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The Dustbowl In The 1930's

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The Dustbowl, was a period of critical dust storms that damaged the agriculture of the United States. Also known as the dirty thirties, the Dustbowl took place in the 1930’s. Not only did the dustbowl bring economical, ecological and human misery to the United states but, this was all during a time when the US was already suffering under the Great Depression. “A failure to apply dry land farming methods and severe drought to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon.” The drought came in different years, 1934, 1936, and 1939 to 1940. Some regions of the high plains went through droughts for up to eight years. But since back then there was insufficient knowledge on “ecology of the plains, farmers conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. …show more content…
The economic decline from the Great Depression played a role, but that wasn’t just one of the causes. Extended drought coupled by economic depression, poor agricultural practices, unusually high temperatures and the wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. During the drought the 1930’s, “the unanchored soil turned to dust…”. Prevailing winds would blow the dust away, which at times, blackened the sky. These “black blizzards” traveled across the country. They reached as far as the East Coast and invading cities such as Washington D.C. and New York City. These dust storms would reduce visibility, and affected over 100,000,000 acres of Oklahoma, Kansas and

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