1. PowerPoint Presentation by S. Winslow
Dust Bowl
PowerPoint Presentation by S. Winslow

3. The Dust Bowl
During the Great Depression of the 1930's, the mid-west experienced a climatic event that turned it into what became known as The Dust Bowl. This climatic event lasted for ten years and caused tremendous economic hardship. It also forced thousands of people to leave their homes.
During the 1930's, the record high heat, lack of precipitation and the constant winds all combined to create a situation that enabled the Dust Bowl to occur.

4. Drought
Originally covered with grasses that held the fine soil in place, the land of the southern plains was plowed by settlers who brought their farming techniques with them when they homesteaded the area. Wheat crops, in high demand during World War I, exhausted the topsoil. Overgrazing by cattle and sheep herds stripped the western plains of their cover. When the drought hit, the land just blew away in the wind.

6. Dust Bowl
Affected parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado
Dust piled up in drifts against houses/barns
Livelihood of hundreds of thousands of small farmers destroyed
Many migrated to California in search of work

7. Black Sunday Sunday, April 14, 1935
The sky became blackened and many thought the world was coming to an end.

8. Dust Storm approaching Lubbock, TX

10. Protection from the Storm
Seal all windows and doors
Hand wet blankets, sheets, towels
Sleep with a wet handkerchief or wash cloth over nose and mouth
Stay inside

11. Dirt Everywhere Dirt impossible to keep outside
Piles of dirt sweep from inside home
Farm Machinery / Vehicles stopped working
Dust pneumonia (people and animals)

12. Aftermath of a Dust Storm

13. Dust piled up around farmhouse. Oklahoma.

14. Farm for sale Jefferson County, KS

15. Results of a dust storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma.

16. Large drifts of soil near Liberal, KS

17. Abandoned farm Ottawa County, KS

18. Farm near Dalhart, Texas

19. Abandoned farm in the dust bowl area. Oklahoma

20. Movie of a Dust Storm

21. Oklahoma dust bowl refugees San Fernando, California

22. Home of a dust bowl refugee in Imperial County, California.

23. New Farming Techniques
Can It Happen Again?
New Farming Techniques
Seeding large areas in grass
Soil conservation
Three year rotation crops
Terracing
Planting wind breaks
Irrigation

24. Sources
American Memory Library of Congress Cimarron Chamber of Commerce /21/02 Cimarron County Communities
PBS The American Experience/Surviving the Dust Bowl People and Environmental Change on the Northern Great Plains. 1 July Environmental Protection Agency.

25. Sources
 Suffolk County Community College map
 Suffolk County Community College  Texas Council for the Humanities Resource Center