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In some states during the 1930s overproduction was not the problem. Prolonged misuse of grasslands in parts of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma led to one of the greatest environmental disasters in American history. For years farmers had torn off the grassy mantle of the Great Plains by overgrazing and overfarming. By late 1933 — after a year and a half of drought — hundreds of square miles of parched topsoil were churned up by violent winds and swirled upward, creating huge dust storms. Fine dust filled the air and blackened the skies for miles. Scientists calculated that the worst of the dust storms carried 300 million tons of topsoil. By 1935, it was estimated, nine million acres of the Great Plains had been eroded. With crops destroyed and livestock dying, farmers of the Dust Bowl headed westward to California seeking prosperity. The Taylor...
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This section contains 273 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) |
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