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
