Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The Worst Man-Made Ecological Disaster in America

By Vickie McDonough

The wide-open plains of Oklahoma were once covered in short grasses with tangled roots as deep as five feet. The dense sod nourished buffalo, antelope, deer, and jackrabbits and was home to the various tribes of the Plains Indians.

In 1862, Congress enacted the Homestead Act, which allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of land, and it opened much of the Midwest to settlement. When the land was first plowed up, farmers claimed the soil was so rich it looked like chocolate. A team of horses could turn 3 acres of sod in a day, but horses were eventually traded in the 1920s for tractors, which could turn 50 acres per day. The spring of 1931 boasted record-breaking wheat crops, and the land was called Hog Heaven by the locals, and they believed it would always be abundantly fertile.


Posters that showed huge vegetables encouraged eastern farmers that the plains of the Midwest was the Garden of Eden, and many came to farm. They used familiar methods of tilling, breaking up millions of acres of land. By the summer of 1931, the rain stopped, leaving soil vulnerable to the incessant winds. Dust devils or whirlwinds had always danced across the prairie so no one noticed when they grew wider and denser. The huge dust storms rose high in the sky and coated everything, leaving behind giant mounds and houses filled with dirt. The dust storms increased over the years, turning into black blizzards that churned miles in the sky, covering everything in black stinging, blinding dirt.


In 1932 there were fourteen dust storms in Oklahoma. By 1933, that number rose to thirty-eight. In 1934 they occurred with alarming frequency. 100,000,000 acres of land turned into wasteland with the panhandles of TX & OK, southwestern KS, southeastern CO & northeastern NM being the hardest hit. Residents thought they could tell where dirt came from by its color: black dirt was supposedly from Kansas, red from Oklahoma, and gray from Colorado and New Mexico.

As dust got into the eyes, nose, and throat, a mysterious illness began to affect those living in the dust-laden areas. People spat out saliva that resembled tobacco juice. Children were especially vulnerable to dust pneumonia, and many of them died. Their parents tried a number of home remedies to help, such as skunk oil, sugar with a drop of turpentine in it, and they even tried rubbing throats with a stinky mixture of kerosene and lard. People began wearing masks, especially the children, and the plains soon resembled a WWI battlefield with everyone wearing masks to protect from dust instead of mustard gas.

From PBS and the Green family collection
In the fall of 1934, because there was no food to feed cattle and the animals were suffering, the government seized and killed them. Farmers were paid $16 per cow and $3 per calf. It was a difficult thing but merciful.

And if dust and failure of crops weren’t enough, in 1935, hundreds of thousands of rabbits came down from hills searching for food. They ate anything the dust storms hadn’t already destroyed. As a means of survival, jackrabbit drives were formed and held on Sunday afternoons, and thousands of rabbits were trapped and killed. At least the framers had some meat on which to feast. On April 14th, 1935, a day now known as black Sunday, a gigantic black dust storm covered the area for four hours after the jackrabbit drive. Some people thought it was punishment for killing the rabbits, while others believed it was the end of the world.

Jackrabbits hanging on fence
But life continued. Then in the spring of 1935, the wind blew for 27 days and nights without stopping. There was no relief from the howling beast, and many people thought they’d go crazy. With no fresh vegetables or fruit to consume, people ate cornbread & beans for the noon meal and cornbread and milk for supper. Wet sheets were hung over doorways, while window frames were stuffed with rags made sticky with gum, but the vile dust still found its way into the food. Grit was constantly in everyone’s mouths. The topsoil blew away, and tall mounds formed around fence posts. Dust was as high as windowsills, so someone had to climb out the window in order to shovel the dirt away from the doorway. Wheat scoops were used to shovel buckets of dust from houses in a never-ending battle with nature.

By the end of 1935, there had been no substantial rainfall for four years, and many farmers were giving up. People packed what little they had and drove away, not even bothering to close the doors of their houses. In the mass exodus, nearly 1/4 of the population of the affected states left. Banks and businesses failed. Churches and school closed, but most people stayed. They believed next year would be better. But it wasn’t. Living on the plains became a determination of sheer will.



