The Dustbowl Daysalso know as

The Dirty Thirties

1930 – 1939 more or less

The Dream Wheat was a treasure crop in the

1920s. With more and more farmers owning tractors and combines they were seeing greater yields and profits than ever before. As a result they planted more wheat, and still more wheat. They expected the world market to continue buying it up as they had in the first few years of rapid production. 1930 saw record wheat yields and profits. Things were looking good.

The Dust Bowl covered over five different states, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.  W

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The Dust Bowl affected much of Kansas. The stars line the perimeter of the Dust Bowl.

The Dust Bowl lasted about a decade (10 years)

The Dust Bowl was partially caused from the grasslands being farmed for wheat that didn’t protect the ground from erosion.

The decade was full of extremes: blizzards, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and dirt storms.

• The land dried up really hard and dusty and hardly anything could be grown.

• The most damage was caused from 1935-1938. 

• Most storms occurred in the spring. 

The winds produced "dust drifts" so high that they buried many things

left outside

FACTS about this decade.

Population: 123,188,000 in 48 states

Life Expectancy: Males -58.1 Females - 61.6 Average salary: $1,368

Unemployment rises to 25%

Food Prices: quart of milk - - 14¢ loaf of bread - - 9¢

Lynchings: 21

Many people died because their lungs were badly damaged or they got lost

and were never seen again.

As the land dried up, great clouds of dust and sand, carried by the wind, covered everything and led to the term "Dust Bowl."

Here is a picture of an abandoned farm.

During 1936, the number of dirt storms increased and the temperature broke the 1934

record high by soaring above 120 degrees.

1938 was the year of the "snuster". The snuster was a mixture of dirt and snow reaching blizzard proportions. The storm caused a tremendous amount of damage and suffering

Black Sunday April 14, 1935. The dust storm that turned

day into night. Many believed the world was coming to an end.

Men, women and children stayed in their houses and tied handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths. When they dared to leave, they added goggles to protect their eyes. Houses were shut tight, cloth was wedged in the cracks of the doors and windows but still the fine silt forced its way into buildings.

• Many families had to move to California which made Los Angeles one of the most popular cities in America.  Over one million families moved and formed the largest migration in the history of America. 

The Lesson. . .The Dust Bowl taught farmers new

farming methods and techniques. The 1930's fostered a whole new era of soil conservation. Perhaps the most valuable lesson learned form the Dust Bowl - take care of the land.