Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl

1. Causes

   • Drought
   • Unwise farming practices
   • Strong winds

2. Responses

   • Public
     • Migration to the West Coast
       • "Okies" - Relatives lived along the coast - States advertised agricultural jobs 7000 migrants each month *Florence Thompson (Migrant Mother)
     • Riding the Rails and Hitchhiking
       • 2 million men -> Hobos RAILS 6,500 killed in accidents or by "bulls" Dangerous HITCHHIKING Safer, legal
     • Tall Tales about the Weather
       • Jokes that are not meant to bring forth laughter to give a common ground for the sufferers Jokes that blur the pain and sharpen the hope 
   • Government
     • "Report..." - Causes
       • "Report of the Great Plains Drought Area Committee" August 1936 2 causes - Dry weather - unwise farming conditions Suggested teaching new farming practices
     • New Deal policies
       • CCC
       • AAA
       • FSA
         • Farm Security Administration (1935/1937) Low-interest loans to tenant farmers Built model cooperative farmsteads
       • SCS
         • Soil Conservation Service (1935)
       • REA
     • Brought awareness to irrigation
       • PWA and Kingsley Dam
         • One of the largest earthen dams in the world Irrigation, electrical power, recreational (boating and fishing), eagle nesting Type of surface source
       • Ogallala Aquifer
         • Limited resource Type of underground source

3. Lasting Effects

   • Irrigation
   • Farms get bigger
     • Decline in # of farms
       • Not a decline in amount of farmland, just a decline in the number of farms which means there are just a few larger farms than a lot of smaller ones
     • Towns get smaller
   • California (currently)
     • Unemployment 11.9%
     • 90% of Sierra Nevada snowpack gone by end of century

4. Life

   • SE Colorado, SW Kansas, OK and TX panhandle
   • Black Sunday (April 14, 1935)
   • 1932 - 14 storms 1933 - 28 storms
   • Rainfall dropped 27.5%
   • School
     • Cancelled Students kept overnight
   • "Dust Pneumonia" and Health Concerns
   • Extremely hot