Dustbowl Flashcards
(23 cards)
Acreage affected
100 million acres
Cause of dustbowl
Drought
What year did dustbowl start?
1932
How did humans contribute to dust
Plowing deep-root grasses
Which act contributed to the Dustbowl?
Homestead Act
What did Homestead Act do
Allowed someone with no farming expertise to have 40 acres as well as spouse, children
When was Homestead Act passed?
1862
What happened post-WWI?
Push for more goods and agricultural produce
What direction should you plow?
Orthogonal to wind direction
Two hardest hit areas
Panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas
Photographer best known for dustbowl images
Dorothea Lange
What were dust clouds called?
Black rollers
What prognosticating service arose
Meteorology and weather forecasting
Worst day of the Dustbowl?
April 14, 1935
What did families do at this point?
Move west to California - Okies, mainly
What act affects livestock
Taylor Grazing Act
What did the Taylor Grazing Act do?
Set limits of grazing on public rangeland
When was the Grazing Act passed
1934
What was the concept of “carrying capacity”
Rangeland could only sustain a certain amount of grazing before damage occurs
How did farmers react to use of science to understand carrying capacity?
They embraced the knowledge and used it to prevent damage
When was the Soil Conservation Act passed?
1935
When was Soil Erosion Service created?
1933
Who wast the first director of the Soil Erosion Service?
Hugh Bennett
