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[[Image:Dust storm CimarronCounty OK.jpg|300px|thumb|A farmer and his two sons during a dust storm; [[Cimarron County, Oklahoma|Cimarron County]], [[Oklahoma]], 1936.]] |
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The '''Dust Bowl''' or the ''Dirty Thirties'' was a period of severe [[dust storm]]s causing major ecological and [[agriculture|agricultural]] damage to [[United States|American]] and [[Canada|Canadian]] [[prairie]] lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940). The phenomenon was caused by severe [[drought]] coupled with decades of extensive farming without [[crop rotation]] or other techniques to prevent [[erosion]], and the deep plowing of the virgin [[topsoil]] of the [[Great Plains]], which killed the natural grasses that normally kept the soil in place and trapped moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. |
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During the drought of the 1930s, with no natural anchors to keep it in place the soil dried, turned to [[dust]], and blew away eastward and southward in large dark clouds. At times the clouds blackened the sky reaching all the way to [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] cities such as New York and Washington, D.C. Much of the soil ended up deposited in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. These immense dust storms; given names such as "Black Blizzards" and "Black Rollers"; often reduced visibility to a few feet (around a meter). The Dust Bowl affected {{convert|100000000|acre|km2}}, centered on the [[panhandle]]s of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.<ref>{{cite book |
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| first = Joy |
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| title = A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz |
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| publisher = Oxford University Press |
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| year = 1995 |
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| location = New York |
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| isbn = 0-19-509514-6 }}</ref> |
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The Dust Bowl was an ecological and human disaster caused by misuse of land and years of sustained drought. Millions of acres of farmland became useless, and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes; many of these families (often known as "Okies", since so many came from Oklahoma) traveled to California and other states, where they found conditions little better than those they had left. Owning no land, many traveled from farm to farm picking fruit and other crops at starvation wages. [[John Steinbeck]] later wrote the classic [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' and also ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' about such people. |
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==Causes== |
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===Agricultural and settlement history=== |
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During early European and American exploration of the [[Great Plains]], the region in which the Dust Bowl occurred was thought unsuitable for agriculture; indeed, the region was known as the [[Great American Desert]]. The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive for pioneer settlement and agriculture. However, following the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], settlement in the area increased, encouraged by the [[Homestead Act]] and westward expansion.<ref>{{cite web | month = December | year = 1987 | url = http://www.planning.org/25anniversary/planning/1987dec.htm | title = The Great Plains: from dust to dust | format = [[HTML]] | publisher = Planning Magazine | accessmonthday = December 6 |accessyear = 2007}}</ref><ref> {{cite book | year = 1995 | url = http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu14re/uu14re00.htm | title = Regions at Risk: a comparison of threatened environments | format = [[HTML]] | publisher = United Nations University Press | accessmonthday = December 6 |accessyear = 2007}}</ref> An unusually wet period in the Great Plains led settlers and government to believe that "[[rain follows the plow]]" and that the climate of the region had changed permanently.<ref>{{cite book | year = 2006 | url = http://www.drought.unl.edu/whatis/dustbowl.htm | title = Drought in the Dust Bowl Years | format = [[HTML]] | publisher = National Drought Mitigation Center | accessmonthday = December 6 |accessyear = 2007}}</ref> The initial agricultural endeavors were primarily cattle ranching with some cultivation; however, a series of harsh winters beginning in 1886, coupled with overgrazing followed by a short drought in 1890, led to an expansion of land under cultivation. |
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Immigration began again at the beginning of the 20th century. A return of unusually wet weather confirmed the previously held opinion that the "formerly" semi-arid area could support large-scale agriculture. Technological improvements led to increased automation, which allowed for cultivation on an ever greater scale. [[World War I]] increased agricultural prices, which also encouraged farmers to drastically increase cultivation. In the [[Llano Estacado]], farmland area doubled between 1900 and 1920, and land under cultivation more than tripled between 1925 and 1930.<ref>{{cite book | year = 1995 | url = http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu14re/uu14re0n.htm#6.%20the%20ilano%20estacado%20of%20the%20american%20southern%20high%20plains | title = Regions at Risk: a comparison of threatened environments | format = [[HTML]] | publisher = United Nations University Press | accessmonthday = December 6 |accessyear = 2008}}</ref> Finally, farmers used agricultural practices that encouraged erosion.{{Fact|date=September 2008}} For example, cotton farmers left fields bare over winter months, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and burned their wheat stubble, which deprived the soil of organic matter and increased exposure to [[erosion]]. |
