The Black Blizzards In the 1930s, horrific dark clouds of dust would roll in to the states of western Texas, eastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma Panhandle, western Kansas, and eastern Colorado. These powerful clouds of dust would later become known as the storms that caused the Dust Bowl. These storms of dust were caused by a combination of ecological and human factor. The storms had many effects on people and their ways of life. The Dust Bowl caused people to suffer and leave behind their homes; it hurt the economy, and changed the ways farmers would farm forever.
After a long increasing drought, record high heat, and powerful winds the semiarid region of the Plaines and grasslands was basically a desert. Drought was regular on the Plaines. According to the Texas State Historical Association, extreme droughts come around every twenty years, and milder drought every three to four years. Usually, there is approximately less than twenty inches of rain per year. These twenty inches are not enough to keep large vegetation like trees alive therefore; thick wild grass that requires little water grows the region. This wild grass usually survived the harsh weather. Stated in the book written by the author, Timothy Egan, “As long as the weave of grass was stitched to the land, the prairie would flourish in dry years and wet, the grass could look brown and dead, but beneath the surface, the roots held the soil in place; it was alive and dormant… Through the driest years, the web of life held.”, yet between the year of 1931 and 1937 the drought was so horrible the grass was not able to survive and hold the soil in place causing much erosion when the strong winds of the Plaines would later roll in. The grass not being able to survive was a major factor of the Dust Bowl becoming to be.
The perfect storm was created when the Homestead Act of 1862 gave free land to anyone who would settle and live on the prairie land and grass land area. The number of farms in Texas rose from 436,038 in 1920 to 495,489 ten years later, stated in the Texas State Historical Association. All of these farms were mainly plowing the land. Plowing takes a toll on the land, because it uproots all of the natural grasses that kept the soil in place. This type of farming caused the soil to dry due to the natural dry weather, which helped cause, the Dust Bowl.
These storms affected many areas like Amarillo, Texas. In 1935, Amarillo had the worst year, the storms lasted 908 hours altogether. Everything was completely black for the three and a half days during one of these horrific storms. When these storms would move in farmers would lose everything. They had little money, because crop value dropped so much due to the fact that there was a surplus of crops. Many farmers did try to move out of the Dust Bowl area sadly, few were successful to leave.
For around seven years these storms came on a regular basis. Those who stayed suffer with dust in their food, clothes, and home. Dust managed to get in everywhere including the lungs causing many health problems. Not just people experienced hardships with the Dust Bowl, livestock suffered as well. Everyone and everything would try and escape the horrors, but everyone and everything would suffer.
In May of 1934 a massive dust storm fell on the Mall and the White House in Washington D.C., thankfully this helped the federal government focus and attended the problem that was quickly growing. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Soil Conservation Services. This federal program help bring back the integrity of the land. The land was purchased by the government and not touch so natural vegetation would have a chance to thrive once again. Many laws passed to stop farmers from over grazing and over farming the land. The government also encouraged farmers to farm using more ecofriendly techniques. For example farmers were only allowed to plow until spring. All these little changes made a big difference and helped prevent future dust bowls.
The horrible storms of 1930s had devastating effects. Not just farmers suffered, but their wife’s who would clean their home and get no were, and the livestock had little to eat from the barren land. Storms forced many Americans from their home. As a result the government that was in place during the Dust bowl took great action to solve the problems at hand with solutions that are still being used to this date. Climate and weather cannot be controlled, but there are many methods to help prevent disaster like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s form happening again.

Work Cited
Dethloff, Henry C., and Garry L. Nall. “AGRICULTURE.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association, n.d. Web. 06 Aug. 2012
Egan, Timothy. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl. Boston: Houghotn Mifflin, 2006. Print
Worster, Donald. “DUST BOWL.” Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State historical Association, n.d. Web. 06 Aug.2012