Editing Dust Bowl (section)

==Geographic characteristics and early history==

[[File:Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl, sourced from US federal government dept. (NRCS SSRA-RAD).svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Map of states and [[County (United States)|counties]] affected by the Dust Bowl between 1935 and 1938, originally prepared by the [[Soil Conservation Service]]. The most severely affected counties during this period are colored {{Color sample|#d88373|description=dark red}}.]]
[[File:Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A dust storm approaches [[Stratford, Texas]], in 1935.]]

The Dust Bowl area lies principally west of the [[100th meridian west|100th meridian]] on the [[High Plains (United States)|High Plains]], characterized by plains that vary from rolling in the north to flat in the [[Llano Estacado]]. Elevation ranges from {{cvt|2500|ft|m}} in the east to {{cvt|6000|ft|m}} at the base of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. The area is [[semiarid]], receiving less than {{cvt|20|in|mm}} of rain annually; this rainfall supports the [[shortgrass prairie]] biome originally present in the area. The region is also prone to extended drought, alternating with unusual wetness of equivalent duration.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 2000 |url=http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/pdfs/ahistoryofdrought.pdf |title=A History of Drought in Colorado: lessons learned and what lies ahead |publisher=Colorado Water Resources Research Institute |access-date=December 6, 2007 |archive-date=August 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821222601/http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/pdfs/ahistoryofdrought.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> During wet years, the rich soil provides bountiful agricultural output, but crops fail during dry years. The region is also subject to high winds.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 27, 1936 |url=http://newdeal.feri.org/hopkins/hop27.htm |title=A Report of the Great Plains Area Drought Committee |publisher=Hopkins Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library |access-date=December 6, 2007 |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111012245/http://newdeal.feri.org/hopkins/hop27.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> During early European and American exploration of the [[Great Plains]], this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture; explorers called it the [[Great American Desert]]. The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive than other areas for [[Plantation (settlement or colony)|pioneer settlement]] and agriculture.

The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the [[Homestead Act of 1862]], offering settlers "[[Section (United States land surveying)|quarter section]]" {{cvt|160|acre|adj=on}} plots. With the end of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in 1865 and the completion of the [[first transcontinental railroad]] in 1869, waves of new migrants and immigrants reached the Great Plains and greatly increased the acreage under cultivation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Popper |first=Deborah Epstein  |last2=Popper |first2=Frank J. |date=December 1987 |title=The Great Plains: from dust to dust |url=http://www.planning.org/25anniversary/planning/1987dec.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006015832/http://www.planning.org/25anniversary/planning/1987dec.htm |archive-date=October 6, 2007 |access-date=December 6, 2007 |publisher=Planning Magazine}}</ref><ref name="Regions">{{cite book |year=1995 |url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu14re/uu14re00.htm |title=Regions at Risk: a comparison of threatened environments |publisher=United Nations University Press |access-date=December 6, 2007 |archive-date=December 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216233621/http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu14re/uu14re00.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> An unusually wet period in the Great Plains [[correlation does not imply causation|mistakenly led]] settlers and the federal government to believe that "[[rain follows the plow]]" (a popular phrase among real estate promoters) and that the region's climate had permanently changed.<ref>{{cite book |year=2006 |url=http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/DroughtintheDustBowlYears.aspx |title=Drought in the Dust Bowl Years |publisher=National Drought Mitigation Center |location=US |access-date=December 6, 2007 |archive-date=January 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124105928/http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/DroughtintheDustBowlYears.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> While initial agricultural endeavors were primarily [[cattle ranch]]ing, the harsh winters' adverse effect on the cattle, beginning in 1886, a short drought in 1890, and general [[overgrazing]], led many landowners to increase the amount of land under cultivation.

Recognizing the challenge of cultivating marginal arid land, the U.S. government expanded on the {{cvt|160|acre}} offered under the Homestead Act, granting {{cvt|640|acre}} to homesteaders in western Nebraska under the [[Kinkaid Act]] (1904) and {{cvt|320|acres}} elsewhere in the Great Plains under the [[Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909]]. Waves of European settlers arrived in the plains at the beginning of the 20th century. A return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed a previously held opinion that the "formerly" semiarid area could support large-scale agriculture. At the same time, technological improvements such as mechanized plowing and mechanized harvesting made it possible to operate larger properties without increasing labor costs.

