Prior to 1930, the area of the United States between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains (Great Plains) was lush with natural prairieland vegetation and abundant rainfall. It was these characteristics which made it seem ideal for westward development across the United States. However, during the 1930’s, the Great Plains endured a nine year period of severe droughts which lead to intense dust storms which killed crops, livestock and people. This time period has been consequently been labeled as the Dust Bowl. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the circumstances which lead to the dust storms, the resulting population migrations, economic effects of the events, and the human/environmental impacts of the entire experience.
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Between the years of 1862 and 1909, the government passed federal policies labeled as the Homestead Act which provided settlers and freed slaves with 160 acres of undeveloped land in the Great Plains area of the United States. The premise behind the act was to escalate westward development from the east coast and to increase nationwide farming capability. In total, approximately 420,000 square miles of land was claimed. During the timeframe between 1910 and 1920 the United Sates was deeply involved in World War I and there was an increased worldwide demand for wheat. The United States government “encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But, as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted and farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop or break even (Staff, Dust Bowl, 2009).” Unfortunately, in the 1930’s the Southern Plain’s area of the United States fell into devastating drought conditions “when weather patterns shifted over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Pacific grew cooler than normal and the Atlantic became warmer. The combination weakened and changed the direction of the jet stream” and rain never made it to the region (Amadeo, 2018). Crops began to fail at alarming rates and farmers were desperate to keep the remaining livestock herds alive by allowing them to over graze on the limited remaining vegetation. As a result, the area of the Great Plains was no longer lush with grass and vegetation and instead was cover in loose dry soils. When the drought continued, the end result was massive and uncontrollable dust storms which started in 1931 and wreaked havoc on the entire area. “By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres
Between the years of 1862 and 1909, the government passed federal policies labeled as the Homestead Act which provided settlers and freed slaves with 160 acres of undeveloped land in the Great Plains area of the United States. The premise behind the act was to escalate westward development from the east coast and to increase nationwide farming capability. In total, approximately 420,000 square miles of land was claimed. During the timeframe between 1910 and 1920 the United Sates was deeply involved in World War I and there was an increased worldwide demand for wheat. The United States government “encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But, as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted and farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop or break even (Staff, Dust Bowl, 2009).” Unfortunately, in the 1930’s the Southern Plain’s area of the United States fell into devastating drought conditions “when weather patterns shifted over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Pacific grew cooler than normal and the Atlantic became warmer. The combination weakened and changed the direction of the jet stream” and rain never made it to the region (Amadeo, 2018). Crops began to fail at alarming rates and farmers were desperate to keep the remaining livestock herds alive by allowing them to over graze on the limited remaining vegetation. As a result, the area of the Great Plains was no longer lush with grass and vegetation and instead was cover in loose dry soils. When the drought continued, the end result was massive and uncontrollable dust storms which started in 1931 and wreaked havoc on the entire area. “By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres