Dust Bowl Essay

Eight, six, four, two--the Dust Bowl makes them go achoo. The articles “Letters for the Dust Bowl” by Caroline A. Henderson and "The Untold Stories of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl” By Timothy Egan describe the living conditions the civilians had to live through. Numerous people were affected by the living conditions of the Dust Bowl(Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture). First and foremost, the Dust Bowl affected the lives of the people who had to live through it because they were trying to keep the dust out of their houses so they would not get sick. Henderson stated, “Wearing our shade hats, with handkerchiefs tied over our faces and vaseline in our nostrils…”

The drought killed the grass which made the soil lack the roots as an anchor, “So the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called black blizzards”(“Dust Bowl”). This dust wasn't just destructive it was also deadly. The dust could kill if people inhaled enough of it. The dust was more deadly to infants and elderly people.

Years ago in the 1930s, tragedy struck in America. Along with the wounding great depression, those in the Southern Plain were hit with a catastrophic dust storm known as the Dust Bowl. From acres of farms being destroyed to people losing their lives, the Dust Bowl was an unfortunate disaster. Some may say “the earth ran amok” (Doc A). The devastating Dust Bowl was ultimately caused by poor weather conditions, new farming technology and the immense removal of grass.

Darkness at noon, plagues of dirt and dust battering you in your home. When you wake up, fine dust cakes everything you own. This was the reality for so many in the Great Plains region of the United States during the Dust Bowl. In the 1930s, the Dust Bowl was extensively immense and overbearing for many. Resulting in a decade of bitter darkness at midday, a surplus of casualties in both livestock and humans, and the destruction of agricultural systems, the Dust Bowl caused extensive damage and hardship in a time of ongoing uncertainty and despair.

This photo is an example of the effects of the dust on the everyday lives of Americans. The third photo shows three men struggling to move in the sea of airborne dirt. These men are presumably trying to get food or to shelter, but are being halted by the relentless dust. This shows how the dust can create massive problems for people outside and in houses. Text 3 states that “Occasionally the storms lasted several days, the blowing soil piling up in drifts against buildings and along fences.

Dust Bowl and Economics of the 1930s The Dust Bowl was a very desperate and troublesome time for America. The southwestern territories were in turmoil due to the arid effect of the drought causing no fertile soils. As the rest of America was being dragged along with the stock market crash and higher prices of wheat and crops since the producing areas couldn't produce. This was a streak of bad luck for the Americans as they were in a deep despair for a quite some time.

In an effort to encourage settlement and cultivation of the Great Plains, the U.S. government offered incentives to farmers to clear the land and cultivate it. This resulted in the plowing up of millions of acres of native grasses that held the soil in place. When the winds blew, the exposed soil was easily picked up and carried away, leading to massive dust storms. The agricultural practices of the time also played a role in the Dust Bowl disaster.

These factors made it nearly impossible to farm. Agriculture in the “Dirty Thirties” was depressing, but some revolting illnesses actually took

Evidence from Doc D, shows that over 100 million acres were harvested crops. How this was possible was advances in machinery. The tractor at the time was a new type of technology used to help farmers plant soil for crops. Since the soil was not watered because of the drought in the previous paragraph, this caused the soil to turn into dust.

Even after this difficult chapter in America’s history, civilians still feel the impact of this monumental event in our lives today. The Dust Bowl was one of America’s greatest disasters because of the economical and environmental contributors, events during the Dust

The Dust Bowl is an environmental disaster that hit the Midwest in the 1930s. A combination of a severe water shortage and harsh farming techniques created it. Some scientists believe it was the worst drought in North America in 300 years (History.com staff)

The storms took away people’s belongings, their pride, and their sense of protection. The Dust Bowl destroyed the Midwest extremely fast. Not all of it was lost, but the majority of it was. It was a dangerous time for all inhabitants of the Midwest. It caused problems everywhere, not just in the Midwest.

Especially, farmers were directly affected. They blame the wind for their agricultural and economic losses. As shown on Doc 7, “perhaps it is only because the dust is too dense and blinding” the farmers are focused on all the losses caused by the heavy winds. Before they left their land, for few years, they stayed and tried to re-establish

An epidemic raged throughout the Plains: they called it dust pneumonia.” Everybody was dying, even

“With the gales came the dust. Sometimes it was so thick that it completely hid the sun. Visibility ranged from nothing to fifty feet, the former when the eyes were filled with dirt which could not be avoided, even with goggles ”( Richardson 59). The Dust Bowl was a huge dust storm in the 1930s that stretched from western Kansas to New Mexico. People that lived in that area could not step outside or they would get dust in their lungs.