Dust Bowl refers to a series of destructive
wind and dust storms that struck the United States during the
1930's. These storms ranked among the worst environmental
disasters in world history. Most of the damage occurred from
1935 to 1938 in the southern Great Plains, and so this area
also became known as the Dust Bowl. Altogether, the storms
damaged about 50 million acres (20 million hectares) of land,
mainly in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
An additional 50 million acres were endangered before
conservation measures began to take effect.
Most of the storms came in the spring. At that time, the snow had melted, the winds were unusually strong, and the new crops were not big enough to hold the soil. Many people and animals caught in the open during the storms had their lungs badly damaged or became lost. Dirt had to be shoveled out of houses and away from barn doors. Cars and farm machines were ruined. The region's agricultural economy was wrecked as farmers could find little to harvest. One of the most dramatic results was the mass departure of thousands of bankrupt and discouraged farm families, many of whom went to California to seek a better life. The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck describes the unhappy plight many of these migrants faced.
