The Dust Bowl
Throughout history, man has been at the absolute mercy of mother nature. The decade preceeding the 1930's was an era of agriciltural prosperity, then a terrible drought affected over 100 million acres of land in parts of five states-Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Terrible, violent dust storms called 'black blizzards' swept the open plains.Howevwer, the dust storms may not have been as devastating if settlers and farmers had not cleared the land for farming at such an alarming rate."The Dust Bowl was the inevitable outcome of a culture that deliberately, self-conciously set itself that task of dominating and exploiting the land for all it was worth."(pg.6) Few, if any, realized the long-term affects of breaking so much ground so quickly. The wet cycle which enabled the farmers to prosper would soon be over and the storms would begin. Capitalistic gain was the motivating factor which lead to the clearing of the millions of acres of grazing land in the plains area.