Dust Bowl: Definition, Duration, Map, & Facts

Overview

• Name: Dust Bowl
• Duration: 1930-1936
• Location: Great Plains, United States
  • Southeastern Colorado
  • Southwestern Kansas
  • Panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma
  • Northeastern New Mexico

Causes

• Agricultural Changes:
  • Grasslands were used for stock raising until World War I.
  • Land plowed for wheat cultivation after WWI.
  • Overcultivation and poor land management in the 1920s.
• Environmental Factors:
  • Severe drought in early 1930s.
  • Average rainfall < 20 inches/year.
  • Heavy winds eroded exposed topsoil.
  • Windstorms carried soil across the country.

Impact

• Soil Loss:
  • Estimated 1.2 billion tons of soil lost.
  • Affected area: 100 million acres (about 156,000 square miles).
• Migration:
  • Thousands of families displaced.
  • Migrants known as "Okies" traveled to California.
• Cultural Depictions:
  • Songs by Woody Guthrie: “Dust Bowl Refugee”, “Do Re Mi”.
  • John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath".

Government Response

• Federal Aid:
  • Planting of windbreaks/shelterbelts to prevent erosion.
  • Restoration of grasslands.
• Recovery:
  • By early 1940s, the area largely recovered.

Key Figures

• Jerome Namias (Meteorologist)

Related Topics

• Erosion
• Drought

Related Places

• Great Plains
• United States

Visuals

• Images of wind erosion, dust storms, and migration during the Dust Bowl era.
• USDA posters promoting windbreaks to halt erosion.

Additional Resources

• External websites for further reading on the Dust Bowl.