Dust Bowl

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Wikipedia.

Dust Bowl,

the name given to areas of the U.S. prairie states that suffered ecological devastation in the 1930s and then to a lesser extent in the mid-1950s. The problem began during World War I, when the high price of wheat and the needs of Allied troops encouraged farmers to grow more wheat by plowing and seeding areas in prairie states, such as Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, which were formerly used only for grazing. After years of adequate yields, livestock were returned to graze the areas, and their hooves pulverized the unprotected soil. In 1934 strong winds blew the soil into huge clouds called "dusters" or "black blizzards," and in the succeeding years, from December to May, the dust storms recurred. Crops and pasture lands were ruined by the harsh storms, which also proved a severe health hazard. The uprooting, poverty, and human suffering caused during this period is notably portrayed in John SteinbeckSteinbeck, John,
1902–68, American writer, b. Salinas, Calif., studied at Stanford. He is probably best remembered for his strong sociological novel The Grapes of Wrath, considered one of the great American novels of the 20th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. 's The Grapes of Wrath. Through later governmental intervention and methods of erosion-prevention farming, the Dust Bowl phenomenon has been virtually eliminated, thus left a historic reference.

Bibliography

See D. Worster, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s (1979); T. Egan, The Worst Hard Time (2005); K. Burns, dir., The Dust Bowl (documentary, 2012).

dust bowl

[′dəst ‚bōl]

(climatology)

A name given, early in 1935, to the region in the south-central United States afflicted by drought and dust storms, including parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, and resulting from a long period of deficient rainfall combined with loosening of the soil by destruction of the natural vegetation; dust bowl describes similar regions in other parts of the world.

dust bowl

a semiarid area in which the surface soil is exposed to wind erosion and dust storms occur

Dust Bowl

the. the area of the south central US that became denuded of topsoil by wind erosion during the droughts of the mid-1930s

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Dust Bowl Lanes will be able to wall off two of its eight lanes for private parties of 16 to 20 people, O'Connor said.

Beer & bowling for Christmas

There is little disagreement that the Dust Bowl was the result of an almost perfect storm of environmental and economic events, starting in the early 1930s with a drought, and compounded by the enormous economic hardships caused by the Great Depression.

Tracking the dust bowl migrants of the 1930s

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck's epic novel, brings to life the story of Oklahoma share croppers ordered off their land during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl Migration days.

The catastrophic dust storms of the 1930s, in retrospect

In 1898, Alexandre Hogue's family moved from Memphis, Missouri, where he was born, to Denton, Texas, where his life and art would later become inextricably connected with the Dust Bowl.

The ecology of wrath

Drought conditions during this timeframe made many people draw comparisons to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s (Botelho, 2012).

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Guthrie was a great observer and his time in the Thirties roaming through the Dust Bowl states of Oklahoma and Texas (as John Steinbeck did) enabled him to write with a homespun authenticity, and a fine ear for dialect.

House of Earth

The Dust Bowl, the name that the region eventually acquired, was blamed on poor farming practices and a severe drought that often let winds carry dust thousands of miles away.

-Dust bowl centres expecting documentary to revive tourist potential

Dust Bowl owners Brett Tate and Brett Honore report the brewery is at capacity production, as a result of expanded distribution and the opening of a Tap Room in August 2011 in Turlock.

Dust Bowl Brewing releases "Hops of Wrath" IPA in 12oz

Like the droughts that keep returning to the Southwest, Surviving the Dust Bowl (STDB) has had several incarnations since first public broadcast in 1998, followed by release on a modest videocassette.

Surviving the Dust Bowl (1998/2007)

And the climatic convergence is being fed by dust bowl conditions in Iraq where land formerly farmed has turned to desert.

After four days of sandstorms, relief is in sight

Richmond Fontaine @ 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff (Tuesday) * IN many ways, this ensemble from Portland, Oregon, are the archetypal Stateside blue collar band, knocking out tales of barflies, bums and broken hearts in dust bowl America like Springsteen without all the chest beating, or, indeed, the budget.

BEST AMERICANA

More dust storms in Texas are a strong possibility, but Zobeck said the prospect of another Dust Bowl like the one in the 1930s is highly unlikely.