The Dust Bowl by Burns - Research Paper Example

?The Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl is the given by Geiger in 1935 to the area of the Great Plains in the United s of America and the environmental disaster which occurred there in the 1930s ( National Drought Mitigation Center, 2012). This was at a time when America was already suffering from the effects of the Depression, which had begun in 1929 with the Wall Street Crash. This ecological disaster occurred in over an area of around 150,000-square-miles and included Oklahoma and the Texan panhandle, as well as parts of neighbouring states such as Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. In 1935 it was estimated that up to that point 850,000,000 tons of top soil and been eroded from the American Southern Plains just during that one year (Nelson undated) . Henderson, a member of an affected farming family, describes the years before the storms came as a golden age ( 2001, page 15) In the 1930s though things changed dramatically. It became a period of scarce rainfall and high winds, both of which passed over the very light, over worked, soils of the region. The storms began in 1931. In 1932, as described by Ganzel (2003) 14 storms were recorded, and each year the number increased. Farmers however continued to plough and sow, destroying the established grassland. The drought which lasted from 1934 to 1937, affected 27 states according to Nelson (undated) and in the Dustbowl area poor farming practice meant that there were no longer plants whose roots had held the soil together. Black blizzards ensued, especially from the north. This was when the strong winds lifted the light, loose top soil and swirled it around into dense, choking dust clouds. In some area the dust was so dense it acted more like snow, forming high drifts, and even completely covering some farm buildings. The winds were so strong at times that they could move heavy trucks ( Hankel, quoted by Ganzel, 2003) with winds of more than 100 miles per hour. The cattle were choked, and even preparing or eating a meal became almost impossible. Carlson (( quoted by Ganzel , 2003) said that :- The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face. …People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real. The result for farmers and their families was that 60% of the population was forced to quit the area, leaving in many cases farms they had lived on for several generations. According to Nelson (undated ) the devastation lasted until the rains finally returned in 1939, but by then skilled workers had left for farm land elsewhere or for the cities of the distant West. The Government was well aware of the problems and did try to help over an extended period. In 1933 President Roosevelt brought in the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act and the Farm Credit Act ( Segraves, 2012) to help farmers facing foreclosure, in many cases because crops had failed and animals had died. In September of the same year the Federal Surplus Relief Organization was set up after a public outcry about the waste of such things as meat. Agricultural goods, including cotton clothing, were sent to relief organizations. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 allowed the government to nationalize large areas and then to control such things as grazing. This did a good job in halting any further deterioration caused by over farming methods, but did not actually reverse matters because the top soil was already lost. Nelson (undated) quotes from the Agricultural Year Book of 1934 :- Approximately 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land have essentially been destroyed for crop production. . . . 100 million acres now in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil; 125 million acres of land now in crops are rapidly losing topsoil. Early in 1935 the Government a Drought Relief Service designed to co-ordinate efforts from a number of agencies. This service bought up cattle from affected areas, destroying any considered unfit for human consumption, and using the others to provide meat for hungry families as part of relief schemes. The prices paid were somewhat higher than the farmers would have got in the normal way, and so enabled them to avoid bankruptcy. In the same year huge amounts were set aside many millions of dollars for drought relief, as well as providing employment for many under the Works Progress Administration. Also in 1935, after describing soil erosion as “a national menace” (quoted by Nelson , undated) , within the Department of Agriculture a specialized department was set up known as the Soil Conservation Service. New farming methods were developed and enforced by farmer sat a local level rather than using a one method serves all national government approach. In 1937 the Shelterbelt Project began. This broke up the vast miles of the open plains into smaller areas and encouraged the planting of native trees such as cedar and ash, with farmers being paid to establish and care for these trees, despite some initial funding difficulties. This did have some limited positive effects. It is easy perhaps to blame the farmers, but they were simply doing their best to provide a livelihood for themselves and their families. In 1939 the rains returned at last, and the wheat harvest was a successful one, at least for those who still remained. Hurt describes how farmers regained their confidence once more as the dust finally settled and the soil held ( Hurt, 1981, page 15 ) . Burns ( 2012) describes the Dust Bowl as “ the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history.” He has made a new film on the topic which includes interviews with survivors of what he says :- Is also a morality tale about our relationship to the land that sustains us—a lesson we ignore at our peril. Works Cited Burns, K., ‘The Dust Bowl’ November 2012, http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/, 29th November 2012. Carlson , A. article quoted by Ganzel, B, ‘Farming in the 1930s’ Wessels Living History Farm, 2003, http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html, 29th November 2012 Ganzel, B, ‘Farming in the 1930s’ Wessels Living History Farm, 2003, http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html, 29th November 2012 Hankel, L, , quoted by Ganzel, B, ‘Farming in the 1930s’ Wessels Living History Farm, 2003, http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html, 29th November 2012 Henderson, C., 2001, Letters from the Dust Bowl, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 2001 Hurt, R.D., The Dust Bowl: An agricultural and Social History, Chicago, Nelson –Hall, 1981 Nelson. G., ‘About The Dust Bowl’, Modern American Poetry, undated, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm, 29th November 2012 Segraves, J., ‘The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act ‘, E How Money , 2012, http://www.ehow.com/info_8402143_emergency-farm-mortgage-act.html, 29th November 2012 The National Drought Mitigation Center, 2012, http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl.aspx, 29th November 2012 Read More