Dust Bowl - A 1950s Documentary

Summary

The video script narrates the tragic story of the Dust Bowl in the southern Great Plains during the 1930s, caused by a combination of overgrazing, reckless farming practices, and severe drought. It details the human impact, including the economic desperation that led to mass migration to California, as depicted in John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath.' The script also highlights the resilience of those who stayed, the introduction of soil conservation measures, and the transformation of the region through irrigation, marking a hopeful recovery and a lesson in land stewardship.

Takeaways

• 🌪️ The Great Plains, once rich grazing land, suffered from overgrazing and poor farming practices that led to the creation of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.
• 🏞️ The Dust Bowl was centered in Dalhart, Texas, where the combination of drought, wind, and unsustainable farming methods caused severe environmental degradation.
• 🌾 Farmers in the 1920s expanded their operations on credit, leading to overproduction and soil depletion, which worsened the effects of the drought.
• 🐂 Livestock overgrazing and the cultivation of crops without proper soil conservation contributed to the soil becoming bare and vulnerable to erosion.
• 🌀 The Dust Bowl's storms were massive, with dust clouds reaching up to 15,000 feet and causing darkness during the day, disrupting transportation and daily life.
• 🌀 The dust storms not only caused physical discomfort but also led to economic hardship as the price of wheat plummeted during the Great Depression.
• 🏘️ Many families were forced to leave their homes and farms, embarking on a desperate journey to California in search of a better life, a migration immortalized in John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'.
• 🌱 The Dust Bowl led to the first national farm program focused on soil conservation, teaching farmers new methods to protect and revive the land.
• 🛣️ The mass migration along Route 66 to California was marked by hardship and the formation of tight-knit communities among the displaced.
• 🌳 The experiences of the Dust Bowl led to significant changes in agricultural practices, with a focus on soil health and conservation to prevent future catastrophes.
• 🏞️ The Dust Bowl's legacy includes a deeper understanding of the importance of sustainable land management and the resilience of communities in the face of environmental challenges.

Q & A

What were the natural conditions of the southern Great Plains before human intervention?

The southern Great Plains were characterized by unpredictable weather, relentless wind, and recurrent drought, but in season, they were the richest grazing land on Earth.

What impact did the cattlemen have on the southern Great Plains?

Cattlemen overgrazed the land, which led to the degradation of the grass that held water in the soil, setting the stage for future environmental problems.

How did the arrival of farmers in the late 1800s and early 1900s contribute to the Dust Bowl?

Farmers ripped away the protective turf cover that kept the soil from blowing away during droughts, and their farming practices led to soil erosion and the eventual creation of the Dust Bowl.

What role did the economic boom and mechanization play in the Dust Bowl?

The economic boom led to farmers and ranchers expanding on credit, buying more equipment and land to produce more wheat. This, combined with mechanization, turned farms into wheat factories, which contributed to over-cultivation and soil degradation.

What were the consequences of the drought in the 1930s for the farmers and the land?

The drought led to the land being unable to produce any more, as it had been over-farmed and mistreated. This, combined with the Great Depression, caused a significant drop in the price of wheat and led to widespread dust storms.

How did the dust storms of the 1930s affect daily life and the environment?

The dust storms turned day into night, choked the air, and made it painful to breathe without a damp cloth over the nose and mouth. They also caused significant damage to infrastructure, such as railroad tracks, and grounded airplanes.

What was the 'Last Man's Club' and what was its purpose?

The 'Last Man's Club' was formed by individuals who pledged to stay with the land and were determined to see it become rich and green again, despite the hardships of the Dust Bowl.

How did the Dust Bowl lead to a mass migration to California?

With no money and little hope, and facing a gutted labor market and miserable living conditions, many people from the Dust Bowl area migrated to California in search of a better life.

What measures were taken by the government to address the issues highlighted by the Dust Bowl?

The government introduced the first national farm program focused on soil conservation, teaching farmers how to revive and protect the soil through new planting and plowing methods.

How have the people of the southern plains adapted to prevent future Dust Bowls?