With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive [[deep plowing]] of the [[Great Plains]]' virgin [[topsoil]] during the previous decade; this displaced the native, deep-rooted [[grass]]es that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of [[drought]] and high winds. The rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of the [[combine harvester]] contributed to farmers' decisions to convert arid grassland (much of which received no more than {{convert|10|in|mm}} of precipitation per year) to cultivated cropland.<ref name="dustbowl">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-drought/ |title=The American Experience: Drought |publisher=PBS |access-date=March 15, 2015 |archive-date=March 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310174144/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-drought/ |url-status=live }}</ref> During the drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to [[dust]], which prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust{{snd}}named "black blizzards" or "black rollers"{{snd}}traveled cross-country, reaching as far as the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] and striking such cities as [[New York City]] and [[Washington, D.C.]] On the plains, they often reduced visibility to {{convert|3|ft|m|0|spell=in}} or less. [[Associated Press]] reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in [[Boise City, Oklahoma]], to witness the "[[Black Sunday (storm)|Black Sunday]]" black blizzards of April 14, 1935; Edward Stanley, the Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, coined the term "Dust Bowl" while rewriting Geiger's news story.<ref name="srh.noaa.gov">{{cite web |url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=blacksunday |title=The Black Sunday Dust Storm of 14 April 1935 |publisher=[[National Weather Service]] |location=[[Norman, Oklahoma]] |date=August 24, 2010 |access-date=November 23, 2012 |archive-date=November 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125235449/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=blacksunday |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mencken 1979 206">{{cite book |last=Mencken |first=H. L. |title=The American Language |year=1979 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-0-394-40075-4 |edition=One-Volume Abridged |editor=Raven I. McDavid Jr. |page=206}}</ref>

The term "the Dust Bowl" originally referred to the geographical area affected by the dust, but today it usually refers to the event itself (the term "Dirty Thirties" is also sometimes used). The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected {{convert|100|e6acre|km2|abbr=unit}} that centered on the [[Texas Panhandle]] and [[Oklahoma Panhandle]] and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hakim |first=Joy |title=A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwke_hhx8Z8C&pg=PP1 |isbn=978-0-19-509514-2 |access-date=December 22, 2018 |archive-date=April 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429050637/https://books.google.com/books?id=kwke_hhx8Z8C&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}{{Page needed|date=February 2011}}</ref> The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families, who were unable to pay mortgages or grow crops, to abandon their farms, and losses reached $25&nbsp;million per day by 1936 (equivalent to ${{inflation|US|25|1936|r=-1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).{{Inflation-fn|US}}<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=Bust: America – The Story of Us |year=2010 |oclc=783245601 |publisher=A&E Television Networks}}</ref> Many of these families, often called "[[Okie]]s" because many of them came from Oklahoma, migrated to [[California]] and other states to find that the [[Great Depression]] had rendered economic conditions there little better than those they had left.

The combined effects of [[World War I]] and the disruption of the [[Russian Revolution]], which decreased the supply of wheat and other commodity crops, increased agricultural prices; this demand encouraged farmers to dramatically increase cultivation. For example, in the [[Llano Estacado]] of [[eastern New Mexico]] and northwestern [[Texas]], the area of farmland doubled between 1900 and 1920, then tripled between 1925 and 1930.<ref name="Regions"/> The agricultural methods farmers favored during this period created the conditions for large-scale [[erosion]] under certain environmental conditions.<ref name = drought /> The widespread conversion of the land by deep plowing and other soil preparation methods to enable agriculture eliminated the native grasses that held the soil in place and helped retain moisture during dry periods. Furthermore, [[cotton]] farmers left fields bare during the winter, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and [[Stubble burning|burned]] the [[Crop residue|stubble]] as a means to control weeds before planting, thereby depriving the soil of organic nutrients and surface vegetation.