The summer of 1936 was one of the hottest ever recorded. The sun beat down on the bare ground. Wind, like a blast from a hot furnace, blistered faces, while static electricity killed new growth on wheat crops. The government began relief programs, but many men were too proud to accept it. They were not gleaners and didn’t want the government supporting their families. The government even paid farmers to plow using conservation methods, although many refused. Still, by 1938, conservation efforts reduced the dust storms by 60% but the rain still refused to fall. Many folks hung on, saying, “It’s gonna get better.” One bizarre thing happened—residents on the outskirts of Amarillo, TX, discovered a crow’s nest made completely of barbed wired, probably the only thing salvageable. Even the critters were tenaciously holding on by whatever means possible.



Eventually, the rains returned, and the crops grew once again. Some argue that the dust storms in the 1930’s pointed to climate changes. Others believe the storms were a result of over-farming the land and the wind picking up the topsoil, blowing it clear to Washington D.C. Before the Dust Bowl, Washington considered the soil a limitless, indestructible resource, but after experiencing the dust for themselves, Washington bureaucrats soon put all their resources behind conservation efforts. We may never know for certain the real cause, but the end result was the same—the worst ecological disaster in American history.


Below is a link to a video of Woody Guthrie singing about the Dust Bowl days. Guthrie is a native of Oklahoma, but he was living in the Texas panhandle on Black Sunday. He wrote the moving tune after surviving that horrible day. The song is called Dusty Ole Dust. Note: there’s a short advertisement before the video. Click here.



Song of the Prairie

Janie Dunn’s dream of being an opera singer suddenly fades when, at her dying cousin’s request, she flees Boston with her cousin’s newborn son to protect him from his abusive father. She moves to Kansas to live with her brother, but life takes another dire change when he is suddenly killed. Is a marriage of convenience the answer to her problems? Is Kansas far enough away from Boston that they are safe from the baby’s vengeful father?




Bestselling author, Vickie McDonough, grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who’s scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams in her fictional stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen and others living in the West during the 1800s. Vickie is the award-winning author of over 30 published books and novellas. Her books include the fun and feisty Texas Boardinghouse Brides series, and End of the Trail, from the Texas Trails series, which was the OWFI 2013 Best Fiction Novel winner. Whispers on the Prairie, Pioneer Promises book 1 was a Romantic Times Recommended Inspirational Book for July, 2013. Forging a Family, a novella in The Pioneer Christmas Collection, is a finalist in the IRCA (Inspirational Readers Choice Awards)

26 comments:

  1. Vickie, Thank you for sharing this most interesting post. I cannot imagine going through such extreme times like those dust bowl days. We sure never no what Mother Nature might throw at us.

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    1. Melanie, My dad used to tell me how his mother would hang up wet sheets over the windows and doors to help keep out the dust, but he said it didn't work. He said eating food with gritty sand in it all they time was awful.

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  2. Vickie, Fascinating post. What a terrible existence these people endured. I had heard of the dust storms but didn't know how bad things really were. I imagine living in that area during those times would certainly make you think the end of the world had arrived.

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    1. I find it amazing that 3/4ths of the people stay and endured. I can't imagine how horrible and discouraging those days were.

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  3. Vickie, recently I read an old Time magazine in the dentist office which listed the top man-made environmental disasters and the dust bowl wasn't even listed. Is Grapes of Wrath still required reading in high school? If not it should be. We're still doing things to the environment that may have unintended consequences. Thank you for an interesting post.

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    1. Maybe the key was that the dust bowl is supposed to be the worst man made disaster in American history. Were those other events in the U.S.? And even if they were, it just illustrates how soon people forget. Sad, but true.

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  4. I've researched the Dust Bowl for my WIP regarding life during the depression, but I didn't know all the details you gave us in your interesting article. Great job.

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    1. Thanks, Connie. I did a lot of research on this post. It was interesting to me because my dad and his parents lived through the dust bowl.

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  5. Excellent post, Vickie. I remember my dad saying he couldn't read Grapes of Wrath because the story was too real. This was a hard time for all in the Midwest. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks, Nancy. I never read the book, but I've seen the movie several times.

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  6. That is so interesting! I've heard about it but being on the east coast never really knew that much. Wow I can't even imagine. And those were some tenacious people! Great post.

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    1. Thanks, Debbie Lynne. I didn't realize the dust blew all the way to Washington. I wonder if that wasn't the breath of God. Because it was after that Washington started helping those in the Midwest.

