A. previous techniques (erosion) Prairie grasses used to cover the land of the great plains, but when farmers arrived in the 1890’s, they plowed under the grass (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). Grass keeps soil from drying out, and it keeps the soil from blowing away (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). The number of acres of wheat in the Great plains tripled in the 1920’s and the total cultivated land in the US was at it’s highest in the 1930’s, reaching 530 million acres (“ Dust …show more content…
Many cattle died from eating the dust-filled grass that created “mud balls” in their stomachs (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). “Dust pneumonia” affected hundreds, maybe thousands of people, most often killing them (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938") (Cook). Many farmers were also killed due to the extreme velocity of the dust clouds that caused many farmers to suffocate in their fields (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). The airborne dust that constantly hung around not only impaired breathing and caused respiratory diseases, but made travel difficult because of the decreased visibility ("Dust Bowl" Environmental). In the worst years of the Dust Bowl as many as a quarter of the days of the year, the dust limited vision to less than a mile (5). Houses and equipment were buried by the dust, forcing their inhabitants to leave (3).Many victims of the storms moved to California, and most of these migrants became farm workers due to their little education and few resources (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). The farmland and surrounding cities and towns that were disrupted by the intense dust storms had many longstanding austere affects. The dust storms caused major long term damage to both the ecosystem and the agriculture of the area (“ Dust Bowl, 1934-1938"). Wind erosion of the dust bowl lessened the productivity of midwestern farmlands, often leaving the land with no …show more content…
There were many long lasting effects of the dust storms that took years of exhausting thought and action to return the torn up and devastated land to it’s once pleasant rolling hills. The seemingly harmless clouds of black that took many people 's lives, and destroyed the livelihoods of others, will help future generations to prevent another life-altering