Bunnies

The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl

By josiahjahnksuohs

  • Stock Market Crash

    The United States Stock Market crashes.

  • Drought

    Severe drought hits the Midwestern and Southern Plains. Dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed land begins to blow.

  • Dust Storms

    The number of dust storms is increasing. Fourteen storms reported this year; 38 in the next year.

  • Bank's in Trouble

    When Franklin Roosevelt takes office, the United States is in desperate straits. He takes quick steps to declare a four-day bank holiday, during which time Congress comes up with the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. This stabilizes the banking industry and restores people’s faith in the banking system by putting the federal government behind it.

  • Desperate Times

    The Great Dust Storms spread from the Dust Bowl area. The drought is as worst as it has ever been in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states with severe droughts and dust storms.

  • Federal Relief

    FDR approves the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which provides $525 million for drought relief, and authorizes creation of the Works Progress Administration, which will employ 8.5 million people.

  • Soil Conservation

    The SCS publishes a soil conservation district law, which, if passed by the states, would allow farmers to set up their own districts to enforce soil conservation practices for five-year periods.

  • Tree Planting

    FDR’s Shelterbelt Project begins. The project calls for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from erosion. Native trees, such as red cedar and green ash, are planted along fence rows separating properties, and farmers and workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps are paid to plant and cultivate them.

  • New Ag Techniques

    The extensive work re-plowing the land into furrows, planting trees in shelter-belts, and other conservation methods has resulted in a 65 percent reduction in the amount of soil blowing. But the large drought continues.

  • The Rain Falls Again

    In the fall, the rain comes, finally bringing an end to the drought. During the next few years, with the coming of World War II, the country is pulled out of Depression.