PRESENTATION OUTLINE
When the drought happened from 1934-1937, the soil lacked the stronger root systems to hold down the soil.
Because the soil was not held down, the wind easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds.
The primary area impact was on the southern plains.
Poor agricultural and years of drought caused the dust bowls
By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of its topsoil to the winds.
Many families packed their belongings, piled them on their cars and moved westward, fleeing the dust.
In the spring of 1935, the wind blew 27 days and nights without stopping.
People and animals began to die of suffocation and "dust pneumonia"
The ecosystem disruption unleashed plagues of jackrabbits and grasshopper
The federal government paid farmers to plow under fields and butcher live stocks
President Roosevelt ordered that the civilian conservation corps plant a huge belt of more then 2 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas, to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place.
The dust bowl was giving its name by a newspaper reporter
