Surviving the Dust Bowl
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 3:57 PM
Why did certain states have
specific colors of dust?
What specifically depleted
the fertility of the plains soil
so fast? I remember learning
about the degradation of
European soil Freshman
year, but I thought that
process took hundreds of
years. Was it just because of
the new heavy machinery
like tractors?
What gave the people in the
dust bowl such commitment
to staying there? It's not like
they had been there for
generations and generations,
most of those people had
only been there for a few
decades.
Floyd Jones
APUSH
4th
2/21/2024
In 1931, the southern plains were the best place to be a farmer.
Other parts of the country were experiencing the great depression, but
southern plains wheat farmers were bringing in record-breaking amounts of
crops
Eastern businessmen known as "suitcase farmers" invested in seeds out
west and left until harvest, when they could claim their big check.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the soil in the western plains was
extremely fertile and bountiful
The use of North-Eastern farming techniques and constant plowing of this
virgin soil, eventually with tractors, was unsustainable and the soil
eventually became depleted of nutrients.
The land in the southwest became very dry and menacing winds began to
create massive, lengthy storms of blinding dust that destroyed fields of top
soil
School children were made to wear masks that made it hard to breathe and
adults walked around with pieces of fabric to shield their mouths from dust.
"The dust bowl" spanned across the intersection of Kansas, Colorado, and
the panhandles of Texas & Oklahoma
Dust was truly everywhere. Your crops, home, food, water, teeth, etc. It
could permeate any tiny cracks and crevices
Dust from storms was heavy and thick like face powder, much worse than
sand.
The second year of the dust storm epidemic brought 38 storms.
Farmers continued to plow their fields, in the belief that the rain would
eventually return
By 1934, the frequency of dust storms had absolutely exploded
Dust bowl residents said they could identify a storm's origin by the color of
the dust. Black dust came from KS, red from OK, and grey from CO or NM
Storms produced enough static electricity to eliminate entire wheat crop
Most people lived on very limited diets of things like cornbread.

Roosevelt's new deal offered relief to people in the dust bowl, providing
them with canned food and relief checks

With extremely high volumes of starving livestock, government officials

slaughtered thousands of cattle

In 1935, hundreds of thousands of jack rabbits migrated to the dust bowl

and began to ravage the land and all of its natural resources
Citizens formed rabbit extermination drives, at first using shotguns, but
eventually switching to clubs.
High volumes of rabbits were herded into pens and clubbed to death

April 13th of 1935 would become known as "Black Sunday" and was the
worst day of them all in the dust bowl.
The wind blew 27 days and nights without stopping in the spring of 1935

Dead animals were found with 2 inches of dust coating their stomachs
Humans coughed up balls of dust like cats

1/3 of deaths in Ford County Kansas in 1935 were attributed to dust

pneumonia

By the end of 1935, when it had been years since the last rainfall, many dust
bowlers gave up and moved to places like California for work like mining
jobs. A quarter of the population ended up leaving the dust bowl.

Many banks, businesses, schools, and churches closed up because of the

dust bowl

For some reason, through all of the hardship, the majority of dust bowl
citizens held out hope for the future and stayed

Shortly after Black Sunday, the Last Man's Club was formed to unite
citizens for the cause of staying in their homes.

Hugh Bennet, a part of a new breed of conservationist soil experts, learned

that a large dust storm was headed for the East Coast and used its arrival, in
the middle of his court case, to get his points on soil conservation across.
Where before, the government had considered the soil to be infinitely
fertile, they now fully backed a movement to begin the conservation of the
soil
At the beginning of the Great Depression, farmers in the Southern Great
Plains were on top of the world, producing record-breaking bounties of
wheat. Quickly, though, the soil became infertile from over-plowing and
over-harvesting, bringing a streak several years long of vicious,
destructive dust storms. Many citizens moved to California for mining
wheat. Quickly, though, the soil became infertile from over-plowing and
over-harvesting, bringing a streak several years long of vicious,
destructive dust storms. Many citizens moved to California for mining
jobs, but those who stayed eventually changed their ways to begin
conserving their soil, under the auspices of men like Hugh Bennet.