The Dust Bowl was a period in the 1930s where severe dust storms damaged the environment of the US prairies. The dust storms were caused by extreme winds that picked up the loose soil left exposed after years of over-farming during a drought. Farmers had plowed up millions of acres of grassland for wheat farming due to high prices and new technologies. The deadly dust storms choked cattle and people, causing 60% of residents to flee the region and many to develop dust pneumonia from constant dust exposure. The dust made farming impossible, putting many out of business during the Great Depression.

1. The Dust Bowl
Chelsey Johnson

2. What was the Dust Bowl?
● The Dust Bowl was period of severe dust storms that
damaged the environment of US prairies during the
1930s.
● This period of time was also known as the “dirty
thirties”.

3. The Dust Bowl Causes
● The dust storms were
created by extreme
winds which created
huge dust clouds from
the loose soil.

4. The Dust Bowl Causes
● The Dust Bowl was a result of
many environmental factors
including little rainfall. When
the drought began in 1934 the
soil became weak which made
it easy for it to be picked up by
winds and swept into dust
clouds.

5. The Dust Bowl Causes
● The farmers aggressively
exploited the land and
basically set up the region
for ecological disaster.
● High grain prices and
agricultural advances
enticed farmers to plow
up millions of acres of
grass to plant wheat.

6. The Dust Bowl Effects
● The deadly dust storms
choked cattle, eventually
killing them, causing 60%
of people to flee from
that region.
● Mass migration

7. The Dust Bowl Effects
● Most people living in the
areas affected by the dust
bowl, were eating and
breathing dust all day
long.
● This overexposure to dust
lead to dust pneumonia.

8. The Dust Bowl Effects
● The dust bowl made it
almost impossible for
farmers to grow crops,
keeping them out of
business, with no way to
make money.