The people of the southern plains have learned to take better care of their land by keeping it covered to prevent blowing, implementing irrigation, and avoiding overgrazing and overstocking, thus reducing the risk of future dust storms.

What is the legacy of the Dust Bowl for the people who stayed and survived?

The legacy of the Dust Bowl is one of resilience and adaptation. Those who stayed and survived have learned valuable lessons about land management and have worked to ensure the land's health and productivity for future generations.

Outlines

00:00

🌪 The Creation of the Dust Bowl

The first paragraph sets the stage for the Dust Bowl era, detailing the historical context and human actions that led to the environmental disaster. It begins by describing the Great Plains' natural beauty and its challenges, such as unpredictable weather and drought. The arrival of cattlemen and farmers, who overgrazed and recklessly cultivated the land, disrupted the ecosystem. The 1930s brought a severe drought, exacerbating the situation and leading to the creation of the Dust Bowl, centered around Dalhart, Texas. The paragraph also includes personal accounts of the time, highlighting the initial prosperity followed by the devastating consequences of environmental mismanagement.

05:25

🌑 The Impact of Dust Storms

The second paragraph delves into the devastating impact of the dust storms on the people and the landscape. It describes how the storms turned day into night, disrupted transportation, and affected the health of the residents. Personal anecdotes illustrate the severity of the storms, including the difficulty in breathing and the psychological toll. The paragraph also recounts specific events, such as a funeral interrupted by a dust storm and the electrocution of crops due to dust storms, highlighting the human and agricultural costs of the environmental crisis.

10:26

🏘️ The Exodus from the Dust Bowl

The third paragraph narrates the mass migration of people from the Dust Bowl in search of a better life. It discusses the economic hardships, the loss of hope, and the desperate measures taken by the people, such as the auctions where friends would bid minimally on each other's cattle to return them later. The paragraph also touches on the government's role and the people's resilience, as well as the migration to California, which was seen as the 'promised land.' It includes descriptions of the journey, the conditions faced by the migrants, and the societal attitudes towards them.

15:26

🌱 The Fight for Revival and Conservation

The fourth paragraph discusses the efforts to revive the land and the introduction of the first national farm program focused on soil conservation. It outlines the government's role in educating farmers on sustainable agricultural practices to prevent future disasters. The paragraph also includes personal reflections from those who chose to stay, their determination to restore the land, and their eventual success in doing so. It highlights the transformation of the Dust Bowl into a place of productivity and hope.

20:27

🌱 The Legacy and Lessons of the Dust Bowl

The final paragraph reflects on the legacy of the Dust Bowl and the lessons learned from the experience. It emphasizes the importance of land conservation and the changes in agricultural practices that have helped prevent similar disasters. The paragraph also conveys a sense of optimism and pride in the land, with individuals sharing their personal stories of adaptation and resilience. It concludes with a forward-looking perspective, suggesting that the Dust Bowl days are behind them and that the region has been transformed into a sustainable and prosperous area.

Keywords

💡Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl refers to the severe dust storms that affected the southern Great Plains region of the United States during the 1930s, turning once fertile lands into a desolate and unproductive environment. The term captures the central theme of the video, illustrating the environmental disaster that resulted from a combination of drought, poor agricultural practices, and economic hardship. The video describes how the Dust Bowl not only affected the land but also the lives of the people who depended on it, leading to mass migration and a reevaluation of land management practices.

💡Overgrazing

Overgrazing is the practice of allowing livestock to graze on land to the point where the vegetation is excessively consumed, leading to soil erosion and degradation. In the context of the video, overgrazing is mentioned as one of the initial causes of soil degradation in the Great Plains before the arrival of farmers, setting the stage for the Dust Bowl. The script describes how cattlemen overgrazed the land, leading to the depletion of the grass that held the soil together, which in turn made the land more susceptible to erosion during droughts.

