Figure 1.-- Here two girls in Baca County, Clorado, perhaps at a church or a family gathering pump water during a 'mild' storm in March 1935. By this time, many in the southern plains were beginning to give up.

Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and dtiven in massive storm clouds for hundreds of miles. The driest region of the Plains – southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas – became known as the Dust Bowl. Many dust storms started there. "The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face. People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real." [Carlson] The response of the people on the southern plains varied. Most tried to stick it out at first. Farmers kept on plowing despite the storms that began. Most hoped that the rains would return shortly. In the spring of 1934, the massive drought impacted 27 states severely and affected more than 75 percent of the country. The Dust Bowl was result of the worst drought ever recorded in U.S. history. Families survived as best they could on cornbread, beans, and milk if they could get it. Slowly as the drought continued. People slowly began to to lose hope. Than Black Sunday struck (April 1935). People could no longer hold out. Farmers fleeing the drought became a mass exodus. It would become the largest migration in American history from the plains. Farm families packed their belongings, piled them on their cars, and headed west. They fled from the dust and developing desert. They headed for Washington, Oregon and California hoping to find migrant labor jobs, working on other people`s lands. These were the Oakies because so many came from Oklahoma, perhaps the worst hit state. They were not well received because the Dust Bowl developed in the middle of the Depression and large numbers of people in those states were out of work themselves. some stayed put and tried to weather it out. The Grapes of Wrath is about the Oakies, the ones who left, often in their cars. Many struck out for California hearing the jobs were available there. Actually most in the affected areas stayed. Incredibkly, some farmers attempted to fight the dust and wind. This included both prarie farmers and people in the small towns scattered throughout the Plains. This was more possible in the towns than on the farms. People were attached to their farms and remained and for several years prayed for rain. Many only left when unable to pay their mortgages, they lost ther farms. It was not at first understood that the Dust Bowl was not entiely a natural event, but a man-made disaster. Many families found ways to survive and hold on to heir land.

The Dust Bowl

The DustBowl has been called the greates manmade dusaster in American history. Rich top soil built up on ther grasslands of the Great Plains, untouched by agriculture for millenia. Significant agriculture only began after the Civil War when the Rail roads began to cross the Coninent (1867). The scene is now the Glden Spike nar=tional Park. TheRail Roads enabled kand-hiunjgary farmers to get to the Grreat Plains and to shiop out their harvests. The Great Plains could be farmed if it rained. Cibndutions could be arid, esoecially the Southern Plains. Settlement of the Great POalknes began during a period if trkatuivrly abundant rain. This sugnifificantly increased American agriculture production. Marginal, land was cultivated. And that was needed as aresult iof Wiotkd War I. Europer was descesrated and prople began starving. American food relierf saved millions of Europeans. But then as Europe revcovered, that level of production was bo longer needed. A depression began in rural America a decade before the Great Depression of the 1930s. The OPlains farmers assumed that the rains would always come. They also did not practice ant bof soil cinservation methods thatare today well known. The treeless pakins offered little protection from wind. And there was no concern about ground cover. In the Middle if the Great Deoression the rains stopped. The Soutyhern Plains were oarticvularly hard hit. And without rain, the Oalains farmers literally warched their land, meaning the top soil, blow away. Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and dtiven in massive storm clouds for hundreds of miles. The driest region of the Plains – southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas – became known as the Dust Bowl. Many dust storms started there. "The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face. People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real." [Carlson]

Varied Response

The response of the people on the southern plains varied. And remember this all occurred duting the Deoression. Farmers in areas not affected by the Dust Bowl were losung their farms. At first people were detrmined to stick nit out and save thir homes snd farms. Even the rains did not come in 1932 and 33. And 1934 prived to be the diest year iun recoirded history. Farmers were near the breaking point. Then came Black Sunday (April 14, 1935).

Stick it out

Most people even in the Soithern Plains tried to stick it out at first. This was especially the case of the farmers whomnowned their land. It was nuch less the case of the sarecroppers who did not Farmers kept on plowing despite the storms that began. Most hoped that the rains would return shortly. This had occurred before. In the spring of 1934, the massive drought impacted 27 states severely and affected more than 75 percent of the country. The Dust Bowl was result of the worst drought ever recorded in U.S. history. Families survived as best they could on cornbread, beans, and milk if they could get it. Slowly as the drought continued. People slowly began to to lose hope.

Black Sunday (April 14, 1935)

