The Dust Bowl

What was cheaper, that farmers used instead?

One way plow-cheaper-fast at plowing

What did Trixie Travis Brown's father decide to do in 1929 because things seemed to be going so well?

Opened Hardware store

April 28, 1908, Caroline Henderson is living where?

Panhandle of Oklahoma

Where is "No Man's Land"?

Panhandle of Oklahoma(high risk area-20" rain)

What were hordes of invading the pastures and gardens that were left?

Jack Rabbits

Though it originated in the western plains, what did easterners call it?

Kansas Dust

What did they use as cough syrup?

Kerosene and honey

What did the storms look like from afar?

Large wall - 40-60 mph winds, 7-8,000ft, Mountain range

When the bumper crop of 1931 was harvested, what happened?

Snowed No one to buy it-domes of wheat 25cents 95 cents/bushel 23 cents/bushel

What was the one resource that people thought couldn't be "exhausted", that couldn't be used up?

Soil 10-15 yrs ample rainfall

What does a lister plow do?

Split soil two ways, held soil

If the sun was red, what did Trixie's dad say?

Stormy Bad Day

What was "almost surreal", as if it "follows you, follow you...you cannot escape it"?

Unbelievable, it was all around, you could not out run it. Feeling of "evil" "unreal"

How did Caroline make extra money?

Wrote for Lady's World-articles-Atlantic Monthly

If you had been a wheat farmer in the 1920s was life good?

Yes, easy to make $, seed in ground & boom-had a crop

What did farmers do instead?

increase production

How was this a recipe for economic disaster?

increase production-dropped price, no market

What upset the natural order of things, that allowed the rabbit populations to explode?

killed the coyotes

Of all their losses, what was the most distressing (according to Caroline)?

loss of self respect-world low value of product of our toil

What did the weather bureau begin doing?

winter 31-22 Classifying based on seuerity <.25 mile

Did he get his future father-in-law's blessing?

yes

Where were many Americans forced to live?

Shanty towns-Hooverville

What enticed farmers to settle after that?

Newcomers-cheap land

How many children did Harry Forester and his wife raise?

"wrong side up" 9-children - 5-sons 1982-

How much was a poor-quality cow go for?

$1.00/hd

How much did a good quality cow go for?

$16/cow

How much land was converted from grass lands to wheat fields to help fund the war?

$2.00/bused/ 11 million acres 2x New Jersey

What was the estimated average cost of damage to a home from a single storm?

$25/home

Where was an ideal place to raise a family (according to the Coens)?

(10x12' dug out) nice climate warm days-cool nights

During a black blizzard in February, a farmer got out of his car to walk home. Did he make it?

No

What did an expert declare...? "Removing the prairie grasses would..."

Allowed rain to get into soil

In 1907 she staked out a homestead claim in a shack(she called her castle) that was how big?

1 room 14x16' shack

How long did the Dust Bowl last?

10 years-decade

How many feet did it rise into the air?

10,000ft 60 miles/hour spectacular

On May 9, 1934, what happened?

100 degrees => Black Sunday, 350 tons

What even sifted into the Whitehouse?

12 million pounds of dust in Chicago

How many "dust free days" did Doge City, KS report?

13

How many dust storms did "No Man's Land" have in 1932?

14 severe less 1/4 mile

How many families would show up?

15 or so

What made wheat farming more efficient & profitable?

1920s make ag. industrial modern machinery $1.00/bushel

What years was the best year for wheat farmers?

1929 1st 2yrs didn't affect them

What did farmers do in the fall?

1932 disaster not much crop $ decreased, planted wheat for next year

How many days did they have sandstorms in a row?

2-3 days-21 days in a row

One storm in April lasted how many hours?

24 hours

What happened to the Hodge's farm house?

34-Forclosed

How many storms occurred in 1933?

38 storms

How many years did it take to create this disaster?

40-50 years

How many states were affected by the drought in 1934?

46 of 48 stated

During the last five years of the 1920 alone, how many more acres of native sod was turned over on the southern plains?

5,260,000 acres New Hampshire

How many acres did Caroline and husband have now?

640 acres "square mile"

By 1935 how many children did the Coen's have?

