17 Dust Bowl Facts

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s stands as the United States’ worst environmental disaster in history.
Although cable news and the internet weren’t around to sensationalize the prolonged event, the
Great Plains, and Southern Plains were devastated by the damage. The Dust Bowl had many
causes and effects. Here are only a few of them.

1. Main cause: Farmers over planted and overgrazed their land for decades. They also failed to
plant drought resistant crops, so when the drops died out, there was no way to hold the topsoil in
place.

2. Great Depression: After years of bad practices, the Great Depression caused farmers to not
be able to plant as many crops as usual. As such, many areas throughout the Plains were left
barren even of protective grasses.

3. Drought catalyst: Drought conditions in several states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New
Mexico, Texas, and Nebraska — exposed poor land management when the soil blew away. The
effects of the drought spread all the way to the Dakotas and affected agriculture all the way to
Maine.

4. Homesteading laws: Plains farming boomed in the early 20th century after homesteading
laws provided settlers with 640 acres of free land, courtesy of the feds. European demand for
wheat fed this cycle.

5. Government seduction: Farming practices were out of control, no doubt. But the Department
of Agriculture promoted the (bizarre?) idea that increased farming caused more rain to fall on the
Plains.

6. The inevitable fall: Crop prices fell at the same time that the drought began. In desperation,
farmers started planting even more crops, which only compounded the rate at which topsoil was
destroyed.

7. Dust storms: Giant clouds of dirt (fueled by 30 mph winds) literally blew across the
landscape, engulfing homes and even entire towns. Each year, the problem grew worse. In 1932,
14 dust storms were recorded. In 1932, the number jumped to 38.
8. Size and scope: The average 1930s dust storm carried more dirt than it would take to build
two Panama Canals.

9. Death of livestock: Cattle were blinded and suffocated by the dust cloud. They were
discovered with stomachs full of sand and dust.

10. Schools closed: Most students were sent home from school, lest they develop “dust
pneumonia.” (7000 people lost their lives to this affliction.) In other cases, students stayed
overnight at school when dust storms made conditions too dangerous to travel.

11. Black & white reality: The six states affected the most by the Dust Bowl were rendered into
colors of black and white, ironically, just like the widely available photo medium of the 1930s.

12. Black Sunday: April 14, 1935 was the single worst day of the Dust Bowl. Winds reached 60
miles per hour and were most severe in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. These “black
blizzards” caused day to turn into night.

13. Loss of livelihood: The Farmers not only watched their property blow away, but their jobs
also disappeared as well. There was little left to do but pack up for the promised land.

14. Migration to California: Unemployment in the Great Depression was already a 1 in 4

statistic. Once farmers and their families showed up on the scene, unemployment in California
(and other urban areas) grew even worse.

15. Hoovervilles: Some 200,000 migrant farmers relocated to California. Most of them did not
find work. Those who did were chronically underpaid. The new population was forced to set up
makeshift “towns” known as “Hoovervilles.”

16. Okies: Any and all migrant farmers were given the pejorative nickname “Okies” even
though only about 20% of migrants actually hailed from Oklahoma. (See John Steinbeck’s
Grapes of Wrath for a fictionalized account of the resulting class discrimination.)

17. New Deal: Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs included new laws to help get back into
business and heal the land. These laws included: (a) Agricultural Adjustment Act; (b) Civilian
Conservation Corps; (c) Farm Security Administration; (d) Soil Conservation Services; and (e)
Rural Electrification Act.