How many US counties lost population in the dust bowl?
Population change by county from 1930 to 1940 during the Dust Bowl
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, your big brain, and the links below:
The 1930s drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, but it was actually several distinct events occurring in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began. The term “Dust Bowl” was coined in 1935 when an AP reporter, Robert Geiger, used it to describe the drought-affected south central United States in the aftermath of horrific dust storms. What states were most negatively impacted by the “Dust Bowl”?
At the time, the Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. Between 1930 and 1940, 2.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. Over the same time period, what general geographical area of the nation experienced a population increase?
During the Dust Bowl, why did so many people move to Clark County Nevada?
During the Dust Bowl, the combination of wind erosion and drought made it nearly impossible for thousands of families to make a living farming, prompting a mass migration to California — just like their fictional counterpart, The Grapes of Wrath’s Joad family. Why do you think most families escaping the Dust Bowl went West instead of East?
A number of poor land management practices in the Great Plains region increased the vulnerability of the area before the 1930s drought. Some of the land use patterns and methods of cultivation in the region can be traced back to the settlement of the Great Plains nearly 100 years earlier. “Boosters” of the Great Plains region, hoping to promote settlement, put forth glowing but inaccurate accounts (fake news) of the Great Plains’ agricultural potential. In addition to this inaccurate information, most settlers had little money and few other assets, and their farming experience was based on conditions in the more humid eastern United States, so the crops and cultivation practices they chose often were not suitable for the Great Plains. The Timber Culture Act of 1873, was a law Congress passed based on the false belief that if settlers planted trees they would be encouraging rainfall. Before the Dust Bowl, due to low crop prices and high machinery costs, more submarginal lands were put into production. Farmers also started to abandon soil conservation practices. These events laid the groundwork for the severe soil erosion that would cause the Dust Bowl. Like many “natural disasters” the Dust Bowl was not entirely natural and was caused, in fact, by a combination of natural and human-made disasters. Identify two human causes of the Dust Bowl.
According to a 2009 study by Harvard economic historian Richard Hornbeck, only 14-28 percent of the damage done by the Dust Bowl to farmland values has been reversed since then. Some people say that history has little impact on the present. Others say that history never over. How does this study impact your feelings about the power of history over the present?
Based on the visual above, a student commented, “it looks like the United States is wearing a tiny Alaska as a hat!” Another student reported that, “there are giant letters floating in the Pacific Ocean.” What would be another incorrect but reasonable conclusion to draw from the visual above?
Do you think there should be a football bowl game called the Dust Bowl?
The Black Death natural disaster struck Europe during the Late Middle Ages (mid 1300s) and is estimated to have killed 30 per cent to 60 per cent of the European population. Despite its horrible impact, in some ways those who managed to survive the Plague (Black Death) benefited. Because of illness and death workers became exceedingly scarce, so even peasants felt the effects of the new rise in wages and a rising standard of living. The Dust Bowl was a national economic calamity. Was there any positive outcome of the Dust Bowl?
The 1930s Dust Bowl did not inoculate the United States from another such ecological disaster. Over 30 percent of North America is arid or semi-arid land, with about 40 percent of the continental United States (17 Western states) vulnerable to desertification. As of November 14, 2023, 31.46% of the U.S. and 37.45% of the lower 48 states are in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Explain whether the U.S. will have another dust bowl or similar natural disaster.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (2023) provides $8.3 billion for Reclamation water infrastructure projects over five years to advance drought resilience and expand access to clean water for families, Tribes, farmers and wildlife. Contact the White House and let them know what they should do to increase drought resilience.
Call the White House
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Or Tweet POTUS @WhiteHouse
Get Creative
The World Bank predicts climate change could create as many as 143 million "climate migrants" by 2050. The result would be a mass migration twice as large as the number of refugees in the world today. The coming “Climate Bowl” would dwarf the impacts of the Dust Bowl. Imagine what a “Climate bowl” only 17 years from now would be like and how it would impact life here in the U.S.