What Caused The Dust Bowl In The 1930's

Children and animals died from dust pneumonia due to the dust bowl. In the southern plains, (Nebraska, Denver, Kansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma). Farmers were hit by giant storms of dust. They had to cover every open space with a wet cloth so dust didn’t get in, not move in bed, and eat jack rabbit stew because that's was what was cheap enough to eat.(background document, Dust bowl mini-q)Many of the farmers stayed, but some left. The farmers made profit during the war, but what it high must come down. What caused the conditions that lead to the terrible dust storms in the southern plains during the 1930’s? The dust bowl was caused by 3 main factors mechanization, grass lost on the prairies and a long lasting drought.
The modernization of mechanization made to harvesting products to quickly easier leading to the dust bowl. The average of harvest in 1879 was ten million acres by 1929 wheat
Short grass on in the plains on the prairie would have prevented all of the dust being blown around. Instead framers pulled it all out for farm land. A Texas Sheepherder Stuart Chase stated “Grass is what counts. It’s what saves us all -- far as we get saved… Grass is what holds the earth together.”(Document B, Dust Bowl Mini-Q). Chase tells us that we needed to keep the grass to hold the soil in place. When they ripped it out of the ground the nutrients and water go with it. The wheat wasn’t likely to grow and thrive for the farmers without water and nutrients in the ground. When the wheat doesn’t grow the farmers don’t make money and go into poverty. Not only is the wheat not growing the animals aren’t getting fed and the farmers don’t have to eat. They were producing so much during the war time when the war was over they were overproducing. The then had to sell the wheat for cheaper which didn’t help them pay their debts from the machines and land they bought. The soil then dried up and created