Life During the Great Depression

DUST BOWL
This past year had been a disastrous one, especially for the farmers. During the past year there's been severe drought in the Great Plains. This coupled with the farmers tendency to overwork the land dried out the topsoil of land. This year there was also high winds that took the millions of tons of dried soil and blew it around creating a literal dust bowl. People in the region had to move. Their farms were destroyed. Staying meant health risks and starvation. Many of the people moved into California, but my friend and her family moved here to live with their cousins. Everyone around keeps calling them "okies". I don't think they'd appreciate being called names if it were their home that had been destroyed and were forced to leave.
- Mary Anne Smith

In response to the dust bowl the government created the Soil Conservation Service in 1935 to teach the farmers of the plain how to rotate crops, terrace fields, use contour plowing and the planting of trees to stop soil erosion and conserve water.

http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/files/2014/04/okie02.jpg
This picture depicts a cloud of dust over taking a row of people and cars who could not escape the dust storm.

http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2014/01/IH109310-P.jpeg
This picture depicts the aftermath of a dust storm in which a house is almost completely covered by dust.