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This increased exposure to erosion was revealed when an unusually severe [[drought]] struck the [[Great Plains]] in 1934. The grass covering the prairie lands for centuries held the soil in place and maintained moisture, but with deep plowing from increased farming, the grass holding the soil was eliminated. The drought conditions caused the topsoil to grow very dry and loose and it was simply carried away by wind which, in turn, kicked up immense dust clouds which further prevented rainfall. It was not until the government promoted soil conservation programs that the area began to become rehabilitated. <ref>{{cite web |
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|url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX06.html |
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|title=The American Experience : Surviving The Dust Bowl : People & Events : The Drought |
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|publisher=[[PBS]] |accessdate=2008-12-29 |format = HTML}}</ref> |
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==Impact== |
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The catastrophe, which began as the economic effects of the [[Great Depression]] were intensifying, caused an exodus from [[Texas]], [[Oklahoma Panhandle|Oklahoma]], and the surrounding Great Plains, with more than 500,000 Americans left homeless. One storm caused 356 houses to be torn down.<ref name=PBS>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/fmc/interviews/gregory.htm|title=First Missed Century:Interview:James Gregory|accessdate=2007-03-11|publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref> Many Americans migrated west looking for work, while many Canadians fled to urban areas such as [[Toronto]]. Two-thirds of farmers in "[[Palliser's Triangle]]", in the Canadian province of [[Saskatchewan]], had to rely on government aid. This was due mainly to drought, [[hail]]storms, and erratic weather rather than to dust storms such as those occurring on the U.S. Great Plains.<ref name=CBC>{{cite web |url=http://history.cbc.ca/history/?MIval=EpisContent.html&lang=E&series_id=1&episode_id=13&chapter_id=1&page_id=2 |title="The Dust Bowl" |accessdate=2007-03-11 |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]}}</ref> Some residents of the Plains, especially in [[Kansas]] and Oklahoma, fell ill and died from [[dust pneumonia]] and [[malnutrition]].{{Fact|date=August 2008}} |
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==Geographic characteristics== |
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[[Image:Dust-storm-Texas-1935.png|thumb|A dust storm approaches [[Stratford, Texas]] in 1935.]] |
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The Dust Bowl area lies principally west of the [[100th meridian]] on the [[High Plains (United States)|High Plains]], characterized by plains which vary from rolling in the north to flat in the [[Llano Estacado]]. Elevation ranges from {{convert|2500|ft|m}} in the east to {{convert|6000|ft|m}} at the base of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. The area is [[semi-arid]], receiving less than {{convert|20|in|mm}} of rain annually; this rainfall supports the [[Shortgrass prairie]] biome originally present in the area. The region is also prone to extended drought, alternating with unusual wetness of equivalent duration.<ref>{{cite web | month = February | year = 2000 | url = http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/pdfs/ahistoryofdrought.pdf | title = A History of Drought in Colorado: lessons learned and what lies ahead | format = [[PDF]] | publisher = Colorado Water Resources Research Institute | accessmonthdakeyana is cooly = December 6 |accessyear = 2007}}</ref> During wet years, the rich soil provides bountiful agricultural output, but crops fail during dry years. Furthermore, the region is subject to winds higher than any region except coastal regions.<ref>{{cite web | date = August 27, 1936 | url = http://newdeal.feri.org/hopkins/hop27.htm | title = A Report of the Great Plains Area Drought Committee | format = [[HTML]] | publisher = Hopkins Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library | accessmonthday = December 6 |accessyear = 2007}}</ref> |
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==Drought and dust storms== |
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[[Image:Wea01422.jpg|thumb|right|A [[dust storm]]; [[Spearman, Texas|Spearman]], [[Texas]], April 14, 1935.]] |
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The unusually wet period, which encouraged increased settlement and cultivation in the Great Plains, ended in 1930. This was the year in which an extended and severe drought began which caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The fine soil of the Great Plains was easily eroded and carried east by strong continental winds. |
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On November 11, 1933, a very strong dust storm stripped [[topsoil]] from desiccated [[South Dakota]] farmlands in just one of a series of bad dust storms that year. Then, beginning on May 9, 1934, a strong two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of [[Great Plains]] topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl. The dust clouds blew all the way to [[Chicago]] where dirt fell like snow. Two days later, the same storm reached cities in the east, such as [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[New York City]], and [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Stock, Catherine McNicol (1992). ''Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains'', p. 24. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807846899.</ref> That winter, red snow fell on [[New England]]. |
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On April 14, 1935, known as "[[Black Sunday (storm)|Black Sunday]]", twenty of the worst "Black Blizzards" occurred throughout the Dust Bowl, causing extensive damage and turning the day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see five feet in front of them at certain points. The dust storms were so bad that often roosters thought that it was night instead of day and went to sleep during them.{{Fact|date=August 2008}} |
