The Dustbowl of America in the 1930's.

The Dustbowl of America in the 1930’s
The Dust Bowl of North America was a disaster in the early 1930's when huge parts of the Midwestern and Western farmlands of America became wastelands. This happened due to a series of dry years, which agreed, with the extension of agriculture in unsuitable lands. Droughts and dust storms caused by poor labor practice troubled farms and ranches of the Great Plains; causing a great migration of its people to other, more fertile, lands. The problem had become so great that a nation wide effort was made to resolve the problem. In 1935, big efforts were made by both federal and state governments to develop suitable programs for soil conservation and for the recovery of the dust bowl. Eventually farming became possible again in the Dust Bowl so farmers have learned many lessons from this.
The European settlers, who first arrived at the Great Plains, found strong grasslands that held the fine-grained soil in place in spite of the long regular droughts and occasional heavy rains. A large number of the travelers settled down in this area and built farms and ranches. These lands used led to soil exposure and great erosion. The cattle ranches were very pleasing for the settlers; this led to overgrazing and humiliation of the soil. Farmers began to plow the natural grass cover and plant their own crops. Without the original root systems of the grass to anchor the soil, much of it blew away. The wide row crops were very dreadful because between the crops, the land was kept bare; as a result, this area was open to the elements.
The Great Plains are a vast area of land located east of the Rocky Mountains in North America. Precipitation in the region is sparse because it is found in the rain shadow of the Rockies. The lack of water created a hard dry soil that was very difficult to farm for agricultural reasons. The farmers continued to develop the land and eventually disaster struck. The natural foundations caused disaster on the bare soil. Wind blew away the dry and bared soil and created clouds of dust that could be seen hundreds of miles away. These dust storms and sandstorms beat-up the settlers and buried their roads and homes in sand. The farmer’s problems became worse when it rarely rained. The soil, because of its root system, was unable to soak up the water so the water ran over the surface and carried even more topsoil away. The Dust Bowl of the 1930's was a natural disaster that destroyed the livelihoods of many farmers and ranchers. The settlers who lived on the lands were the tools of their own termination. Their lack of knowledge and poor agricultural practices led to the destruction of the Prairies. Great amounts of soil were battered by both wind and water; however, it was the settlers who allowed this to happen because of farming and ranching techniques. The situation was only resolved after a great effort by the government to solve the dilemma. The Dust Bowl disaster is a valuable learning experience for farmers and ranchers because it shows the risks of the growth of agriculture without the right knowledge. In order for the problem to never happen again, farmers and ranchers need to learn from the mistakes of the past.