Dust Bowl DBQ

Words: 503
Pages: 3

What Caused the Dust Bowl
After the stock market crashed in late 1929, the Great Depression took a toll on the entire country. People lost their jobs and the economy fell leaving the United States going into a dark era. The United States started to fail economically and had a sizable effect on the midwest. Soon later the Great Plains fell into a drought that lead to the Dust bowl. Three of the major causes of the Dust Bowl were wheat prices dropping when the depression started, farmers starting to plant more which lead to over farming and when the United States lost their imports and had to produce a larger number wheat to help soldiers in World War 1. The Great Depression left people without jobs and since they were no longer making money, farmers had to lower their prices so they would still make money. When wheat prices dropped, in order for farmers to continue making the same amount of money they normally made, they had to start making a larger quantity of wheat. In reference to the chart that is presented in document D, in 1899 about 50 million acres of crops were being harvested, while in 1929, after the stock market crashed, 11.5 million acres of crops were being harvested. The number of crops being produced started grow which lead to over farming in the midwest. Over farming in
…show more content…
World War 1 sent farmers to work producing crops in order to help the soldiers. When the United states lost their imports of crops, farmers had to work double time to help produce crops for soldiers. Luckily technology was improving and farmers were able to produce higher amounts or crops. With the invention of the tractor, work was done faster, “the tractor did the work of ten horses”. (Document C) Of course since farmers were now working to meet the demand for the US, and to help the soldiers, they had to plant more crops across larger spans of land. This lead to over farming and they land going