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==Migrations== |
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[[Image:Dust Bowl - Dallas, South Dakota 1936.jpg|thumb|right|Buried machinery in a barn lot; [[Dallas, South Dakota|Dallas]], [[South Dakota]], May 1936.]] |
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The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. The second wave of the [[Great Migration]] by African Americans from [[the South]] to [[the North]] was larger, involving more than 5 million people, but it took place over decades, from 1940-1970.<ref name=AAME>{{cite web|url=http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=9&topic=1|title=In Motion: African American Migration Experience, The Second Great Migration|accessdate=2007-03-18}}</ref> By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to [[California]].<ref>{{cite book |
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| last = Worster |
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| first = Donald |
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| authorlink = |
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| coauthors = |
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| title = Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930's |
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| publisher = Oxford University Press |
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| year = 1979 |
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}}</ref> With their land barren and homes seized in [[foreclosure]], many farm families were forced to leave. Migrants left farms in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, and [[New Mexico]], but all were generally referred to as "[[Okie]]s". The plight of Dust Bowl migrants became widely known from the novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' by [[John Steinbeck]]. |
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==Census== |
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When James N. Gregory examined the Census Bureau statistics as well as other surveys, he discovered some surprising percentages. For example, in 1939 the Bureau of Agricultural Economics surveyed the occupations of about 116,000 families who had come to California in the 1930s. It showed that only 43 percent of southwesterners were doing farmwork immediately before they migrated. Nearly one-third of all migrants were professional or white collar workers. |
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==Government response== |
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{{Expand-section|date=September 2008}} |
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During [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s first 100 days in 1933, governmental programs designed to [[Soil conservation|conserve soil]] and restore the ecological balance of the nation were implemented. Interior Secretary [[Harold L. Ickes]] established the Soil Erosion Service in August 1933 under [[Hugh Hammond Bennett]]. It was later reorganized and renamed the Soil Conservation Service in 1935, and is now the [[Natural Resources Conservation Service]] (NRCS).<ref>Steiner, Frederick (2008). ''The Living Landscape, Second Edition: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning'', p. 188. Island Press. ISBN 1597263966.</ref> |
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Additionally, the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation was created after over six million pigs were slaughtered and went to waste in order to stabilize prices. The FSRC diverted agricultural commodities to relief organizations. Apples, beans, canned beef, flour and pork products were distributed through local relief channels. Cotton goods were eventually included to clothe the needy as well.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/timeline/</ref> |
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In 1935, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The DRS bought cattle in counties that were designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Those unfit for human consumption - more than 50 percent at the beginning of the program - were destroyed. The remaining cattle were given to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation to be used in food distribution to families nationwide. Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program helped many of them avoid bankruptcy. "The government cattle buying program was a God-send to many farmers, as they could not afford to keep their cattle, and the government paid a better price than they could obtain in local markets." <ref>Monthly Catalog, United States Public Documents, By United States Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Published by G.P.O., 1938</ref> |
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President Roosevelt ordered that the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] plant a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to [[Abilene, Texas]] to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing and other beneficial farming practices.<ref>Texas By Federal Writers' Project, Writers' Program (Tex.), Writers' Program Texas, p. 16</ref> <ref>Chronicles of Oklahoma By James Shannon Buchanan, Oklahoma Historical Society, p. 224</ref> |
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In 1937, the federal government began an aggressive campaign to encourage Dust Bowlers to adopt planting and plowing methods that conserve the soil. The government paid the reluctant farmers a dollar an acre to practice one of the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65 percent. Nevertheless, the land failed to yield a decent living. |
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In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, rain finally came. |
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==Influence on the arts== |
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{{Expand-section|date=November 2008}} |