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  7. A fascinating post, Vickie. I actually contracted dust pneumonia from a dust storm I was in out in New Mexico one summer. Man, it was awful, and it took weeks to overcome and get well. I still have problems with my lungs today because of it.. Those storms are terrible. Weather can really be wicked.

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  8. Wow, that's interesting, Martha. I'm so glad you survived. Imagine how hard it must have been to get well when the dust never went away.

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  9. I hope I never have to go through another one. The dirt and grit get into every nook and cranny and even the food in the pantry. Our niece had special windows installed that are supposedly air tight, but the normal blowing of sand and dirt still gets in.

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  10. Holy cow...that's wicked crazy! Ive lived in Norman, OK most of my life and I honestly thought "the dust bowl" was where I lived - not this insane man-made dust disaster in NM, TX, CO, KS, &OK! (Obviously I've never read Grapes of Wrath or seen the movie. I graduated in '95 and it wasn't in our curriculum or suggested reading!) My grandparents grew up in Noble, OK but they never talked about it when I'd interview them for school or just talked to about when they grew up here. (Both born in the 1910's)
    Thanks for such a fascinating post Vickie!

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  11. This was fascinating, especially since I just watched the film "Back to Eden," in which a wildly successful Christian gardener shares his methods of farming--WITHOUT tilling the soil. He demonstrates the importance of keeping a covering over the "living soil" and how it is God's design for growing. His philosophy is exactly opposite to the whole idea of tilling and stripping the topsoil of the earth, such as which occurred prior to the Dust Bowl. You can view the free online film here: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11883.
    Again, this was a great post--thanks so much.

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  12. This was fascinating, Vickie, and more so since I just saw the film, "Back to Eden." In it, a Christian gardener shares his wildly successful farming method--which is to keep the soil covered. He talks about God's design in nature and how it is NEVER to till or strip the soil. I think one can say with a fair amount of assurance that the Dust Bowl was a "man-made" ecological disaster, as you assert; You can watch this amazing film for free online here: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11883.
    Thanks again for a wonderful post!

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  13. Thank you for sharing this fascinating post, Vickie! I cannot imagine the life those people endured day after day!

    texaggs2000 at gmail dot com

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    1. My dad lived through the dust bowl and told me some stories. He said everything they ate was gritty with dust. Makes me shudder to think of that.

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  14. Hi Vickie. This is a very interesting article. You see I was born on April 7, 1935 in Eric, Oklahoma. My mother told me she thought I was going to die from the dust thos all of the windows were covered with quilts. She jammed Vicks Vaporub in my throat to help me breath. She swore that is what saved my life.We moved when I was just around 1 year old to Texas where my grandparents had already moved. It was a very small town where I lived until we moved back to the Texas Panhandle in a small town, Texhoma, half in Texas and half in Oklahoma, when I was almost 13. Except for 2 or 3 years during WW ll when we moved to Houston, TX to work in the shipyard. Later back to the small town of Kosse, Tx. where we had lived. My parents lived there until they died with the last few moving in with a sister after a heart attack. I never heard them talk about all of this other stuff, so was interesting. We did have bad dust times while I was living in Texhoma tho. I had asthma and could smell the dust coming, so would tell mom to shut the windows. I tried to hear the song but the link doesn't work. Would love to have your book.
    Maxie > mac262(at)me(dot)com <

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    1. Maxie, I'm glad you made it through those difficult days. My dad told me tales of how they kept damp sheets on the windows, but it didn't keep the dust out. They were hard days, but show what tough stuff Okies are made of. I was born and raised in OK and still live there. :)

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    2. Maxie, I fixed the link so you can hear the song if you still want to.

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  15. Wonderful post, Vickie, on a horrific disaster. Such as impact this long-lasting event had on our nation and our ancestors.

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    1. Thanks, Davalyn! You're right about the long-term impact the dust bowl had.

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  16. Thank you for this post, Vickie. I hadn't seen these images before and now I don't think I'll ever forget them. Up here in Canada, we call it the Depression years or the Dirty Thirties. It really hit our prairie provinces hard - Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba - what was once known as "Bread Basket to the World". My husband's family lived through it here in Sask, and many other families are portrayed in local community history books.

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