This book provides a unique, thorough, and indispensable resource for anyone investigating the causes and consequences of the Dust Bowl.
During the 1930s, drought and the cultivation of submarginal lands created a severe wind-erosion problem in the southern Great Plains, a region that became known as the Dust Bowl. During the worst dust storms, the blowing soil often turned day into night. Some people died when caught outside during a black blizzard, others developed "dust pneumonia," and some residents moved to California. Most people, however, remained. Those who stayed and endured the storms had an abiding faith that federal resources and the return of normal rainfall would end the dust storms and return life to normal, free from the desperation and fear caused by the blowing soil.
Documents of the Dust Bowl offers a fascinating documentary history of one of the worst ecological disasters in American history. It will enable high school students and academics alike to study the manner in which Dust Bowl residents confronted and endured the dust storms in the southern Great Plains during the 1930s.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Evaluating and Interpreting Primary Documents
Historical Introduction
Chronology
Chapter 1 The Storms
Introduction
1. An Unusual Texas Duststorm, March 24–25, 1933
2. Report of the Wind Erosion Survey in the Region of the Oklahoma Panhandle and Adjacent Territory, 1933
3. Dust Storms, November 1933 to May 1934
4. Dust Storms, 1935
5. Duststorms in the Southwestern Plains Area, 1935
6. Duststorms of February and March 1936 in the United States
7. Duststorms of January–April 1937 in the United States
8. Duststorms of May–December 1937 in the United States
Chapter 2 Causes
Introduction
9. Memorandum about Wheat Planting, Drought, and Dust Storms, 1933
10. Wind Erosion Endangering Colorado Vegetation, 1934
11. Drought Survival of Native Grass Species in the Central and Southern Plains, 1935
12. Multiple Causes of the Dust Bowl, 1935
13. Dust Storm Causes in the Southwestern Plains, 1936
14. Weather and Drought Conditions and a Call for Government Assistance to Fight Wind Erosion, 1936
15. Natural and Economic Factors Which Affect Rural Rehabilitation of the North Plains of Texas (as typified by Dallam County, Texas), July 1936
16. Emergency Wind-Erosion Control, 1937
17. Crops Against the Wind on the Southern Great Plains, 1939
18. Land Facts on the Southern Plains, 1939
19. Climate and Settlement in the Great Plains, 1942
Chapter 3 Life in the Dust Bowl
Introduction
20. Telegram to Congressman Marvin Jones Requesting Federal Assistance for the Livestock and People in Guymon and Texas County, Oklahoma, and Surrounding Area, 1933
21. Memorandum from the Southern Great Plains Field Station, Woodward, Oklahoma, Reporting Desperate Farmers Planting Wheat and Contributing to Dust Storms, 1933
22. Black Blizzard, 1935
23. Conditions in Western Kansas, Typical of the Dust Bowl, March 1935
24. Soil-Erosion Program, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on the Public Lands, March 1935
25. Kansas State Board of Health Report about the Effect of Dust Storms on Health, 1935
26. Dust Storms through the Years, 1935
27. Humor in the Dust Bowl, 1935
28. Farming Hazards in the Drought Area of Dallam and Hale Counties, Texas, and Curry County, New Mexico, 1935
29. Relief and Rehabilitation Problems in the Winter Wheat and Cotton Areas of the Southern Great Plains, 1935
30. Drought Refugee and Labor Migration to California, 1935
31. Soil Conservation Reconnaissance Survey of the Southern Great Plains and Wind-Erosion Area, 1936
32. Natural and Economic Factors Which Affect Rural Rehabilitation of the North Plains of Texas (as typified by Dallam County Texas), July 1936
33. Refugee Migration to California, 1937
34. The Economic Plight of Farm Families in the Dust Bowl, 1938
35. Economic Distress in the Dust Bowl, 1938
36. Migrants and Resettlement in the Pacific Coast States, 1938
37. Governor Alfred M. Landon of Kansas Reflects on the Dust Bowl, 1978
Chapter 4 Conservation and Restoration
Introduction
38. Report of Wind Erosion Survey in the Region of the Oklahoma Panhandle and Adjacent Territory, 1933
39. Memorandum to the Secretary of Agriculture Regarding a Plan for Control of Wind Erosion in the Region of Southwestern Kansas, Western Oklahoma, and Northwestern Texas in Connection with Agricultural Relief, August 22, 1933
40. Wind Erosion in the Great Plains, 1935
41. Utilization of Crop Residues to Reduce Wind Erosion, 1935
42. Natural and Economic Factors Which Affect Rural Rehabilitation of the North Plains of Texas (as typified by Dallam County, Texas), July 1936
43. Soil Drifting Laws in Kansas and Texas and Three Proposals for Remedial Legislation, 1936
44. The Future of the Great Plains: Report of the Great Plains Committee, 1936
45. Wind-Blown Dust and Soil Erosion, Kansas Senate Bill No. 507, 1937
46. AAA Announces Emergency Wind Erosion Control Program for "Dust Bowl" Area, 1937
47. A Soil Conservation Program for Kansas, 1938
48. A Long View of the Wind-Erosion Problem, 1938
49. Farming Hazards in the Drought Area of Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico, 1938
50. Grass Culture and Range Improvement in the Central and Southern Great Plains, 1939
51. Sand-Dune Reclamation in the Southern Great Plains, 1939
52. Crops against the Wind on the Southern Great Plains Lessons Learned, 1939
53. Our Soil Can Be Saved, 1940
Chapter 5 Land Utilization Projects
Introduction
54. New Mexico Submarginal Land Purchase Project Proposal A-4, January 10, 1935
55. Southern Otero County Land Use Adjustment Project Offer Letter, February 1935
56. Proposed Regulations for the Administration of the Grazing Lands under Control of the Mills Land Project LA-NM 5, Spring 1935
57. Controversy over the Mills County Land Utilization Project, October 1935
58. News Release about the Southeastern Colorado Land Utilization Project, ca. 1936
59. Land Acquisition Plan Morton County Land Utilization and Land Conservation Project, April 1938
60. Opposition to the Morton County, Kansas, Land Utilization Project, January 6, 1939
61. Support for the Morton County Land Utilization Program, January 13, 1939
62. Restraint Urged for Continuing the Morton County, Kansas, Land Utilization Program, February 6, 1939
Chapter 6 The Prairie States Forestry Project
Introduction
63. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1934
64. Possibilities of Shelterbelt Planting in the Plains Region, 1935
65. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1935
66. The Plains Shelterbelt Project in Kansas, 1935
67. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1936
68. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1937
69. Forestry for the Great Plains, September 15, 1937
70. Progress Report of the Work of the Forest Service in Kansas, July 1, 1937, to June 30, 1938
71. Progress Report of the Work of the Forest Service in Kansas, July 1, 1938, to December 31, 1938
72. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1939
73. Summary Report of the Prairie States Forestry Project, December 15, 1939
Selected Bibliography
Index