8 children

What was a "suitcase farmer"?

A dandy from the city-claim their acre-hire out plant & harvest

Where were there no trees?

Boise City

By the summer of 1934, what was officially identified as the geographic heart of the dust crisis?

Boise city-tip of Oklahoma

What was the beef bonanza?

Cattle

What does everyone assume will happen "the next year" but it never does?

Change for the better-next year will be better

What sprang up over night?

Cities

What happened to Trixie's family Hardware Store in Texas?

Closed-bankrupt

What did they wear to try to combat the dust?

Clothe over their mouth, eye mask

Why did farmers gather in the theater in Boise?

Details on gov program

Who takes his own life in Kansas because of financial troubles?

Doctor

What had people forgotten about (from the 1890s)?

Drought

What feel in the Texas panhandle?

Drought had ended! -nope

What happened in the 1890s?

Drought-people moved out

January 21, 1932, what appeared outside, Amarillo Texas?

Dust Cloud

What did people who lived on the southern plain know?

Dust storms, drought, wind lasted way longer in 1930's

What did President Roosevelt and his Secretary of Agriculture (Wallace) have in mind?

Encouraged & crops, better plowing

Where could people find dust?

Everywhere!

What did one of the signs say for the President?

Gave us beer-now give us water

What did Mr. Hodges do to support his family?

Gov job building roads $3-5/day

What did the nation descend into?

Great Depression

What had now reached the southern plains?

Great Depression, 1/4 dept on new deal

Where did the future still look bright, despite the depression?

Great Plains

What was cancelled because cots covered the gym floor?

HS play

Why does Imogene Glover feel "every farmer is a gambler"?

Have to gamble what they put into the ground will grow & produce a crop

Why didn't you go to the Doctor?

He was 60 miles away

What is so significant about Buffalo grass?

Holds the moisture-12" inches would find moisture works well in drought & wind

Who came next?

Homesteaders

What are the "three little words" that farms lived by?

If it rains

Back in "No Man's Land" what did the Red Cross declare?

Medical Crisis

What are the "Great Plains" states?

Montana, S & N Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, part Colorado & New Mexico & Wyoming

What happened a few months later?

More storms

Why did a train have to stop?

People were choking

In Southeastern Colorado, Calvin Crabill work nights doing what to help his family get a head?

Plowed fields on other people's land

What did entire communities organize to get rid of the rabbits?

Rabbit Drives

What happened after the President's visit?

Rain eased drought in North

Who bought up the land?

Real estate broker-railroads

What happened to Millard Fowler when he went to ask for his girlfriend's father's blessing to get married?

Rifle pointed at his head-took the rifle and unloaded it. Few months later he committed suicide

What did farmers feed their cows?

Russian Thistles

What did the winds pick up and move across the landscape?

Sand & soil

What did he know was "all wrong" that he paid a price for later?

That it should of been buffalo grass, not plowed

What is the "worst man made ecological disaster in history"?

The dust bowl-we tilted the ground & made it unable to hold soil. -government encourage-swept away bread basket

What was it like between storms?

beautiful-crystal blue sky-fluff clouds

What happened on October 29, 1929?

black Tuesday, stock market crashed-Great Depression

How could the experts tell where the dirt came from?

color-

That spring what swept across the plains?

illnesses-dust pneumonia

What did the Federal government beg farmers to do?

decrease production

What happened to the prices of farm commodities because of the depression in the East?

decreased prices $70

What died because of the dust?

died

What was in the air?

dirt

How did the cattle die?

dirt in lungs-suffocation

What did people carry in their car to ground the electricity?

drug a chain

What disease was taking the lives of farmer's children?

dust pneumonia

What were they always battling against?

hope

In the early spring of 1934 of what happened in "No Man's Land"?

snuster-snow

What did some women do because they couldn't take it anymore?

suicide

What happened to a 9-year-old who'd wandered off during a storm?

tangled in barbed wire, but alive

Why did the cows have to be destroyed?

to help the $ of cattle, liquidate poor cattle, 8.3 million, 12,499-1934

Why did they drape tea towels made out of potato sacks over their faces during the storms?

to protect their lungs

What had the land been swept clean of?

top soil