Dust Bowl (1930-1936) (jan 2, 1930 – dec 22, 1936)

Description:

when great plains region devastated by drought & dust storms during 1930s; led to migration into Cali of thousands of displaced "Okies" or "Arkies";

(late 1933) prolonged drought in trans-Miss Great Plains, Weeks w/o rain → lots of winds; Powdery topsoil torn from farms in area that went from E Colorado to W Missouri; Ppl used protective masks as farms were destroyed; Victims predicted end of world or second coming of Christ;

caused by drought, wind, human contribution; High grain prices in WWI → farmers bring lots of marginal land under cultivation, Dry-farming techniques & mechanization revolutionized Great Plains agriculture, Steam tractor & disk plow tore up lots more land than oxen → loose topsoil;

John Steinbeck writes Grapes of Wrath (1939) on this;

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