History of the Great Depression and The Dust Bowl

 

     The most visible evidence of how dry the 1930s became was the dust storm. Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and carried in storm clouds for hundreds of miles. Technically, the driest region of the Plains – southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas – became known as the Dust Bowl, and many dust storms started there. But the entire region, and eventually the entire country, was affected.

     The Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. More and more dust storms had been blowing up in the years leading up to that day. In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded on the Plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds. By April 1935, there had been weeks of dust storms, but the cloud that appeared on the horizon that Sunday was the worst. Winds were clocked at 60 mph. Then it hit.

 

 

 (this is my timeline I made, if it doesn't show up go to this website...)

Timeline of Dust Bowl

 

 

Sources:

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html

www.xtimeline.com

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/timeline/index.html

 

 

 

     During the Great Depression many people could not find work in the city so a lot of people moved westward seeking jobs on farms or in the fields. This only made the depression worse because everyone was moving out to do the same things, and when you have a bunch of people all doing the same thing it only reduces the value of the product. However, shortly after the move to the Midwest, 1931 marked the beginning of a very long and devastating drought. This drought was called The Dust Bowl. During this time around 400,000 people left their homes and farms to move westward to California, Oregon, Arizona, and Colorado to seek new jobs and to leave the drought behind.

 

 

 

 "Dust Bowl Blues" performed by Woody Guthrie.

"These recordings were Woody's first commercial effort, and they are, with the exception of some imaginative exaggeration, an accurate historical depiction, through music, of the Dust Bowl. It is doubtful that any historical period has had comparable folk response."

 

Lyrics:

I just blowed in, and I got them dust bowl blues,

I just blowed in, and I got them dust bowl blues,

I just blowed in, and I'll blow back out again.

I guess you've heard about ev'ry kind of blues,

I guess you've heard about ev'ry kind of blues,

But when the dust gets high, you can't even see the sky.

I've seen the dust so black that I couldn't see a thing,

I've seen the dust so black that I couldn't see a thing,

And the wind so cold, boy, it nearly cut your water off.

I seen the wind so high that it blowed my fences down,

I've seen the wind so high that it blowed my fences down,

Buried my tractor six feet underground.

Well, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,

Yes, it turned my farm into a pile of sand,

I had to hit that road with a bottle in my hand.

I spent ten years down in that old dust bowl,

I spent ten years down in that old dust bowl,

When you get that dust pneumony, boy, it's time to go.

I had a gal, and she was young and sweet,

I had a gal, and she was young and sweet,

But a dust storm buried her sixteen hundred feet.

She was a good gal, long, tall and stout,

Yes, she was a good gal, long, tall and stout,

I had to get a steam shovel just to dig my darlin' out.

These dusty blues are the dustiest ones I know,

These dusty blues are the dustiest ones I know,

Buried head over heels in the black old dust, I had to pack up and go.

An' I just blowed in, an' I'll soon blow out again.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/fmc/interviews/gregory.htm

 http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/dbball.html#songs