💡Soil Erosion

Soil erosion is the process by which the top layer of soil is worn away by natural forces such as wind and water. The video emphasizes soil erosion as a critical factor that contributed to the formation of the Dust Bowl. The script recounts how farmers' practices, such as removing the protective turf and over-cultivating the land, led to the exposure of the soil, which then blew away during the droughts, leaving the land barren and unproductive.

💡Depression

The term 'Depression' in the video refers to the Great Depression, a severe worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. The economic depression is mentioned as an exacerbating factor for the Dust Bowl, as it led to a decrease in the price of wheat and increased the desperation of farmers who were already struggling with the environmental disaster. The video describes how the combination of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression created a perfect storm of hardship for those living in the affected regions.

💡Mechanization

Mechanization in agriculture refers to the use of machinery to perform tasks traditionally done by humans or animals. The video mentions mechanization as a part of the rapid agricultural expansion in the 1920s, where farmers and ranchers invested in tractors and other equipment to increase wheat production. However, this mechanization also led to the over-cultivation of the land, contributing to the soil erosion and the eventual Dust Bowl.

💡Drought

Drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water. In the video, drought is a recurring theme, as it was the climatic condition that, combined with poor agricultural practices, led to the Dust Bowl. The script describes how the drought lasted for eight years, exacerbating the effects of soil erosion and making it nearly impossible for crops to grow, thus deepening the crisis for the farmers.

💡Migration

Migration, as discussed in the video, refers to the mass movement of people from one region to another, often in search of better living conditions. The Dust Bowl led to a significant migration of people from the affected areas, particularly to California, in search of work and a more stable life. The video describes how thousands of families loaded their belongings and traveled westward, hoping to find a better life away from the desolation of the Dust Bowl.

💡Soil Conservation

Soil conservation is the practice of managing and protecting soil resources to prevent soil degradation and erosion. The video highlights soil conservation as a key outcome of the Dust Bowl, leading to the first national farm program focused on teaching farmers how to better manage their land. The script describes how government experts taught farmers new methods of planting and plowing that would help retain moisture and prevent wind erosion, marking a turning point in agricultural practices.

💡Irrigation

Irrigation is the artificial application of water to land or soil to assist in the growth of crops. The video mentions the development of irrigation as a solution to the recurring droughts in the region. After the Dust Bowl, farmers began to use irrigation systems to supplement natural rainfall, which helped to stabilize crop production and prevent the recurrence of the severe dust storms. The script illustrates how irrigation was part of the broader effort to control the land and prevent future environmental disasters.

💡Land Management

Land management refers to the oversight and control of the use of land resources, including the conservation and development of these resources. The video emphasizes the importance of proper land management as a lesson learned from the Dust Bowl. The script describes how the people of the southern plains became more conscious of the need to keep their land covered to prevent erosion and how they implemented practices to protect and restore the land, ultimately redeeming both the land and themselves.

Highlights

The southern Great Plains were once the richest grazing land on Earth but faced environmental challenges such as unpredictable weather and drought.

Overgrazing by cattlemen and farming practices led to soil erosion and the creation of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

Farmers in the 1920s expanded their operations, leading to over-cultivation and a reliance on credit, which was unsustainable.

The Dust Bowl's center was Dalhart, Texas, where the consequences of environmental mismanagement were most severe.

Droughts in the early 1930s, combined with poor farming practices, led to massive dust storms that devastated the region.

The dust storms were so severe that they blocked out the sun, making day feel like night and causing respiratory issues.

The economic depression further reduced the value of wheat, exacerbating the plight of farmers.

Farmers resorted to desperate measures, such as bidding minimal amounts at auctions to help each other keep their cattle.

Many were forced to leave their homes, embarking on a westward migration to California in search of a better life.

The journey to California was fraught with hardship, as depicted in John Steinbeck's novel 'The Grapes of Wrath'.

The Dust Bowl crisis led to the first national farm program focused on soil conservation and sustainable farming practices.

Government experts taught farmers new methods to protect the soil, such as contour plowing and crop rotation.

The Last Man's Club in Dalhart, Texas, was formed by farmers determined to restore the land to its former productivity.

