Paper #1 Federal Governments Role in the Dust Bowl Essay Example
Word Count: 989
Paper #1 Federal Governments Role in the Dust Bowl
The infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s was one of the most horrific and devastating environmental crises to hit twentieth century North America. The Dust Bowl was a period of unyielding dust storms which inevitably caused major agricultural, ecological and irreversible damage to the American and Canadian prairie lands. The Dust Bowl lasted from 1930 to 1936, in some areas the drought lasted until 1940. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was mostly a man-made disaster. Some critical factors that played a role in the cause of the dust bowl are: decades of extensive farming without crop rotation, agricultural advances, the great depression, and deep plowing which destroyed the grasses which ultimately damaged the soil and dried it up. The Federal Government had an extensive role during the Dust Bowl which ultimately aided in creating the dust bowl, exacerbating and lastly aiding victims of this crisis. The Federal government did not see the underlying and future problems of deep plowing the Great Plains which consisted of 100 million acres on the other hand the Government did a excellent job in addressing the crisis and aiding the hundreds of thousands Americans who were vastly affected by this environmental crisis. There are many factors that contributed and aided to the cause of the Dust Bowl. These factors consisted of poor plowing techniques, The Great Depression, the outbreak of World War 1, agricultural failure and the collapse of the rural economy. A major contributor to the droughts and poor condition of the land was due to the outbreak of WWI. While the war was going on Washington thought wheat would win the war. Furthermore with record high prices for wheat millions of acres of grassland were now being plowed at a rapid pace and the race to turn every inch of Southern Plains into profit began. The current president at the time Herbert Hoover quotes “Americans are nearer to the
Paper #1 Federal Governments Role in the Dust Bowl
The infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s was one of the most horrific and devastating environmental crises to hit twentieth century North America. The Dust Bowl was a period of unyielding dust storms which inevitably caused major agricultural, ecological and irreversible damage to the American and Canadian prairie lands. The Dust Bowl lasted from 1930 to 1936, in some areas the drought lasted until 1940. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was mostly a man-made disaster. Some critical factors that played a role in the cause of the dust bowl are: decades of extensive farming without crop rotation, agricultural advances, the great depression, and deep plowing which destroyed the grasses which ultimately damaged the soil and dried it up. The Federal Government had an extensive role during the Dust Bowl which ultimately aided in creating the dust bowl, exacerbating and lastly aiding victims of this crisis. The Federal government did not see the underlying and future problems of deep plowing the Great Plains which consisted of 100 million acres on the other hand the Government did a excellent job in addressing the crisis and aiding the hundreds of thousands Americans who were vastly affected by this environmental crisis. There are many factors that contributed and aided to the cause of the Dust Bowl. These factors consisted of poor plowing techniques, The Great Depression, the outbreak of World War 1, agricultural failure and the collapse of the rural economy. A major contributor to the droughts and poor condition of the land was due to the outbreak of WWI. While the war was going on Washington thought wheat would win the war. Furthermore with record high prices for wheat millions of acres of grassland were now being plowed at a rapid pace and the race to turn every inch of Southern Plains into profit began. The current president at the time Herbert Hoover quotes “Americans are nearer to the