The Dust Bowl
The Great Depression
Define
Detail
There was a big drought in the United States, there was also very strong winds which carried the dust across the continent. This created the Dust bowl. This also started to happen before the 1930s. Because of the dust bowl. People and farmers started to move west to look for other jobs since agricultural work wasn't working because of the drought and dust storms.
Characteristic:
In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded in the plains, then in 1933 it was 38 dust storms. In 1934, it was estimated that more than 100 million acres of farmland had lost all if not most of its top soil by the strong winds.
Many desperate farmers proposed different methods to end the dust bowl. Some followed the old folklore of killing snakes and hanging them belly-up on fences. others tried shock and awe. SisalKraft proposed covering the farm with waterproof paper. And also some farmers in a Texas town paid $500 dollars to a self-professed rain maker to fire off rockets carrying an explosive mixture of dynamite and nitroglycerine to induce showers.
Significance:The dust bowl only made the great depression even worse. After the dust bowl, people now understood how their type of farming encouraged erosion. After the dust bowl people looked for other ways of farming that caused less erosion.