Irrigation development in the 1950s helped to control the effects of drought and reduce the risk of future dust storms.

The Dust Bowl experience taught valuable lessons about land management, leading to improved agricultural practices and a more sustainable approach to farming.

The people of the southern plains have redeemed both the land and themselves, finding the true promise of their land through conservation and hard work.

Transcripts

[ROCKET BASTLING OFF]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The untouched southern Great Plains--

for centuries subject to unpredictable weather,

relentless wind, and recurrent drought

but, in season, the richest grazing land on Earth.

Then came the cattlemen, overgrazing and scouring

the lush plains grass that held the water in the soil.

In 1887, the farmer came, heedlessly ripping away

the protective cover of turf that kept the soil from blowing

away in time of drought.

The dangers of drought were learned but soon forgotten.

The times were good.

New settlers came, impressed with the rains and bumper

crops.

The fertile soil, considered inexhaustible,

was taken for granted.

Thousands poured into the plains to grab

what they could from the soil.

Unknowingly, they were creating this area that, in the '30s,

would be called the Dust Bowl.

Its center?

Dalhart, Texas.

My father brought me to the panhandle in 1890,

and, in 1913, my brother and I bought this ranch.

And for several years, we had a very fine condition.

But the farmers came here in the '20s, long about--

I'd say about '27 or '28, and they began to buy this land,

and break it up, and plant it into crop and corn.

All through the '20s, high-paying wheat was the goal.

New faster equipment joined the tractor, expensive,

but a boom was on, credit easing.

Farmers and ranchers became gamblers, expanding on credit--

more equipment, more land to produce more wheat

to pay the bills.

As farms became mechanized wheat factories,

non-resident suitcase farmers rushed in and out

for quick killings, carving out millions

of acres of green pasture land, never minding the cost.

The good weather, which seemed to go in 10 year cycles, held.

The '20s were very good.

Well, the dry weather started about '30,

and then '31 and '32, it got worse.

And some of these farmers had livestock,

and they didn't have any place to graze these cattle much.

And they turned them on these fields.

When their little old stuff got about that high,

they'd pull it up and eat it, and that left the land bare.

And in 1933, it was pretty bad, and about '34, it got real bad.

The drought lasted eight years.

Man's greed and years of careless cultivation

now took their toll.

The uncovered Earth had given all it had to give.

It could give no more.

The added ordeal of depression tumbled the price of wheat.

The land mistreated, parched by drought,

was pulverized to produce still more wheat,

a futile race with the creditor creating

only dust ready to blow.

In the spring of 1934, the winds caught up the broken soil,

and a plague of dust descended upon those

who had treated the land with ignorance and contempt.

Clouds of dust billowed up to 15,000 feet in the air,

shutting off the sun, eventually turning day into night.

Sand had to be shoveled from railroad tracks

before trains could pass.

Airplanes were grounded, and a sense of impending doom

permeated the cities of the plain, turned

into darkness at midday.

The top soil of the country was blowing away,

withering vegetation from millions of acres of farmland,

choking the air so that it was painful to breathe

without a damp cloth over nose and mouth.

This was only the beginning.

For those on the southern plains,

dust would become a way of life, their land the Dust Bowl.

I lived here during the terrible Dust Bowl days.

The worst storm that I can remember

was the last big duster that rolled in.

We stopped at the side of the road

and waited until we could see the edge of the road, which

was I don't know how long.

It seemed like a lifetime.

We drove on home, and we found out, when we got out,

we were so short on oxygen we could hardly stand up.

And when we got in the house and turned on the light,

I told my husband, I said, bandit, you

can take off your mask now.

The Sheriff won't be out tonight.

He says, baby, you better take off yours.

So when we got finally cleaned up and started the bed,

he dropped his clothes, the only time in all of our married life

that he didn't pick them up.

People just didn't know what to think about these storms.

I remember one Sunday afternoon.

I think it was in 1935 in April, one

of the most beautiful Sundays I ever

saw with a blue sky and a bright sun.

They were having a funeral in a little church

in one corner of the Dust Bowl.

