One historical event that seems to get lost in the shadow of the Great Depression is the Dust Bowl. While the whole country was enduring financial crises, the farmers and residents of the plains in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas were suffering an additional catastrophe. Drought gave way to massive dust storms that caused many problems and even loss of life.
The plains typically go through periods of drought, but early in the century, it was not an issue. The conditions of the area at that time fooled many. "The first major influx of farmers into the Southern Plains came at the turn of the century. Lured by a land lush with shrubs, grasses, and soil so rich it looked like chocolate, the farmers didn’t realize that what they were witnessing was but a brief respite in an endless cycle of rain and drought. Unaware, they enjoyed great harvests and raced to turn every inch of the Southern Plains into profit," (Surviving the Dust Bowl, American Experience).
In 1931, a drought began that would not end for eight years. The farmland had been abused so heavily that the dry conditions and high winds began blowing the topsoil away. It was because of extreme overplowing that the dust storms were able to be formed. The government had passed legislation encouraging farmers to use the land without stopping to think about the consequences of overuse. Eventually, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act stating that farmers would be paid not to grow crops in order to maintain topsoil and nutrients--a method we are familiar with today as crop rotation.
The dust storms began causing the deaths of animals and making people sick. There was even an illness that people called dust pneumonia. The dust would get literally everywhere and nothing could be done about it. People got lost in the storms, and all sunlight would be blocked out. Many people migrated to other places to escape the miserable conditions. Finally, in 1939, it began raining again. This, along with the Soil Conservation Act helped end the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and farmers began to recover.
JH
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