For anyone who has ever read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the history of the Dust Bowl is no mystery. Steinbeck recited the course of the Dust Bowl in his novel, detailing the horrors of what many dealt with in the Midwest as dust storms ravaged the plains, threatening people's health as well as their livelihoods. Many who lived in the direct path of these dust storms were forced to relocate and were dubbed 'Okies,' as many some were from Oklahoma, while many others did not leave for the sake of someday saving their family farms.
The Dust Bowl was a dark period in time in American history and affected the entirety of the Great Plains, including Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Occasionally, these dust storms would be so severe that they'd blow across to the East Coast, affecting more than one region of the United States. During the 1930s, many solutions were proposed to fix the problem, which had started to take its toll on both the physical and mental health of those living in the middle of it, as well as the agriculture that had previously come from the Great Plains. These dust storms were so bad that they were given the name 'Black Blizzards' and, occasionally, grew so large that they had the ability to block out the sun and create massive piles of dirt once the wind died down.
The Cause Was Both Manmade And Natural
The Dust Bowl was the result of perfect - and tragic - conditions. It was the greatest drought the country has ever known and resulted in things both caused by man as well as by Mother Nature. Following the First World War, farmers were enchanted by the previous years' good records and the abundant success of their wheat crops. It was said that rain would soon follow the plow, therefore, farmers in the Great Plains proceeded in plowing all of their lands down to the very soil the plants grew from, which resulted in over-plowing, and would have been remedied by the rain everyone spoke of.
Unfortunately, that rain never came. Instead, the drought hit during the early 1930s and with it, the Great Depression, and down went the success and monetary value of all the wheat that had been harvested. The combination of all of these things, combined with the prairie grass that had been mowed down, resulted in dust storms like no one had ever witnessed before.
Jackrabbits And Grasshoppers Grew In Scary Numbers
As one can imagine, this disturbance in the natural environment that was the majority of the Great Plains up until the drought and the Great Depression led to a number of things. For starters, the weather changed drastically, leading to an unstable atmosphere and one that spawned dangerous storms.
Secondly, the ecosystem was uprooted - quite literally - and certain species adapted to survive, mainly jackrabbit and grasshoppers. The Dust Bowl saw the rise of both of these species in severe numbers, enough to ravage what remained of the farms and the crops despite the massive dust storms that blew through.
The Resulting Dust Storms Were Fueled By Static Electricity
The kicking up of all the dust combined with strong winds was enough to produce a potent level of static electricity in the air. While static electricity is normally harmless, the sheer amount of it in the atmosphere led to shocks that had the capability to knock a person off their feet.
Additionally, this static electricity was scary in a way that most people had never experienced before; blue crackles would randomly go off around any metal that happened to be in the area. To counteract this, people would attach metal chains to their cars so that when they drove around in a dust storm, the static would discharge into the chains and, eventually, the ground.
Out Of All The Solutions Posed, Many Were Borderline Absurd
The solutions posed to end the Dust Bowl ramifications were quite ridiculous; some people turned to superstition by hanging rows of dead snakes outside of their fences, while others took to science and suggested setting off rockets into the atmosphere. The rockets, specifically, would have had a combination of nitroglycerine and dynamite which was intended to force a rain shower.
Some companies planned to devise products for the farms themselves, such as waterproof paper that was intended to shield a farm and its house from the dust. There was even talk, at one point, of having an asphalt company come in and simply pave across the entirety of the Great Plains. That is until it was proposed that plants and shrubs be planted instead - a simple idea, but one that worked.