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DUSTBOWL.pptxThe Dust Bowl 1931-1941
During the 1930’s, the Great Plains suffered from deadly dust storms.
Causes of the Dust Bowl
Drought that began in 1931 worsened over the next 5 years.
Overgrazing of cattle
Plowing by farmers destroyed the grasses that once held down the soil.
No crop rotation
The strong winds of the Great Plains picked up the loose, dry soil.
The first black blizzard occurred on September 14, 1930.
1932 – 14 storms; 1933 – 38 storms; 1934 - 56 storms
Doctors and hospitals began reporting cases of a strange sickness, leading to a number of deaths.
later termed dust pneumonia.
In May, 1934, a severe storm blew dirt from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas as far east as New York City and Washington D.C.
The day after April 14, 1935, known as Black Sunday, an Associated Press reporter used the term "Dust Bowl" for the first time.
"Three little words achingly familiar on the Western farmer's tongue, rule life in the dust bowl of the continent – if it rains."
The population of the Great Plains was 800,000 in 1880, rising to 5.6 million by1930.
In 1935 46.6 million acres of crops failed on the Great Plains, and many lost more than half their planted acreage.
Dust storm Baca Co., Colorado, Easter Sunday, 1935
"One of South Dakota's Black Blizzards, 1934"
Stratford, Texas -1935
Farmer and sons, dust storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936.
Farm foreclosure sale. (Circa 1933)
Effects of the Dust Bowl:
Farmers could barely make a living, causing many to leave their homes for the west.
Farm Security Administration: Families on the road with all their possessions packed into their trucks, migrating and looking for work. (Circa 1935)
Many farmers became migrant farmers as they moved from region to region looking for work.
Farmers whose topsoil blew away joined the sod caravans of "Okies" on Route 66 to California. (Circa 1935)
Unable to pay their mortgages or taxes, many families packed up and left without notice.
Toward Los Angeles, California. 1937. (Dorothea Lange.)
Upwards of 2.5 million people abandoned their homes in the South and the Great Plains and went on the road.
Migrant family looking for work in the pea fields of California. (Circa 1935)
Arkansas squatter for three years near Bakefield, California. Photo by D. Lange. (Circa 1935)
Migrant farmers from Arkansas became known as Arkies.
Young Oklahoma mother; age 18, penniless, stranded in Imperial Valley, California.
Migrant farmers from Oklahoma became known as Okies.
Dorothea Lange's “Migrant Mother.”
1935 - dust storm from the Midwest blew into Washington D.C., darkening the skies over the Lincoln Memorial.
LEGACY OF THE DUST BOWL
Large areas of Oklahoma grasslands disappeared.
Farmers learned new farming methods and techniques
Throughout California, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, Okies have implanted their own brand of populist conservatism.
Comanche National Grasslands restored in SE Colorado
The U.S. government created the Soil Conservation Service
a group for researching and funding ways to fight the threat of desertification in America.
Could It Happen Again?
Lubbock, TX experienced 35 dust storms in 1973-74.
Water used to irrigate much of the Great Plains comes from an underground lake known as the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from southern SD through northern TX, covering approximately 174,000 square miles.
Estimates suggest it will be depleted by the year 2020, and that means that the Great Plains could again turn into the Great American Desert.
Phoenix, AZ –July, 2011
A dust storm known as a "habub" rolls into downtown Phoenix on Tuesday night, July 5, 2011, bringing strong winds and low visibility. Habubs are part of Arizona's annual monsoon season, which is now in full swing
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Phoenix, AZ –July, 2011
Phoenix, AZ –July, 2011
Lubbock, TX –October, 2011
Lubbock, TX –October, 2011
DECEMBER 19, 2012
Blowing dust across the South Plains Wednesday afternoon as seen from a plane flying overhead.
Image looking west from the Science Spectrum around 1pm.
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Dust Bowl Children
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Alison Krauss & Union Station
Peter Rowan
Paper Airplane
2011-04-12T07:00:00Z
℗ 2011 Alison Krauss. Under exclusive license to Rounder Records. Manufactured and distributed by Concord Music Group Inc.
2011-04-18 15:19:35
Universal:isrc:USRO21166502
