Dust bowl

Great Depression and Dust Bowl

By lydiacallahan

  • First Drought Hits

    Severe drought hits the Midwestern and Southern Plains. As the crops die, the “black blizzards” begin. Dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed land begins to blow.

  • Roosevelt Becomes President

    He will take quick steps to declare a four-day bank holiday, during which time Congress will come up with the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, which stabilizes the banking industry and restores people’s faith in the banking system by putting the federal government behind it.

  • Great Dust Storm Spreads

    The drought is the worst ever in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states severely.

  • The DRS formed

    The federal government forms a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The DRS buys cattle in counties that are designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Those unfit for human consumption – more than 50 percent at the beginning of the program – are destroyed. The remaining cattle are given to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation to be used in food distribution to families nationwide.

  • Black Sunday

    Black Sunday
    The worst “black blizzard” of the Dust Bowl occurs, causing extensive damage.

  • L.A.P.D. Chief Davis looks for undesirables

    Los Angeles Police Chief James E. Davis sends 125 policemen to patrol the borders of Arizona and Oregon to keep “undesirables” out. As a result, the American Civil Liberties Union sues the city.

  • FDR’s Shelterbelt Project begins

    The project calls for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from erosion. Native trees, such as red cedar and green ash, are planted along fence rows separating properties, and farmers and workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps are paid to plant and cultivate them.

  • Drought Continues

    The extensive work re-plowing the land into furrows, planting trees in shelterbelts, and other conservation methods has resulted in a 65 percent reduction in the amount of soil blowing. However, the drought continues.