Name: _________________________________ Class: ____________

Great Depression Farming and Dust Bowl Webquest:

Type in or click on the following link:
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/farminginthe1930s.html

1. What were some phrases used to describe the Great Depression?

2. Why was being a Great Plains farmer in the 30s considered the most difficult occupation in the
world?

3. What did a lot of farmers do when they moved west?

Click on ‘Making Money’

4. How much did stocks drop on the Monday before 1929’s Black Tuesday? How much had they
dropped on Tuesday?

5. What happened to the value of land?

6. About how long did the down turn last?

7. By the time it was over, what had the percentage value of the Dow Jones dropped?

8. How did the crash affect farmers?

Click on ‘Bank Failures’ on the left panel

9. What was the average number of failing banks in the 20s?

10. How many banks failed during the 30s?

11. What was FDR’s first act as President, and what did it do?

12. What famous FDR quote was directed to the bank crisis?

13. What does ‘deposit insurance’ protect against?

Click on ‘A New Deal’ on the left panel

14. Where was FDR’s “Brain Trust” from that he had relied on for ideas?

15. What did the Brain Trust believe caused the Depression?

16. How many Americans were out of work by the time FDR took office in March 1933?

17. What did FDR ask Americans to do in a nationwide radio broadcast?

18. Name some of the ‘alphabet soup’ agencies that the New Deal produced.
Click on ‘Marketing in the 1930s’ on the left panel.

19. List four things that affect how a farmer makes money.

20. What states were/are in the “Corn Belt”?

21. What type of agriculture is common in drier states?

22. What other crop was brown on some Corn Belt states?

23. What were the conditions in the Southeast and what crops were grown there?

24. What states and regions grew fruits and vegetables?

25. What states and regions produced milk?

26. What other products did farmers sell between harvest times?

27. What became an important source of money for farmers in 1933?

Click on ‘Depression Legacy’ on the left panel.

28. How did the Great Depression affect the way survivors lived their lives?
Click on ‘Drought!’ on the lower right side of the page.

29. Click through the years on the map on the right. Was your state affected by the drought? If so,
what years?

30. What was the 1933 average yearly income in North Dakota versus the rest of the country?

31. Why were there dust storms?

32. How long did the drought last?

33. What new technology did many farmers invest in during the drought?

Click on ‘Okies’ on the left panel

34. What did the tractor enable farmers to do to their neighbors?

35. Why did many people move west?

36. Up to how many migrants were coming into California every month?

Click on ‘New Deal’ on the left panel

37. What did the federal government concentrate on in the first years after America was founded?

38. What did the US establish in 1830 to help farmers grow more crops?

39. What happened in the late 1800s?

40. What did President Hoover try to do to support farmers, and what did this actually do?

41. What was the belief about the cause of low prices when Roosevelt became president?