Published: May 03, 2008 07:50 pm            

The ‘Dust Bowl’ another example of extreme weather

Springtime in Texas is usually marked by destructive weather, namely in the form of killer tornados. However, the 1930s saw another devastating condition that has come to be known as the Dust Bowl. By 1935 an area encompassing 100 million acres including parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and the Texas panhandle were impacted by a series of circumstances that turned that region into a veritable desert. Prolonged drought coupled with unusually high temperatures contributed to the problem, but the Dust Bowl was also caused by human actions as well. Cattlemen began arriving in the area in the 1880s and ran too many cattle, overgrazing the natural pastures. What the ranchers began, the farmers completed. They began moving on to the Texas plains in the 1920s, eager to accumulate abundant wealth from wheat production. Equipped with gasoline-powered tractors, farmers plowed up millions of acres of grasslands, destroying the native grasses holding the soil in place. They pulverized the topsoil into powder.

Then came the droughts. In 1930 the panhandle received just under 21 inches of rainfall for the entire year. Over the next five years, rainfall diminished to 12 inches in 1932, 8.6 inches in 1934, and 9.6 inches in 1935. The drought, along with the infamous West Texas winds, literally picked up the land in gigantic dust storms which virtually turned day into night.

For example, a storm near Amarillo in April of 1935 resulted in a complete blackout for three days. The black blizzards were sometimes caused by the arrival of late spring cold fronts, creating giant wall clouds of dirt reaching 7,000 feet into the sky. At tines the storms would be accompanied by thunder and lightening, while at other times only eerie silence accompanied their arrival.

Seven times between January and March of 1935 visibility was zero. The intensity of the storms created fear among the residents that the world was coming to an end.

A driver who was caught in a monster storm saw his car literally sandblasted. Both paint and primer were gone, leaving a shiny steel vehicle.

Tractors and automobiles were ruined by the grit that got inside their working parts, and breathing became nearly impossible, especially for the elderly and children.

The weather, coupled with the crippling economic conditions of the Great Depression created psychological misery for the residents of the Dust Bowl. Their plight was chronicled by writer John Steinbeck in his novel “The Grapes of Wrath.” Texans joined migrants from Oklahoma who headed to California seeking relief from their troubles. The sad parade inspired balladeer Woody Guthrie to compose one of his most poignant songs, “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You.”

Residents learned a bitter but value lesson from the experience. Although drought conditions have plagued the region since the Dust Bowl days, improved farming techniques and better land management have prevented the catastrophic conditions of the 1930s.

—————

Dr. Tommy Stringer is executive director of the Navarro College Foundation.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.