At the time the service started, it was a bright blue afternoon.

During the service, a big black blizzard

came rolling in, silently just tumbling over and over.

The first thing you know, it knocked out the sun.

It went out just like a light switch

or like [INAUDIBLE] as we say in Texas.

Suddenly, it was dark in this church, just as dark almost as

night, and the people didn't know what had happened.

They'd never seen anything like this.

Therefore, they were panicked.

Many of them rushed out at the doors.

Others dived out at the windows.

And when it was all over, there was no one

left in the church except the minister and the corpse.

I remember one spell out here in the spring of 1934

that my young son had gone out in the pasture

to get the cattle out here and get the milk cows.

And while he was there, this storm

began to roll in, great black waves from the North.

And I started to go to get him before he could get here,

and so I thought I'd better go pick him up.

He might get lost.

So I ran out and picked him up, and he came on.

And we just got home here when the storm hit, and it just--

everything was black.

You couldn't hardly see your hand before your face.

It was just a solid black.

You lighted the lights in the house,

and you couldn't hardly find your way about the house.

That storm lasted, as I remember,

all night, and it piled sand around the house

up there until probably it was two foot deep in a big circle

right around the house.

We had 110 dust storms that spring,

but I had some wheat that fall.

Next year was thawn out, I put my wheat back in.

I come out here and went to my field of wheat

and sat down on the ground to examine the plants.

They were brown.

They had been electrocuted.

They were dead, big healthy plants

now electrocuted and dead.

And I cried because I was so disappointed.

I had-- this was my third year.

I remember one time, I went over to my neighbor's house,

and the dirt was just fogging everywhere.

And I went in the house, and the room was foggy.

And he was over at the dining room table,

and you could write your name on the table in the dust.

And he was bald headed, and there was dirt on his head.

I said, well, what are you doing?

And he said, I'm cleaning my alarm clock.

I can't do anything else this afternoon.

Of the group hit hardest by the Depression

dependent on government relief, Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote,

they were a hopeful people.

They were going to see the thing through.

But season after season of crop failure and sand

began to bury hope.

For their starving cattle, they could neither raise feed

nor buy it.

They drove their herds to greener pastures,

but little could be found.

The richest grazing land on Earth had become a desert.

Savings and credit gone, their cattle

would be sold at public auction.

At these auctions, friends banded together,

bidding no more than $0.05 or $0.10 for a cow they would then

return to their foreclosed neighbor in a futile conspiracy

against the common disaster.

[AUCTIONEER CHANT] $0.15 going.

$0.15!

[INAUDIBLE]

$0.15 sold for $0.15 outside the [INAUDIBLE] for them?

[INAUDIBLE]

Sold.

[INAUDIBLE] Well, knock them in the head.

They're not a worth anything anyway.

In the words of one observer, the country

seemed to brood as though death were touching it.

But people stayed and prayed in the Dust Bowl, of course,

praying for rain and always looking forward to next year.

Next year would bring rain.

It would bring bountiful growth.

It would bring harvest.

Next year, always looking for next year.

I guess this is the greatest next year country

on the face of the Earth.

But some of the people simply couldn't stay.

They had to do something.

They had nothing to eat.

They were blown out, and stormed out, and dusted out,

and they had to leave.

Consequently, they loaded their wives and children and all

of their belongings, including mattresses,

on top of their jalopies and headed westward for California.

We felt awful sorry for these people who were long

faced and grimmed, and tell you what,

we weren't eating too high on the hog ourselves there.

Between the years 1935 and 1939, 350,000 people

left their homes and farms in the Dust Bowl.

With no money and little hope, the refugees from dust

fled the desolate land to join the bewildered legion

of the dispossessed, the most numerous of which

were those called Okies, primarily

tenant farmers from Oklahoma evicted from the land

by large-scale mechanization and absentee ownership,

leaving the land behind they made

for highway 66, their path of Exodus

across mountains and desert to the green promised-land

California.

I remember often at the newspaper between editions,

we'd go to the window and look out.

