“The Dirty Thirties” takes place within the context of the Great Depression. During the 1930s, winds stripped the soil from the dry drought-stricken fields of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. This area was called, “The Dust Bowl.”
“Brown earth rained down from sky. I could not catch my breath the way the dust pressed on my chest and wouldn’t stop. The dirt blew down so thick it scratched my eyes and stung my tender skin; it plugged my nose and filled inside my mouth. No matter how I pressed my lips together, the dust made muddy tracks across my tongue.”
World War I pumped new life into the United States economy as the war required the ramping up of agricultural production and manufacturing in the United States. Unemployment numbers fell greatly between 1920 and 1929. The U.S. replaced Russia as a global agricultural supplier and the prices for grain rose to an all-time high.
Agricultural workers on the Great Plains, specifically in south eastern Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, began taking out loans to buy more land and the latest farming equipment.
Farmers, using tractors, could plant and harvest an acre in three hours instead of the three days it took by hand with manual labor, converting millions of acres of native grassland, previously used for grazing, into wheat fields to keep up with the rising demand.
Following WWI, there was a steep decline in demand for goods. Industries struggled and the price of crops dropped by as much as 40%. To compensate for the price drop, farmers grew more crops—but instead of bringing in revenue, it further depressed the market, lowering the price of grain in 1929 from $3.00 to $0.40 per bushel.
Farmers who had taken out loans faced foreclosure. In fact, from 1929-1932, four million farms were lost to foreclosure. When Black Tuesday hit on October 29, 1929, the United States experienced a financial collapse that ushered in the Great Depression.
During the Great Depression, life in rural areas was not as difficult as urban areas because rural people could produce their own food. When the Great Plains drought struck in the 1930s, rural areas where people had plowed up the drought-resistant native grasses to grow grain were the next to suffer. The grain withered and died from lack of rain and the ground lay barren exposing 2-3 inches of nutrient rich topsoil to the elements.
The depletion of vegetation meant that no roots were left to stabilize the soil and resulted in the Dust Bowl. The topsoil was carried by the wind in dust storms that were deemed black blizzards because the dust was so thick it would blot out the sun.
The wind carried off an estimated total of 350 million tons of soil (enough top soil to fill enough dump trucks to circle the earth twice). When the worst black blizzard on record hit in 1934, towers of dust 10,000 feet high moved soil from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma 1,500 miles east to the Atlantic Ocean.
An estimated twelve million pounds of soil or “dust” hit Chicago (four pounds of soil per citizen) during this one storm. Some ships out at sea in the Atlantic Ocean were left with a quarter inch of dust on their decks.
Topsoil was not the only thing leaving the Dust Bowl. Continual black blizzards contributed to the poverty of the people in the affected states and more than 2.5 million people fled the region—most taking Route 66 west. Nearly 10% of people fleeing the Dust Bowl relocated to California.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, (FDR) was aware of farmers suffering (30% of the population at that time were farmers) and the country’s struggle. When he took office in 1933 FDR had already assembled new policies that became known as the New Deal. New Deal programs included the AAA, CCC, PWA, and the SCS. The goal of these New Deal programs was to ensure that the country recovered economically as well as environmentally.
The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) was specifically implemented to reduce soil erosion and promote soil conservation to prevent another Dust Bowl.
Watch the following videos:
Comment on this blog. List five things you learned either from the videos, the blog text, or a combination of both.
Complete your worksheet on the Dust Bowl
and bring it to class in January. :)
Complete your worksheet on the Dust Bowl
and bring it to class in January. :)
I learned that 1)30% of the population at this time were farmers 2)from 1929 to 1930 to 4,000,000 farms were put out of business due to foreclosure 3)The wind carried off an estimated 350,000,000 tons of soil 4) farmers that used tractors could plant and harvest a field in three hours rather than three days, that was a huge accomplishment. And 5) continual black blizzards contributed too much poverty, it affected more than 2.5 million people to flee that certain area.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned was that Okies were not treated fairly I also learned that FDR hired writer and film critic Pare Lorentz and that there was so much dust that it could block out the sun and that 12 million pounds of soil hit Chicago I also did not know about the SCS.
ReplyDeleteI learned that 1) grain went from $3.00 to $0.40 a bushel in 1929. 2) that everyone thought the dust bowl time was the end of the world. 3) the drought lasted 10 years and was extremely terrible and worse than any other one. 4) that pare Lorentz made a movie called the plow that broke the plains. And 5) that a million or so people traveled on Route 66
ReplyDeleteFor one thing I was surprised that the Dust Bowl stretched all the way to Colorado. I generally think of Colorado as snowy and wet, not dusty. It’s also interesting how all of the religious people thought it was the end of the world. It must have been really bad. It was awesome that the storms built up a static charge before it came. I also thought the Taylor Grazing Act was interesting, which was the regulation of grazing on public lands. My last thing is that the dust reached 10,000 feet high during the worst dust blizzard on record, moving soil 1500 miles east to the Atlantic Ocean.
ReplyDeleteI learned that enough top soil was moved to have dump trucks make two circles around Earth, that 12 million pounds of soil went into Chicago, tat people dragged chains behind their car to ground their car, also that okies were treated almost as bad as black people back then, and that America tried to stop the dust bowl by planting over 200 million trees to stop the soil from leaving the ground.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned was 1) people that lived in the Dust Bowl describes it as a apocalyptic wasteland, 2) the drought lasted 10 years, 3) that Okies where treated the same way as African-Americans, 4) most of the Okies came from cities some had white collar jobs, 5) that 10% of the Okies went to California.
ReplyDeleteI learned from the first video (I think) that jack rabbits were like plagues to the people in the Dust Bowl, in the second video I learned that people already in the west didn't like all the strangers coming in escaping the dust, and told them all to go home. I learned in the third video that Some said the dust could scrape the paint from cars, and in the last I learned how popular Route 66 was during the Dust Bowl, how many gas stations and such were built during it.
ReplyDeleteFive things I leaned on this blog are 1. The dust from the dust bowl was so heavy, it made the sky pitch black during the day. 2. Okies were treated much like African Americans at the time which is completely unfair. 3. Okies traveled Route 66 to escape the dust bowl. 4. Grain prices dropped from $3.00
ReplyDeleteSorry it wouldn't let me finish my comment. 4. Prices in grain dropped from $3.00 to $0.40 per bushel during the Great Depression. And 5. 4 million farmers lost their jobs due to foreclosure between 1929 and 1930.
ReplyDeleteThe five things I learned from the video/blog was 1. Okies were discriminated as though they were black. 2. How the farmers during The Great Depression took out loans and bought more land to plant more. That made The Dust Bowl. 3. No matter how they sealed the windows, dust still came in. 4. People actually moved away from their dead farms to travel on Route 66 to California. 5. Before The Dust Bowl farmers were mass producing with the new technologies they bought on credit.
ReplyDelete5 things I learned from the blog and videos is:
ReplyDelete1. The okies were persecuted greatly.
2. Four million farms were lost to foreclosure from 1929-1932.
3. The Dust Bowl's destruction and dust lasted for 10+ years.
4. Route 66 used to run from one side of the state to the other.
5. There were a combination of reasons for the dust storms, not just one.