Texas History

Fort Burrows, B&B Ranch

“Be careful, Once Twisted, It cannot be Straightened.”

17.2 - The Dust Bowl

READpgs 409 - 411

Main Idea:

In the 1930s, human and natural factors combined to create the Dust Bowl. The effects of the Dust Bowl added to the suffering of Texans during the Great Depression.

Along with the Great Depression, Texas suffered another problem in the 1930s:LACKOF RAIN. This led to a severe drought in the Great Plains. The land became dry and hard. Temperatures were higher than normal as well. Farmers’ crops died. Then powerful HOT WINDS blew across the plains. They picked up the dry soil and blew huge dust storms across Texas - the Dust Bowl. Sometimes the wind held so much dirt that it blocked the sun in the daytime.
People had helped create these conditions. At the time, they had not realized the effects their actions would have. Farmers plowed up the grasses that had once covered the plains. Large areas of plowed land were easier to blow away in the strong winds. / Also, ranchers had too many cattle on the land. The animals ate the grasses that held the dirt in place. The dust storms were very destructive. The dirt clogged cars and tractors, making them unable to work. It destroyed homes, crops, and livestock. Babies and the elderly suffered poor health because of the heavy dust.
Many people lost their farms. With no crops to sell, they did not have enough money to repay their loans. The banks that lent the money took control of their farms. Thousands of farmers left Texas to find work in other states.
The federal government took steps to help farmers. It paid farmers to plant trees and build high ridges of land. These steps limited the damage caused by wind erosion.

Vocabulary:

Dust Bowl - a series of dust storms that created an environmental disaster

( “black blizzards”)

erosion - the gradual wearing away of Texas soil

foreclosure - the lending institute takes back the collateral used to secure a loan

( This is always due to the borrower not being able to repay the loan)

collateral - property pledged by a borrower to protect the interests of a lender

Setting the Scene:

Albert Law, writing in the Dalhart Texan, describes what he saw in

Northern Texas in 1933.

“Ninety percent of the poultry dead because of the sand storms; sixty cattle dying Friday afternoon between Guymon, Oklahoma and Liberal, Kansas from some disease induced by dust – humans suffering from dust fever – milk cows going dry, turned into pasture to starve, hogs in such pitiable shape that buyers will not have them… Potter and other Panhandle counties with one-third of their population on charity or relief work; ninety percent of the farmers in most counties have had to have crop loans, and continued drought forcing many of them to use the money for food, clothes, medicine, shelter.”

Dust Bowl Area

Origins of the Dust Bowl (1930s)

  • A series of dust storms tore the southern plains of Texas in the 1930s
  • Blew away the topsoil (erosion) into drifts along fences and buildings
  • Dust filled the skies, making breathing difficult
  • The skies lookedlike a ‘black blizzard’
  • The worst storms reduced visibility to zero
  • Dust Bowl was considered an environmental disaster

Natural Causes

  • A drought caused the ground to be very dry, drought
  • Temperatures were higher than normal
  • High winds were more frequent than usual

Man-Made Causes

  • The grasslands were being destroyed to produce more and more
  • Ranchers were overstocking the land with cattle

Farmers were over plowing to plant more crops

Impact of the Dust Bowl

  • A single storm could last for more than 3 days
  • Texans would have to shovel dirt even from the inside of their house after a big storm
  • People’s health - Dust damaged people’s eyes and lungs
  • Some farmers lost everything, including their ability to make a living
  • Storms destroyed crops
  • Animals choked to death on the dust
  • The dirt and grit would ruin car and tractor engines
  • Some lost their farms to foreclosure; could not repay their bank loans so banks repossessed the properties
  • Thousands of farmers left the state to look for other work
  • In terms of human suffering, the Dust Bowl was one of the worst disasters to hit Texas
  • For most Texans the Dust Bowl was worse than the Great Depression
  • During the 1930s, 43 dust storms per year struck Texas
  • Dust clouds 7,000 feet high would cover the state’s skies
  • The storms would block out the sun in the middle of the day

CAUSE / EFFECTS
DROUGHT /
  • Killed Crops

HEAT /
  • Killed Crops

HIGH WINDS /
  • Eroded Texas Soil
  • Created Dust Clouds

FARMING /
  • Plowing more land destroyed the grasses that held
the soil in place
RANCHING /
  • Overgrazing destroyed the grasses that held the soil in place

GOVERNMENT /
  • Encouraged farmers to grow more cotton and wheat for the war effort, which led farmers to plow more land

ECONOMY /
  • Agricultural prices dropped; farmers plowed more land to offset lower crop prices

TECHNOLOGY /
  • Tractors allowed farmers to plow more land with greater speed

1937 New London, Texas

An OILBOOM TOWN! Wealthy with new money! Enough money to build a new schoolhouse that would serve Middle and High School age students. A new building design was used -an ‘E’ shaped building. During construction, a crawl space was left around the perimeter of the building. This space would be used for wiring, water pipes, enter in case a maintenance man needed to work under the floors, and something new, natural gas lines that would be used to heat the schoolhouse. One day around 6th period, a boy was working on a project in the metal shop. He created a spark and BOOM. It appears that there was a natural gas leak in one of the pipes. Back then, natural gas had no odor. The gas filled up the crawl space and the spark caused it to explode. Many students were killed.

**Today, natural gas has an odor added to it during production. Congress made this a law in 1937 because of this accident. **

1.What natural causes contributed to the Dust Bowl?

A. high winds, cool temperatures, and erosion

B. erosion, pollution, and drought

C. drought, high temperatures, and high winds

D. high temperatures and high humidity

2.The worst storms of the Dust Bowl were called ______

A. black tornadoesB. black hurricanes

C. black deathD. black blizzards

3. How did human activity contribute to the creation of the Dust Bowl?

______.

4.How did the Dust Bowl affect Texas farmers?

______.

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