The Dusty Thirties by Darel Leipold
Posted by Steve Frazier
on Mar 22, 2011
Our Program on March 22 was presented by our own member, Darel Leipold, and was centered on the "Dusty Thirties".
We've all either read the book by Steinbeck, or seen the movie, "Grapes of Wrath", and know of the tough times during the thirties. Unemployment due to the depression and a climate change bringing drought made for severe problems for Midwesterners, even more so for residents on the coasts.
In the "cereal bowl" area of the US, farmers had grown the same crop on their land for years, and had increased their farming acreage by plowing and planting wheat, a very good cash crop for them. In the twenties, a general drought hit the US in an unexpected climate change. With the natural cover gone on most of the land, the winds started to blow away the top soil, and especially in 1930 and 1936, there were "black clouds" of dirt rolling across the prairies, and even into New York City and Washington.
Add the stock market crash on 10-29-29 to the situation, and people had few options to survive. Many Midwesterners went west; the Los Angeles area was closed to migration by the local authorities, and even the St Paul Ford Plant was closed for over a year. FDR established many programs to help the poor.
It took three forces to get the country out of the situation: (1) the drought ended in 1938/39; (2) the programs started by FDR got many people to work; and (3) the arming of the nation for the oncoming World War created an active economy.
(Story by Tad Shaw and posting and photo by Steve Frazier)We've all either read the book by Steinbeck, or seen the movie, "Grapes of Wrath", and know of the tough times during the thirties. Unemployment due to the depression and a climate change bringing drought made for severe problems for Midwesterners, even more so for residents on the coasts.
In the "cereal bowl" area of the US, farmers had grown the same crop on their land for years, and had increased their farming acreage by plowing and planting wheat, a very good cash crop for them. In the twenties, a general drought hit the US in an unexpected climate change. With the natural cover gone on most of the land, the winds started to blow away the top soil, and especially in 1930 and 1936, there were "black clouds" of dirt rolling across the prairies, and even into New York City and Washington.
Add the stock market crash on 10-29-29 to the situation, and people had few options to survive. Many Midwesterners went west; the Los Angeles area was closed to migration by the local authorities, and even the St Paul Ford Plant was closed for over a year. FDR established many programs to help the poor.
It took three forces to get the country out of the situation: (1) the drought ended in 1938/39; (2) the programs started by FDR got many people to work; and (3) the arming of the nation for the oncoming World War created an active economy.