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The human crisis was documented by [[photographer]]s, [[musician]]s, and [[author]]s. Photographer [[Dorothea Lange]] made a name for herself while working as a photographer with the [[Farm Security Administration]] and capturing the impact of the storms. Independent artists such as [[folk singer]] [[Woody Guthrie]] and [[novelist]] [[John Steinbeck]] depicted life during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. |
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Migrants leaving the plains states took their music with them. Oklahoma, in particular, which had been settled by rural Southern migrants from earlier in the century, contributed greatly to the transplanting of country music to California. Today, the "Bakersfield Sound" describes this particular blend of country music that the migrants brought to the city, although this effect was not limited to the Bakersfield area, but also caused a proliferation of country dance halls as far South as Los Angeles. |
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==See also== |
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{{commonscat|Dust Bowl}} |
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*[[1936 North American heat wave]] |
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*[[Rain follows the plow]] |
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*''[[The Plow That Broke the Plains]]'' |
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*[[Timeline of environmental events]] |
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*[[Natural disaster]] |
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*[[Desertification]] |
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*[[Ogallala Aquifer]] |
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*[[Palliser's Triangle]] |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==Bibliography== |
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*Woody Guthrie, ''The (Nearly) Complete Collection of Woody Guthrie Folk Songs'', Ludlow Music, [[New York]] (1963). |
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*[[Alan Lomax]], Woody Guthrie, [[Pete Seeger]], ''Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People'', Oak Publications, New York (1967). |
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*C. Vann Woodward, ''The Origins of the New South'', Louisiana State University Press (1967). |
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*''The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl'', Timothy Egan, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 2006, hardcover. ISBN 0-618-34697-X. |
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*''The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression'', Paul Bonnifield, [[University of New Mexico]] Press, [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]], [[New Mexico]], 1978, hardcover. ISBN 0-8263-0485-0. |
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*''Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, Texas, 1935'', Katelan Janke, Scholastic (September 2002). ISBN 0-439-21599-4. |
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*''[[Out of the Dust]]'', [[Karen Hesse]], Scholastic Signature. [[New York City|New York]] First Edition, 1997, hardcover (paperback January 1999). ISBN 0-590-37125-8. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html NASA Explains "Dust Bowl" Drought] |
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*[http://www.weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/multimedia/dustbowl/dustbowlpics.html ''The Dust Bowl'' photo collection] |
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*[http://eh.net/encyclopedia/?article=Cunfer.DustBowl The Dust Bowl] (EH.Net Encyclopedia) |
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*[http://www.kansashistory.us/dustbowl.html Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, Dodge City, KS] |
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*[http://www.lbk.ars.usda.gov/wewc/biblio/bar.htm The Bibliography of Aeolian Research] |
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*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX07.html Surviving the Dust Bowl, Black Sunday (April 14, 1935)] |
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*[http://www.archive.org/details/PlowThatBrokethePlains1 The Plow That Broke The Plains] |
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* Youtube Video: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jvbTwxdbvE "The Great Depression, Displaced Mountaineers in Shenandoah National Park, and the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.)"] |
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* [http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html Farming in the 1930s] (Wessels Living History Farm) |
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* [http://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.html The Dust Bowl] (University of South Dakota) |
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* [http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=60648 Black Blizzard] (The History Channel) |
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* Flash: [http://www.modbee.com/outofthedust Out of the Dust] (The Modesto Bee) |
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{{GreatDepr nav}} |
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[[Category:Great Depression in the United States]] |
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[[Category:Agriculture in the United States]] |
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[[Category:Forced migrations in the United States]] |
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[[Category:History of the American West]] |
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[[Category:Environmental disasters in the United States]] |
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[[Category:History of the United States (1918–1945)]] |
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[[Category:Natural disasters in Kansas]] |
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[[Category:Natural disasters in Oklahoma]] |
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[[Category:Natural disasters in Texas]] |
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[[Category:Droughts]] |
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