The Agriculture Department counted these dust storms or 'black blizzards'.. There were 14 hit in 1932 and the 38 in 1933. Tragically these were only the beginning for the Plains farmers. Weather scientists describe 1934 as the single worst drought year of the last millennium in North America. Temperatures soared, raising to 100°F or above for weeks without rain. The Plains, especuallky the southern plains just dried out. This mean that by Spring 1935 the ground was baked and there was no planbt cover. The skies were clear on a fine Spring morning (April 14, 1935). The winds died down. People csme outdoors to enjoy the sunshine a clear air. It was Sunday, many went to church. The beautiful day brought optimism. One Oklahoma minister told his congref=gation that a few good rainstorms would solve their ptoblems. Tragically, the weather was not in their favor. Weather expers report that a well defuned cold front moving down from Canada hit warm air sitting over the Dakotas. In only a few hours, temperatures cascased down 30°. This whipping up powerfil winds. The result on the parched plains was a massive dust cloud--the largest ever. It expanded to hundreds of miles wide and thousands of feet high. And it did not stay in the Dakota, it began moving south anf growing in intensity. The vast cust cloud achieved its full dimensions in y in southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, West Texas including the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. Oy appeared on the horizon to the people of the Southrrn Plains. A bright sunny day was turned obniouly dark. People on the higway had to stop because they could not see much beyond the hood of their vehicles--if that far. They had to take refuge in their cars. People in homes had to hunker down in basements or tornado shelters. Some had no where to go but under their beds. Famerd Folksinger Woody Guthrie at the time only 22 years old, had to survive Black Sunday at hime in Pampa, Texas. He recalls the experience, "you couldn’t see your hand before your face.' Some in Pampa saw it as the end of the world. Ot was the insoration for, 'So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh'. He wrote two otyher songs about about Black Sunday, including 'Dust Storm Disaster' and 'Than Black Sunday struck'. People could no longer hold out.

The Oakies (1930s)

It should not be thought that the Dust Bowl storm was the only problem faced by the people of the Southern Plains. Many even before the rains stopped were facing serious priblems. Some were farming marginl land. Anf they were in volved in a boom and bust farm economy. There was a long-standing agricultural depression that began after World War I in the 1920s when European countries devestated by the War no longer needed Amerucan relief shipments. As many as 10 percent of the farmers in the Souther Plains lost their farms due to foreclosure (1931-33). This and other data vaties from state to state. And tenant farmers who did not own their had little incentive. This was a substantial group. Tennant farmers were nore than half of the farmers in Oklahoma. [Mullins] The steadily falling porices which began long before the Wall Street Crash (1929) were another major problem. Another factor at play was the ongoing mechanization of American agriculture. This required small farms to be coverted to larger ones. Presudent Roosevelt's New Deal addressed agriculture as a priority. Yhis effort was given to the Farm Securuity Adninistration which had many coinstituent parts, incluiding the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The New Deal efforts did not always have the desired effects. The AAA program of paying farmers not to raise crops comminly resulted inm landowners taking their land out of production rasther than continue to ehbgage tennabnt farmers. One Oklahoma source reports, "many tenants and small land-holding farmers, especially in southeastern Oklahoma, simply had a migratory habit. They had come to Oklahoma for opportunity and continued their pattern of seeking greater opportunities farther west." [Mullins] And of course when relatives and family friends left, the ties to the land were further diluted. Black Sunay turned a trickle of people from the Southern Plaons into a mass exodus. It would become the largest migration in American history from the Plains. They fled from the dust and a developing desert. They headed for Washington, Oregon and California hoping to find migrant labor jobs, working on other people`s lands. These were the Oakies because so many came from Oklahoma, perhaps the hasdest hit state--but more accurately they were the farmers of the Southern Plains. They were not well received because the Dust Bowl developed in the middle of the Depression and large numbers of people in those states were out of work themselves. some stayed put and tried to weather it out. The Grapes of Wrath is about the Oakies, the ones who left, often in their cars. Many struck out for California hearing the jobs were available there. Actually most in the affected areas stayed. Incredibkly, some farmers attempted to fight the dust and wind. This included both prarie farmers and people in the small towns scattered throughout the Plains. This was more possible in the towns than on the farms. People were attached to their farms and remained and for several years prayed for rain. Many only left when unable to pay their mortgages, they lost ther farms. It was not at first understood that the Dust Bowl was not entiely a natural event, but a man-made disaster. Many families found ways to survive and hold on to heir land. Farm families packed what belongings they could into their cars piled aboard headed west. The fact that many farms had been somewhat profutabke when the rains came meant that that they had cars, nit the larest models, but tghey had cars. And the cars gave them mobility. The maiun highway head west toward Califirnia was route Route 66. It was also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road. It was was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. Today miuch of it is Interstate 40. The Oakie movement west reached substabtil proportions after Black Subday (1935) and eaked between 1937 and 1938. Finally the recoivering economy fed by the War in Europe began creating jibs in America (1939). It is oftenb thought that the New Deal ended the Deoression. It did not, but the NBew Deal dud have major achievements. When the Oskies reached Barstow, California, they had a major choiice to make. They could follow Highway 66 into Los Angeles and seek cuty jobs. Or they could turn turn north toward California's rich Central Valley and seek agricultural jobs. About 40npercent of the Oakies (meaning refgugees from the Southern Plains) chose the route ton Los Angeles. They were not welcomed. Tthe Los Angeles police established what they called a 'bum blockade' at the state border to keep the Oakies out. Lawsuits and court orders reopened the borders. The Oakies that had skills might find a job. And the New Deal expabded relief efforts, called The Dole at the time. They first, hoewever, had to establish California residency. Maby kived wth family and friends. Jobs were at first hard to get. There was even the Roosevelt Recession (1937-38). But then the job markert opened up as war broke out in Eyrope (1939). Britain, France, and other countries placed orders in Ameruca.

Sources

Carlson, Avis D. New Republic."The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face," wrote in a New Republic article. "People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real."

Mullins, William H. "Okie Migrations," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (Oklahoma Historical Society).

Created: 3:38 AM 11/11/2013
Last updated: 10:59 AM 9/23/2021