The Dust Bowl In The 1930's

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The Dust Bowl was a huge impact on the U.S. in the 1930’s, it was also called the dirty thirties. It took place right after the stock market crashed and put many families that lived in the Great Plains out of their homes. The giant cloud of dust came from unanchored topsoil on the ground and carried it far away, and after the wind settled down, all of the dust that was carried, dropped and buried some homes and vehicles, even with families inside of them. It ruined crops and farms and damaged many homes. The storm mainly affected the states of Texas and Oklahoma, and touched the sides of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The drought that came with the dust bowl lasted for several years but came in three different waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939 through 1940. Some regions in the high plains experienced it for as much as eight years. “The Dust Bowl was the name given to the Great Plains region devastated by drought in 1930s depression-ridden America” (History.com Staff, 2009).
As many as 500,000 American families were forced out of their homes, because of severe damages to their homes and farms. The drought and dust storm left many homeless and looking for work out west. Some families lost their money, because of the stock market crash and had nothing left. California was a hot spot for people looking for a …show more content…

The participation of the government in land management was greatly expanded as a major outcome of the disaster. Apples, beans, canned beef, and other foods and resources were distributed to the local parts of the Great Plains by the FSRC to relief organizations. Cattle was bought in the counties that were designated emergency areas by the DRS. The DRS gave the remaining cattle to the FSRC to be used as food for the people in need of it. “In 1935, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service (DRS) to coordinate relief activities” (Wikipedia Contributors,

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