Article 7: The Dust Bowl

​Studies Weekly Week 24

The Dust Bowl

​For decades, settlers had built homesteads on the Great Plains of the United States, which extend into northern Texas. They broke the sod and plowed the land. Unfortunately, in the Southern Plains region, the rain stopped falling in 1931. A severe drought took over the region. With no rain, crops died, leaving barren fields. Then the wind began to blow. With no deep-rooted prairie grass to keep the soil in place, the topsoil was swept away.

Multiple Choice

For decades, settlers had built homesteads on the __________ of the United States, which extend into northern Texas.

• Coastal Plains

• Eastern Plains

• Great Plains

• Western Plains

Multiple Choice

When did the rain stop falling in the Southern Plains region?

• 1930

• 1931

• 1932

• 1939

​This resulted in huge, severe storms that buried everything in their path with layers of fine, powdery dust. The blowing dust choked livestock. Dust filtered through cracks around windows and beneath doors, filling farmhouses. Continually breathing the polluted air resulted in dust pneumonia. Dust was everywhere. Some of the most severe storms, black blizzards, carried Midwestern dirt all the way to Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Multiple Choice

Some of the most severe storms, black blizzards, carried Midwestern dirt all the way to __________.

• Atlanta and Jacksonville

• Los Angeles and San Francisco

• Portland and Seattle

• Washington, D.C., and New York City

​Many farmers in Texas gave up and left their farms in search of other employment. Other farmers stuck it out until the regular rains returned in 1939. Farmers who weathered the storms began to practice better farming techniques. They began to rotate crops and plant rows of trees to break the wind.

Multiple Choice

True or False

Farmers who weathered the storms began to practice better farming techniques.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

When did the Dust Bowl end?

• 1929

• 1931

• 1939