat or jobs, however this was not the only issue during the 1930’s. The dust bowl had struck Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico which was the main source of crops at the time. This caused a massive drought which caused economic distress. When the United States “sneezed” the rest of the world caught a cold. All because of a tremendous dust storm. In the 1920’s the luscious green grass was thriving with great abundant amounts of rain. This created a lot of jobs and food for people around the country. Then the Dust Bowl hit. “Huge clouds of dust blocking out the sun and engulfing everything in their path forced people and animals to run for shelter”(“The Dust Bowl”). When the clouds would cover the sun the crops would shrivel up and die which would …show more content…
Roosevelt. The President gave a speech about the Dust Bowl where he elaborated on what his plans were to fix the problem at hand. He announced “They do not want to go on the dole and they are one thousand percent right”(Roosevelt). The President was speaking about how the farmers were left with nothing after the “black blizzards” hit them. The problem at hand was they did not want to go on the dole(welfare), so he had decided to buy their food and stock for the next year. The President stated “If overgrazing has injured range lands, they are willing to reduce the grazing. If certain wheat lands should be returned to pasture they are willing to cooperate. If trees should be planted as windbreaks or to stop erosion they will work with us”(Roosevelt). He created this “master” plan to try and fix the lands that the Dust Bowl had ruined. Later, his plan was put into action and it had worked and he fixed the plains, but this took up to 4-5 years to
The environment has always influenced mankind throughout the course of our history. The Ice Age engendered a mass extinction of the human population, forcing the early Homo Sapiens to migrate into suitable regions and drastically changing the livelihood of mankind in 70,000 BC (NPR). Likewise, the Dust Bowl, a period of severe dust storms that damaged the prairie lands of the Great Plain between 1934 and 1937, greatly influenced the livelihood of the American citizens in the 1930s. It mainly affected the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico where 2.5 million people had moved out of these regions by 1940 (PBS), desperately searching for jobs which were already scarce during the period of the Great Depression. Regardless,
...t Bowl. 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 to 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. Yet with the establishment of government policies such as the Federal Relief Administration and the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act and with drought coming to an end, the Dust Bowl came to an end. The American people knew that they needed to do everything that was possible to end the Dust Bow. Tom Joad, the lead character in The Grapes Wrath best sums it up “ I know this... a man got to do what he got to do.”
The Great Depression was a period in United States history when business was poor and many people were out of work. The beginning of the Great Depression in the United States was associated with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. Thousands of investors lost large amounts of money and many were wiped out, lost everything. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless and homeless (Baughman 82).
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.
First the northern plains were hit by the dry spell, but by July the southern plains were in the drought. Because of the late planting and early frost, much of the wheat was damaged when the spring winds of 1932 began to blow. The region was blasted by a horrible dirt storm, which killed almost all the wheat. Although the dirt storms were fewer in 1934, it was the year, which brought the Dust Bowl national attention. A severe storm blew dirt from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. In spite of the terrific storm in the year 1934 there was a satisfying break from the blowing dirt and tornadoes of the previous year. But nature had another trick up her sleeve, the year was extremely hot with new records being made. Before the year had run its course, hundreds of people in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas had died from the heat. The weather in the Dust Bowl again made the national headlines. A description of this storm of coming was made by a farmer:" The storm causes a tremendous amount of damage and suffering mentally and physically some of the conditions were animals dying from dust in the lungs and people developing dust pneumonia.” A giant dust storm engulfs Oklahoma. These storms destroyed vast areas of the Great Plains farmland. The methods of fighting the dust were as many and varied as were the means of finding a way to get something to eat. Canned foods had became the only way anybody could eat. Every possible crack was plugged, sheets were placed over windows and blankets were hung behind doors. Often the places were so tightly plugged against the dust that the houses became extremely hot and stuffy. Men, women and children stayed in their houses and tied handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths. When they dared to leave, they added goggles to protect their eyes. Houses were shut tight, cloth was wedged in the cracks of the doors and windows but still the fine silt forced its way into houses, schools
Presently, the United States is considered to be the country with the largest economy. According to the latest World Bank figures "[The United States] represents a quarter share of the global economy (24.3%)", but the country hasn't always been financially superior. From 1929 to 1939, America had been going through the Great Depression, where people all over were struggling financially. In 1929, the Stock Market crashed, having a dreadful impact on all Americans, starting the Great Depression; this was then worsened by the Dust Bowl in the Midwest making life hard, and affecting the economic prosperity for all Americans.
