The Dust Bowl | Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress (2024)

FAQs

What was the primary source of the Dust Bowl? ›

Dry-land farming in combination with overgrazing caused destruction of the natural prairie grasses. The land became increasingly bare and the strong winds found naturally in the Great Plains began to literally blow the land away.

Although the 1930s drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, there were at least 4 distinct drought events: 1930–31, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40 (Riebsame et al., 1991). These events occurred in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began.

Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl.

Well there are three main reasons, Overplowing farms, grass being destroyed by new farming technology, and drought to finish it off, the Dust Bowl was created. Over plowing was a major factor in causing the dust bowl.

The heart of the Dust Bowl was the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma, but atmospheric winds carried the dust so far that East Coast cities sometimes found a powdery layer of dirt on windows, streets, sidewalks and automobiles.

A drought that lasted from 1930 to 1936, known as the Dust Bowl, aggravated the problems of the Great Depression. More than a million acres of farmland were rendered useless because of severe drought and years of overfarming, and hundreds of thousands of farmers joined the ranks of the unemployed.

Livestock died for lack of food and water. West of Iowa, on the Great Plains, lands that could no longer sustain the grasses that held the soil in place began to lose topsoil to the strong hot winds. So much dust was picked up that soon great dark clouds, not of rain but of soil particles, began to drift eastward.

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The Farm Security Administration provided emergency relief, promoted soil conservation, resettled farmers on more productive land, and aided migrant farm workers who had been forced off their land. The Soil Conservation Service helped farmers enrich their soil and stem erosion.

The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California. When they reached the border, they did not receive a warm welcome as described in this 1935 excerpt from Collier's magazine.

What caused the Dust Bowl essay? ›

One major cause of that Dust Bowl was severe droughts during the 1930's. The other cause was capitalism. Over-farming and grazing in order to achieve high profits killed of much of the plain's grassland and when winds approached, nothing was there to hold the devastated soil on the ground.

The Dust Bowl was caused by a combination of overproduction, overuse of the land, and harsh weather conditions such as drought and erosion. Plowing exposed prairie soil, which turned to dust and was blown away by dust storms. Document evidence supports these causes of the Dust Bowl.

Final answer: The primary cause of the Dust Bowl was the overworking of farmlands in the Great Plains. Unsustainable farming practices destroyed natural grasses and led to massive dust storms.

Severe wind erosion occurred in the Dust Bowl region in the 1930s. This was due to the combination of farming practices conducive to erosion, economic depression, and drought.

Without indigenous grasses in place, the plains' high winds picked up the topsoil and created massive dust storms. The persistent dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The Great Plains' fine soil eroded easily and was carried east by strong continental winds.

The Dust Bowl occurred in the American Great Plains and Southern states between 1930 and 1940, and was a series of dust storms caused by erosion to the soil. These storms were catastrophic events, destroying the ecology of the Great Plains and Southern states of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado.