State Historical Society of Iowa
During the 1930s, the Midwest experienced so much blowing dust in the air that the region became known as the Dust Bowl. The term also refers to the event itself, usually dated from 1934 through 1940. The heart of the Dust Bowl was the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma, but atmospheric winds carried the dust so far that East Coast cities sometimes found a powdery layer of dirt on windows, streets, sidewalks and automobiles. On the Great Plains, however, dust storms were so severe that crops failed to grow, livestock died of starvation and thirst and thousands of farm families lost their farms and faced severe poverty.
Most authorities cite two factors as the cause of the Dust Bowl. In the 1920s, with the coming of tractors and mechanical farm implements, farmers on the Great Plains plowed up huge tracts of land once covered with grasses that held the soil in place and helped to keep in moisture in the topsoil. Without the grass cover, the wind could lift dirt particles into the atmosphere where they were carried east by the prevailing winds. During the summers of 1934, 1936 and 1939-40, little rain fell, creating drought conditions in Iowa and across the Midwest. Extreme high temperatures topped 100 degrees sometimes for weeks at a time. Crops withered in the field and again, the soil was left with no cover to prevent the topsoil from blowing into the air.
The result was that the huge clouds of dust formed, often so strong that they blocked the sun creating darkness and limited visibility even during the day. Even when families stuffed rags under the doors and around the windows, dust filtered into homes covering everything. One woman recalled that when she sat up in the morning, she could see the silhouette of her head outlined in dust on her pillow.
The extreme weather came on top of farmers struggling to survive during the Great Depression. Guaranteed high prices during WWI and government appeals to farmers' patriotism encouraged many to expand their herds and their cropland. When the war ended and demand for extra production fell, farmers continued to produce at record levels. Surpluses developed, and farm prices fell sharply making many farmers unable to pay their mortgages. Farm foreclosures across the Midwest skyrocketed and the situation looked desperate. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal boosted farm prices by paying farmers to limit production. While those programs were just beginning, however, the drought years of 1934 and 1936 made life even more difficult for farm families and the small towns that depended upon them. In Oklahoma and nearby regions, many families joined a mass migration to California, piling up whatever they could onto their automobiles. They became known as the "Okies."
The Dust Bowl taught the United States to explore better approaches to land management. Western lands with too little rainfall to support grain crops like corn or wheat should be left as pasture to maintain a grass cover that can retain moisture and keep topsoil in place. The federal government began support for programs to plant trees as windbreaks, to terrace hillsides, and to implement other land management programs. It also produced a famous film, "The Plow That Broke the Plains," that dramatically illustrated the relationship between farming practices and the Dust Bowl.
Both weather and human efforts contributed to the Dust Bowl. Iowans who lived it remember the frightening appearance of dark clouds of descending dirt. They suffered through it but also learned some valuable lessons about the need to respect the natural environment.
| Dust Bowl Source Set Teaching Guide |
| Printable Image and Document Guide |
This montage showcases a collection of headlines from various newspapers between 1935 and 1942 that focus on the Dust Bowl and its impact.
This video, produced by Iowa Public Television, documents the impact of the Dust Bowl on Iowa farms.
This 1936 photograph depicts a massive dust storm moving between two mesas and towards the photographer in eastern Colorado.
This 1936 photograph by Arthur Rothstein captures dry, wind blown soil piling high toward the top of dead trees in an orchard. The image was taken in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, which is the westernmost part of the state and the most severely impacted area...
This 1936 photograph taken by Arthur Rothstein on the Texas panhandle depicts a very heavy black cloud of dust behind a single car driving on a country road with its headlights on. The Texas panhandle was one of the areas most severely impacted by the Dus...
The 1936 photograph by Arthur Rothstein shows a farmer digging out fence posts to keep them from being buried under drifting dirt and sand. There is a young boy on his knees close by and a cow in the background. This photo was taken in Cimarron County, wh...
This photograph by Arthur Rothstein taken in 1936 shows a boy sitting on top of a very large soil drift while holding the family dog. The photo was taken in Liberal, Kansas, which is located in the southwest part of the state.
The Topaz Times was the newspaper of the Japanese internment camp located in Topaz, Utah. This article outlines how the public works division is treating land in the camp to control dust since irrigation alone does not work. As noted in the article, these...
This 1936 Arthur Rothstein photograph shows a parked car in the foreground of an intersection in Amarillo, Texas (popultion 51,686 in the 1940 Census) with a woman, wearing a dress and holding her hat on her head, running through a dust storm. Located in ...
The Topaz Times is a Japanese evacuation and relocation newspaper out of Utah. The article outlines how the public works division are treating the land in Utah to control the dust, since irrigation alone does not work.
This map was designed to assist Dust Bowl families in relocating to migrant camps in California. It was created in 1935 by the Rural Rehabilitation Division to show areas where different crops were grown, the proposed location of initial camps for migrant...
This photograph, taken by famed-American photographer Dorothea Lange, shows a family that was from Paris, Arkansas, relocating during the Dust Bowl era. The title indicates they anticipate ending up in California one day, as many families did.
This 1940 song, written by Dust Bowl migrant Jack Bryant, brings to life the challenges he faced in Arizona while en route to California.
This photograph by Dorothea Lange is part of a well-known collection taken of Florence Thompson with several of her children during the Dust Bowl. The photo collection, known as the "Migrant Mother" series, shows Thompson with her children in a ...
This 1938 song, written by Hunter Lester, reflects the struggles of the Dust Bowl migrant experience in the government sponsored migrant camp located in Shafter, California. (Note: The W.P.A. mentioned refers to the Works Progress Administration, a federa...
This video, produced by Iowa Public Television, documents the impact of the Dust Bowl on Iowa farms.
This Library of Congress online gallery, known as the "Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection," contains selections that documented the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941.
This primary source set about the Dust Bowl from the Library of Congress includes a number of photos of Americans during the Dust Bowl.
This website contains education materials about the Dust Bowl for teachers to use in the classroom.
This webpage from Wessels Living History Farm in Nebraska focuses on the effects of the Dust Bowl in the Midwest in the 1930s.
Using seldom seen movie footage, previously unpublished photographs and the compelling interviews of 26 survivors of those hard times, "The Dust Bowl" is a story of heroic perseverance against enormous odds.
| No. | Standard Description |
| SS-Geo.9-12.13. | Employ maps to display and explain the spatial patterns of human and environmental characteristics. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.18. | Evaluate the impact of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.19. | Analyze the reciprocal relationship between historical events and the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, cultural practices and the distribution of human population. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.21. | Analyze how changes in the environmental and cultural characteristics of a place or region influence spatial patterns of trade and land use. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.23. | Analyze the consequences of human-made and natural catastrophes on global trade, politics, and human migration. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.24. | Identify and evaluate Iowans or groups of Iowans who have influenced Iowa's environmental or cultural geography. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.16. | Analyze relationships and interactions within and between human and physical systems to explain reciprocal influences. |
| SS-US.9-12.24. | Critique primary and secondary sources of information with attention to the source of the document, its context, accuracy, and usefulness such as the Reconstruction amendments, Emancipation Proclamation, Treaty of Fort Laramie, Chinese Exclusion Act, Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,
Wilson's Fourteen Points, New Deal Program Acts, Roosevelt's Declaration of War, Executive Order 9066, Truman Doctrine, Eisenhower's Farewell Speech, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Test Ban Treaty of 1963, Brown vs. Board of Education decision, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and the Voting Act of 1965. |
| SS-US.9-12.26. | Determine multiple and complex causes and effects of historical events in American history including, but not limited to, the Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. |