The US was hit the hardest because of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 with wiped out millions of investors and also the Dust Bowl with affected the severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930’s. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investments dropped, causing steep decreases in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers. By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its lowest point, some 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country’s banks had failed.
Imagine, if you will, America with no labor, no businesses, no banks, and no money; this was the Great Depression. It was the worst economic downfall in the history of the United States of America. It all started after the stock market crash of 1929 and went downhill after a couple major events like the bank failures, and the Dust Bowl. There were two Presidents during the Great Depression: President Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Each of these Presidents tried different policies to aid the Americans in the Great Depression.
When a person hears the words, “The Great Depression” they tend to think of one of the worst economic times in the United States. The Dust Bowl also contributed to this. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl (also known as the Dirty Thirties) hit the United States like a truck. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl affected many Americans in many different ways. American people also faced challenges, and they reacted in the most heartfelt and inspiring ways. The government saw the hardships people were facing and tried to help in the best way they could.
To conclude, the droughts ended in the period of 1940. The Dust Bowl was much more complicated than a man-made environmental disaster. It was a huge catastrophe of the world you couldn’t even imagine happening in the present. It is known for the hundreds of storms killing everything in sight, especially children. McArthur points out "Although the rain brought back life to the prairie, the Dust Bowl remains a significance memory for all Americans. It was a learning experience for the Unites States, but a lesson that came with suffering.” (35). We are taking the experience of the Dust Bowl and bringing it into today’s techniques to avoid another environmental catastrophe.
The Great Depression is a tragic event which was from 1929 to 1939 and lasted about ten years, it was one of the worst economic upset in the world. The Great Depression was caused by the Stock Market Crash of October 1929, which led to the public being worried and concerned, later on, tons of investors got wiped out. During the great depression, costumer spending and investments began to fall, causing many employees to lose their jobs. This also led to companies or business shutting down and by 1933, about fifteen million Americans did not have a job and a little bit more than half of the United States banks failed. The Great Depression was also caused because of the abuse of credit, buying the product and paying back later. Many people would
The great depression lasted from the early 1920s to the late 1930s. It was the deepest and longest economic chaos in american history, The effects of the Great Depression were huge across the world, it lead to the New Deal in America but more significantly, it was also a cause for the rise of Germany going into World War II. It began right after the stock market crash in the western United states in 1929. Many people were desperate to find food, jobs, shelter, and better lives for their children, people were basically left homeless, which led to suicide.
The Great Depression brought much problems such as unemployment, health care cuts, education, and social programs. “Prior to the emergence of global climate change, the Great Depression was arguably the biggest market failure in the history of the United States. It was a catastrophe not just because of the economic chaos and hardship it produced but because it threatened the liberty that was fundamental to American democracy.” (Backhouse, 2015) The government responded by borrowing money from abroad, and the economy kept getting worst. The cutbacks from the government mostly made the country poor and unstable. It was a difficult time to get the issues back in order. The government also increased the cost of living and even reduced wages.
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United Sates. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day today although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully the United States of America has had its shares of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred.
The Great Depression was a period of first-time decline in economic movement. It occurred between the years 1929 and 1939. It was the worst and longest economic breakdown in history. The Wall Street stock market crash started the Great Depression; it had terrible effects on the country (United States of America). When the stock market started failing many factories closed production of all types of good. Businesses and banks started closing down and farmers fell into bankruptcy. Many people lost everything, their jobs, their savings, and homes. More than thirteen million people were unemployed.