Dust Bowl Research Paper

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The Dust Bowl The 1930’s was America’s darkest hour. The Great Depression was bad enough, but there was something else just as catastrophic that haunted the midwest. It choked the plains with it’s heavy dust and the wind swept millions of farmers westward looking for work. Tsunamis of dust and wind rolled over the flatlands, casting a dark shadow over the Midwest. After relentless bombardment from hurricanes of dirt and grime, this event was named: “The Dust Bowl”. The Dust Bowl was the most cataclysmic event in the history of the midwest, and one of the most damaging disasters in America. The Dust Bowl occurred in the depths of the Great Depression, lasting from 1934 to 1937. The midwest was the supplier of wheat, corn, and other crops for the entire country. When the crops suffocated and died from the dust, farmers lost their jobs, and prices for wheat and corn skyrocketed. Crops and people were not the only ones scarred by this phenomenon, livestock was also affected. Cows, pigs, and chickens alike were killed by the thousands. If…show more content…
If the farmers in the Midwest had used better cultivating methods such as crop rotation, there would be significantly less damage. Crop rotation is when farmers place their harvest in different spots. For example, vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, and corn, quickly drain the nitrogen from the soil. But on the other side of that, crops like peas fill the soil up with nitrogen. After farmers have harvested corn from a certain area, they need to plant crops that would make the soil nitrogen-rich again. And after the peas have made the soil fertile again, corn is able to thrive in that same area. If the farmers had practiced crop rotation (which they now do), there may have never been a Dust Bowl, just a severe drought. Trees and grass have been planted throughout the Midwest to keep the soil fertile and rich to prevent another Dust Bowl from ever

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