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9. HOW DID TEXAS FARMING CONSERVE SOIL DURING THIS PERIOD? 12. SKIP…CROSS OUT SKIP QR CODES???

Explain which event had the greatest effect on Great Depression?

The Stock Market Crash October 29, 1929 is known as Black Tuesday. On this day the stock market crashed, prices began to drop and the Great Depression began. Banks were forced to close and people lost all their savings. Many businesses started cutting back wages, laying off their employees, and closing their doors. On the eve of the Great Depression, most Texans lived on farms, ranches or in small towns. Though the previous decade saw successes in oil, the economy was still dominated by agriculture – cotton in the north, and livestock in the west. When the stock market crashed in 1929, many Texans believed the state’s rural nature would protect the region from the worst of the depression. As the nation’s economy collapsed, it became clear that Texas would suffer, too. Across the state, agriculture and oil and suffered from the growing economic depression.

Description: Squatters (homeless people) in San Antonio, Texas. This house was built of scrap material in vacant (empty) lot in San Antonio, Texas. March Photographer: Russell Lee. Squatters During The Great Depression

Migrant Mother Description: Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother," shows a jobless mother and her children. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were homeless. By the end of the decade there were still 4 million migrants on the road. Lange, Dorothea, photographer Date Created/Published: 1936 Feb. or Mar.

Oil and Gas Prices Drop A piece of good luck turned into near economic disaster for the state of Texas in C.M. “Dad” Joiner struck oil near Kilgore, Texas. Thousands of wells were drilled resulting in millions of barrels of oil flooding the market. Soon all the new oil drove market prices down from $1.10 a barrel in 1930 to 10 cents in Around the state many wells had to be shut down because they could not produce oil profitably at these low prices.

Kilgore, Texas Oil Wells Description: Oil wells like this one in Kilgore, Texas tended to overproduce oil causing a steep drop in oil prices during the depression years. Vachon, John: photographer

Agriculture: Farm Prices Drop During the 1920s, Texas grew 35 to 42 percent of the cotton in the United States and 20 to 30 percent of the world cotton crop. This was due to improvements in irrigation and mechanization (using machines to grow crops). Between 1918 and 1926, the Texas plains increased cotton production from 50,588 bales to more than 1.1 million bales. By the 1930s, overproduction of cotton had dropped prices from 18 cents a pound to six cents a pound and the growth of the cattle industry caused the land to be even more over used.

Abandoned Farm House in Carey, Texas. Description: Abandoned house in Carey, Texas. Mechanized cotton farming (crops grown using machinery) and displacement of tenant families fast made Carey, Texas a ghost town. May Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

Farming Machinery Description: 1938, In Childress County, Texas during The Depression plows, tractors and other machinery continued to replace traditional farming that had relied on man and animal power. Photo By Library of Congress

Climate: The Dust Bowl In the second half of the 1930s, as the Depression wore on, a major drought devastated the southern plains. The Texas Panhandle suffered greatly, winds eroded the parched land and made life on farms and in towns all but impossible—This event was called The Dust Bowl. The Texas economy was hurt by the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl. At times, the dust storms were so severe they blocked the sun for hours. Before this period of time was over, hundreds of people in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas had died from the heat. During 1936, the number of dirt storms increased and the temperature broke the 1934 record high by soaring above 120 degrees.

Dustbowls in Texas April 1938: A dust bowl farmstead in Dallam County, Texas, showing the desolation produced by the dust and wind on the countryside. Photo By Three Lions/Getty Images

Description: The drought that helped cripple agriculture in the Great Depression was the worst in the history of the country. By 1934 it had decimated the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies. Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Photographer: Arthur Rothstein. Farmer and Sons During a Dust Storm

Migratory Workers Look for Work Photo By Universal History Archive/Getty Images Description: 1936, Drought and dustbowl refugees from Abilene, Texas, following the crops of California as migratory (traveling) workers.

Agriculture: Improvements During the depression the federal government decided to reclaim America’s farmland by introducing new farming methods and techniques that would help the environment. The end of the Great Depression introduced a whole new era of soil conservation programs. The government also began to plant trees throughout the area reducing wind erosion. By 1940, the farmland in Texas was producing once again.

New Farming Techniques

Government: New Deal Programs President Roosevelt and Texas political leaders in Washington passed a variety of laws called the New Deal to help the fight the Depression. These programs employed over 100,000 Texans. They built and repaired bridges, dams, and roads; planted trees to prevent soil erosion; and built roadside parks and government buildings— all to give the unemployed work and to stimulate the economy.

Young Men of the CCC The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) kept unemployed young men busy with work projects, classes and recreation. During the Great Depression, many boys left their homes to lessen the burden on their families.

"Work Pays America! Prosperity" by Vera Bock Description: Programs like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided a variety of paid opportunities for laborers and professionals alike. Architects designed post offices and schools, artists painted murals in public buildings, and labors built bridges and roads. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, WPA Poster Collection, POS-WPA-NY.B635, no. 12

WWII and Economic Recovery On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the United States–the United States was now at war. This war was called World War II ( ). Food, clothing, weapons, and other supplies were needed for the war effort. Businesses across America began to make money by producing supplies for the war. People in Texas began moving from the rural areas to the cities specifically to work in factories that were making war supplies. In addition, Texas was also involved in the war effort by building over 15 military bases and 40 airfields to help train soldiers.

Airplane Factory Fort Worth, Texas Description: B-24s being built during World War II in a Fort Worth, Texas factory. Source: texas.jpeg