Our office looked out right on Highway 66

where it came down and made a turn

and went up Sixth Street toward Polk Street.

These old jalopies would come up and kind of crunch to a stop

here at the stoplight, which was one of the few

we had in town in those days, and the steam would plume up

from the radiators.

And there'd be a terrible squeaking,

and a lot of the luggage sort of leaned over, [INAUDIBLE]

and crooked in every which way.

And then when the traffic light would change,

here, they would go, and the wheels would squeak.

And you'd wonder how the tires would last for a mile.

They must have lasted because many of these people

did make it to California.

We'd see them coming in a few and then

sometimes as many as 10 and 20 cars at a time.

In his controversial novel, The Grapes of Wrath,

John Steinbeck called national attention

to the plight of these people.

He wrote, they took the migrant way to the West.

In the daylight, they scuttled like bugs to the westward,

and, as the dark caught them, they

clustered like bugs near to shelter and to water.

And because they were lonely and perplexed, because they had all

come from a place of sadness and worry and defeat,

and because they were all going to a new, mysterious place,

they huddled together.

They talked together.

They shared their lives, their food,

and the things they hoped for in the new country.

20 families became one family.

The children were the children of all.

The loss of home became one loss,

and the golden time in the West was one dream.

And they talked to the land behind them, wrote Steinbeck.

Maybe they thought, maybe we sinned

some way we didn't know about.

They were not farm men anymore but migrant men,

and the thought, the planning, the long, staring silence

that had gone out to the fields went now to the roads

to the distance, to the West.

The promised land proved a tragic delusion.

Instead of homes, and farms, and jobs,

they would find miserable squatter camps, shanty towns,

political tensions, and an already gutted labor market.

What work they found would not be as farmers but as

migrant hands.

They were met with fear of their number, prejudice

for their poverty.

They were suspect, threats, to be met with vigilante tactics.

Measures were taken to keep them out, to turn them back.

Bills introduced to bar all transients, vagrancy sentences,

bum blockade.

And still, they came in flight from dust and despair

to the land of promise which held none for them.

Despite the tragedy of the Dust Bowl, all of this

was certainly a blessing in disguise.

These dramatic black blizzards, sweeping down and terrorizing

the people and ruining the soil, dramatized the mistreatment

of land and soil all over the nation.

And it brought us our first national farm program, which

was based on soil conservation.

Government experts taught the farmer

how to revive and protect the soil.

In a long range conservation program,

he was taught new ways of planting and plowing

that would hold the moisture in the land when the rain stopped,

that would keep it from blowing when the winds came.

At Dalhart, Texas, the Last Man's Club

had been formed, pledging to stay with the land, determined

to see it rich and green again.

I stayed here because I didn't think

this country was completely ruined

and it would come breathing back someday,

and I thought the man that stayed here

would be the man that'd have his feet on the ground

and would be ahead.

And it proved to be that way.

And I think we have the thing licked now.

I don't think we'll ever see it any more Dust Bowl days.

Anyway, we fought this thing for a number of years

before we began to produce wheat.

Then, when we did during the '40s, we raised lots of wheat

during the war years.

And beginning with the '50s, we started

going into another dry period.

Well, we had two or three wheat failures.

Then we started to develop irrigation here,

and I think that now we have our country under control.

I don't believe we'll be bothered anymore

with dust storms.

A third of the population had fled the Dust Bowl.

The farmers and ranchers who stayed and survived

know that there is one thing on which they can depend--

dry weather will come again.

I think we know so much more about it now.

They're not going to expose their land.

Everybody is conscious now, and they

say, let's keep our land covered up so it won't blow.

And I think that [INAUDIBLE] just like here, I've

got this land all fenced around here in the pasture

so it would never get tramped around here and blew up.

All that pasture land there and all this land

blew up just like a field because I'd been

careless and overstocking, see.

We won't do that anymore.

I think we've learned a lot about how

to take care of our land.

In redeeming the land, the people of the southern plains

have redeemed themselves.

They have found that this is the promised land.