Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was caused by a number of reasons, which later led to grow an effect on the Great Depression. But first, what was the Dust Bowl? The Dust Bowl was severe dust storms that caused soil erosion in the 1930's. "In the middle thirties these wind-driven dusters darkened the midday sky and carried off millions of tons of precious topsoil as far as Washington DC and New York City." The unbearable dust storms of the 1930's were all due to farmers over-plowing, the prolonged drought, as well as depopulation, which also affected the Great Depression by adding on to the bad economy and bringing on a famine. The Dust Bowl was caused by farmers over-plowing. Once farmers began to use tractors the amount of crops that were harvested was incredible. "A tractor did the work of ten horses. With his new combine, Folkers could cut and thresh the grain in one swoop, using just a fraction of the labor…." (Document C). Lots of crops were being harvested and much more easily too, but it wasn't doing any good to the land, because soon it just became too much. After awhile, no plants or trees were able to hold the soil, which led to a depletion of the soils nutrients. Continuous plowing to the land created the dust accumulation to increase therefore only causing the Dust Bowl to worsen. Because of over-plowing, none of the crops were growing, meaning no food. This later brought on a famine. A famine during the Great Depression only made matters worse. It was bad enough that people were just barely getting by with the little food and money that they had, but for the states that bought crops from these regions affected by the Dust Bowl, it meant no food at all. Also, the prolonged drought during this time period, played a big role in causing the Dust Bowl. The drought didn't allow for any crops in the arid regions to grow. "John Wesley Powell, the great Western explorer, determined that 20 inches of rain annually was the minimum for successful farming on the