WHAT CAUSED IT?
A family of farmers.
Credit: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/photos/ |
The native grasses growing area in the southern plains.
Credit: http://www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Seedland&Category_Code=NGA-SP |
The Great Plow UpWhen the Homestead Act was enacted, in 1862, any American could claim 160 free acres as long as it was farmed for five years. In the late 1800s, a huge wave of five hundred thousand pioneers moved west into the Southern Plains, all had hopes to do well in farming. The fertile grass lands were prefect for plowing, their fertile top soil was ideal for crops. With the high grain prices, all farmers had great prosperity in the Plains. Four generations of farmers did well and plowed extensively the six feet of virgin top soil, this was the Great Plow up. The uneducated framers plowed up the native grasses that trapped soil and moisture even in droughts and high winds and replaced it with wheat fields. Then in the winter when the wheat was harvested, the bare unanchored top soil became eroded because of the high winds.
Dust storm approaching- Spearman, Texas- Black sunday
Credit: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl |
OverproductionUntil 1931, everything was doing increasing better. New mechanical farming techniques made farming even easier and more efficient. Farmers produced record crops, but the wheat market was over supplied, the U.S. was already facing the Great Depression so people were too poor to buy. Farmers lost a lot of money since they couldn't earn back the production and expansion costs, but in order to maintain the land they needed to farm for five years. Thousands left but the rest chose to stay to keep their homesteads.
The Start of the Dust StormsWhen the drought started, the rain stopped falling and static electricity formed with the earth and winds, huge dust clouds started in Canada and moved south. It fed on the hundred million acres of plowed up land in the Southern Plain area including Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Without any native grasses it just grew in size for every mile.
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Farmer with tractor and plows in field; rear view with big 4 tractor,
pulling seven six-foot disks. c. 1910-1915.
Credit: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/photos/
pulling seven six-foot disks. c. 1910-1915.
Credit: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/photos/