Throughout the 1930s, the Southern and mountain regions of the United States were struck by a harsh drought. What resulted was the Dust Bowl, whereby brutal dust storms plagued the lands, destroying crops and causing mass starvation. Still, the origins of this travesty were not what many may have thought. Here is the harsh reality of Dust Bowl America.
An Avoidable Disaster
While harsh weather cannot be avoided, it wasn’t only nature that caused the Dust Bowl era to emerge. Due to skyrocketing demand, farmers across the region plowed millions of acres of grasslands to plant crops. What they didn’t realize, however, is that the prairie grasses that they were uprooting were necessary for holding the soil in place.
The Drought Spreads
As soil across the region continued to erode, dust storms engulfed the southern plains. This issue persisted throughout the 1930s, with 35 million acres of land rendered useless for farming while another 125 million acres lost its topsoil. While this may have been bad, this problem hadn’t yet reached its full extent.
Covering The Nation
The black blizzards reached as far as the East Coast, covering the Statue of Liberty in dust. Ultimately, President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented policies to help the impoverished people affected by this crisis the Natural Resources Conservation Service developed new farming techniques to combat soil erosion, teaching them to farmers in need.