Learning Goals §The students will understand the concept of the Dust Bowl and how it affected Oklahoma.

Like today, many people in Oklahoma many years ago depended on agriculture to make a living. It was hard work…

A series of droughts hit, and turned the Great Plains into a desert.

A drought is a long period of time with little, if any, rainfall.

People began calling Oklahoma, and states nearby, as the “DUST BOWL.”

One especially bad time during the drought brought clouds of dust. The day was called “Black Sunday” because the dust was so thick, the sunlight couldn’t get through.

Suddenly, in the middle of the day, a huge black cloud appeared on the horizon. It moved fast across the farms of western Oklahoma.

The storm on Black Sunday caused damage to the few crops still trying to grow… Millions of acres of wheat were lost.

"In the dust-covered land, wearing our hats, with handkerchiefs tied over our faces, we have been trying to rescue our home from the wind-blown dust.” A letter from an Oklahoma woman.

The Dust Bowl hit the farms of western Kansas, eastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the Texas Panhandle. Let’ look at a map…

Although dry spells occur about every 25 years, both drought and farming activities caused the DUST BOWL.

At that time, Oklahoma farmers would plow all of their land for crops, leaving few trees to help stop the winds.

When the drought and dust storms kept coming year after year, many people abandoned their land to find work somewhere else.

One out of every four Oklahoma farmers and their families left. They packed everything they owned into their cars and trucks, heading west to California.

They traveled along Highway 66 (Route 66) all the way across the Southwest.

In California, they hoped to find work, picking fruit, vegetables, or cotton …

But when they arrived, there were so many people looking for jobs, that many were not better off than back home.

Back in Oklahoma, the government began to help farmers.

They planted trees to protect the soil during droughts.

These new farming methods were called “soil conservation.”

Tress serve as “wind breaks” to keep the soil in place…

They planted different crops together. Some crops helped to keep the soil in place with their stronger roots..

Instead of plowing in straight lines, farmers were told to plow in contour (curved) lines. When winds would blow in straight directions across the plains, this would help keep more of the soil from blowing away.

Droughts still occur on the Great Plains. These weather conditions are something that Oklahoma farmers must face.

Droughts are unhappy reminders to farm families who lived through the Dust Bowl days many years ago…

Oklahomans will always remember those DUST BOWL days.

Chapter 19 Section 3 Quiz 1.) What is a drought 2.) Describe Black Sunday 3.) How high and how far did the Dust clouds reach? 4.) What type of soil conservation techniques were created? 5.) What route did most “Okies” travel when leaving to find work? 6.) What percentage of farmers left Oklahoma to find work? 7.) What is a wind break? 8.) What did many of the farmers who left find out when they got ot california? 9.) What type of work were most “migrants” looking for? 10.) Is it likely that there will ever be another dust bowl? Why?