The Dust Bowl

Tuesday, April 22, 1934 We had another dust storm yesterday. It was pretty bad. It was around 1:30 that it happened. I was outside when I saw it coming. I rushed inside and screamed, Dust Storm! Dad rushed inside from sealing one of the windows. Mom stopped cleaning clothes, and poured all of the water on any cloth that she could find. Then she hung them up on the inside of the window to catch any dust that came in. Dad went into his room and came back with some masks to put on and protect us from the dirt that we might have breathed in. We huddled up in the center of the house and waited for the dust to hit. When it did it sounded like an explosion. It immediately got dark. I wasn’t sure if it was from the storm or if it was just me closing my eyes. There darkness stayed for only a couple of minutes but it felt like an hour. When the storm finally ended we looked around. The house was covered in dust. It got a little bit brighter but not by much.

Wednesday, April 23, 1934 Yesterday I went back to school right before I wrote my last entry. I didn’t right it on the day of the storm because it was way too dark. So anyway as I left my house to go to school I saw something really weird. Normally, I jump over the fence for the fun of it. This time I didn’t have to because the storm built up dirt against the fence so that it built a ramp almost over the fence. Even though the storm was over the dust was still blowing in the wind. I wore my mask all the way to school. When I got there the bell rang the teacher closed the door and everyone took off their mask. One of my friends Ryan said that the school should change our mascot to the raccoons because that’s what we looked like when we took our masks off. That made my day.

Saturday, June 12, 1934 Dads crops are completely gone. I heard Dad tell Mom that we are going to have to move because the bank is foreclosing and is kicking us out since we don’t have any income now. He said that we were not able to take