History of the Dust Bowl
Within a year of 1931, thousands of families from Texas,
Oklahoma, and Arkansas were losing their farms every week. There was no rain for
five straight years, and then the wind began to blow harder and harder, blowing
the dry soil into the air. This became known as the Dust Bowl, and “it was
centered in the Panhandle” and “stretched to the western half of Kansas, the
eastern half of Colorado, the northeastern portion of New Mexico, and northern
Texas.” The dust covered the inside of houses, got in people’s mouths while they
slept, and sometimes buried chickens, pigs, dogs, and cattle. People had to
sleep with wet washcloths over their faces and clean out the cows’ nostrils
several times per day. People died from exposure to the severe dust winds
without shelter and from “dust pneumonia-when the dust caused severe damage to
the lungs.” It would be pitch dark in the middle of the day, and the people that
were sickly, dying, and suffering had to survive only on biscuits, beans, and
jackrabbits. Most of the farmers lost their land, so the Okies were broke and
hungry.
Oklahoma, and Arkansas were losing their farms every week. There was no rain for
five straight years, and then the wind began to blow harder and harder, blowing
the dry soil into the air. This became known as the Dust Bowl, and “it was
centered in the Panhandle” and “stretched to the western half of Kansas, the
eastern half of Colorado, the northeastern portion of New Mexico, and northern
Texas.” The dust covered the inside of houses, got in people’s mouths while they
slept, and sometimes buried chickens, pigs, dogs, and cattle. People had to
sleep with wet washcloths over their faces and clean out the cows’ nostrils
several times per day. People died from exposure to the severe dust winds
without shelter and from “dust pneumonia-when the dust caused severe damage to
the lungs.” It would be pitch dark in the middle of the day, and the people that
were sickly, dying, and suffering had to survive only on biscuits, beans, and
jackrabbits. Most of the farmers lost their land, so the Okies were broke and
hungry.