Dustland to Grassland

The storms of the Dust Bowl are legendary, epitomized in the April 14, 1935 ‘duster’ which gave the date the name "Black Sunday." Despite the fame of the Dust Bowl, the recovery from it is much less well known. The History Guy remembers a story of the massive undertaking that changed the relationship of Americans to their land. It is a moving story of appropriate land use and stewardship that deserves to be remembered.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

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Script by JCG

#history #thehistoryguy #dustbowl

[cephasmartin]

My dad used to talk about the dust bowl days, and was more than a little dismayed when young farmers began tearing out shelterbelts. The land I farmed was highly erodible and there were farmers around me who tore out shelterbelts and tree rows so they could farm fence row to fence row. The best thing I did for my land was put most of it back to native grasses. I don't make as much from the land, but the grass is beautiful and makes excellent hay.

[JSCRocketScientist]

My Father-in-law worked for the CCC. He supported his mother and sister as a teenager. He agreed that we can face these challenges!

[ronaldmcdonald]

I suspect most kids nowadays don't appreciate how good they have it now. The Greatest Generation lived through the Dust Bowl, Great Depression, and WWII.

[douglassauvageau]

"Disasters can be overcome". A profound statement 'rooted' in humanity.

[texanasimmons]

My grandmother was born in southern Oklahoma and as a child her family moved to the Texas panhandle.
When I would visit my grandparents and aunts, uncles and my great-grandparents, I would hear assorted stories of their memories of The Dustbowl days.
One memory was a favorite of my uncle who was about 12-13 yrs old and he saw a storm coming their way. As it got closer it began to veer away from their farm.
When it got to the area just west of their farm he noticed that he could see into this rolling dust. He said it was like looking into a large, open-ended tube.
One left-over habit of my 'Dustbowl' family had was taking a table knife and pushing cotton into the cracks around the windows, to keep the very fine dust out of the house.
When my grandmother would sweep her floors, she would wrap a piece of wet fabric around the bristles of the broom and fasten it with straight pins. She said it got the fine dust/sand off the floor better. She would sweep the dirt into a dustpan then dump it outside the back door. Then she unpinned the cloth, rinsed it out and hung it on a nail in the broom closet.

[ac_in_tuc]

My mother was an okie during the time of the dust. She told me many stories but one that stands out. She remembered waking up, many times, as a young person (about 6 years old) and having a halo of dust forming a perfect outline of her head on her pillow. Sleeping with a piece of wet cloth covering her nose and mouth to keep the dirt from turning to mud in her mouth. History worth remembering...thank you sir for sharing this video...very good content, as usual.

[markhollis]

I grew up in Kansas. My grandfather had wind rows on his property and, towards the end of his life bemoaned the fact that many wheat farmers were plowing under the wind rows planted in the 1930s to preserve the soil. My father was born in 1931 in Osage County, Kansas. He and his older sister were babies when the dust storms came through. Both came down with pulmonary fibrosis from the dust in their 70s. The dust storms did more than just blacken the sky. They killed, many years later.

[lynnwood]

My mother spoke of how once when she was a child living in Sioux Falls South Dakota she went next door to play with her friend.

A dust storm came up and the day turned to night where literally you could not see, and if outside could not breathe.

The telephone still worked. The adults determined it was best she stayed until her father could come get her. Grandfather tied a rope to himself which grandmother let out.

Now this was in the built up city proper, the houses next to each other. He had a bandana over his face, carrying a pillowcase for my mother to put over her head.

He made his way next door by memory as it was so dark. My mother placed the pillowcase over her head and was carried by her father back to the house, he guided by the rope as grandmother pulled it back in.

The day was Sunday November 12, 1933, she just having just turned eight years old.

[bradleyberdahl]

Im an outdoorsman, and I live in North Dakota..my dad grew up in the dirty 30s in a sod house so I say.."GOD BLESS YOUR FATHER AND HIS

[pixeldragon]

Being called a Good Man is all we can hope for when it comes to being remembered by our children. Hats off to your family

[ESmyth-nuug]

13:13 ... Why the heck do the endings of your episodes have me getting legitimately choked up, with a tear in my eye

[XHollisWood]

My Wife’s Grand Parents were from Nebraska and the dirty 30’s. I started my Firefighter Career with The Forest Service. Thank you THG

[tommunyon]

My father was 10 and living in northwest Kansas when Black Sunday occurred. He went on to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps as a teenager, surveying for shelter belt plantings.

[rainydaylady]

I lived in Arizona and saw many dust storms. It was scary when driving because you had to pull over (on the highway) and couldn't see a thing. If you didn't have AC you had to sit in a hot car without being able to open a window. Luckily, they didn't last long, but it gave me a new understanding of how awful the Dust Bowl was.

[jeanmm]

I saw a lengthy documentary about the dustbowl. It's a fascinating subject. I would love to visit the grasslands, from here in the northeast.

[rexmyers]

The “dust bowl phenomena” was still going on in Texas in the early sixties. I remember the dust blowing so thick and so hard that you COULD NOT go outdoors. We remained in the house until the dust storm (as they were called) passed. The dust was so fine that it would find its way in through the walls and windows. There would always be a small pile of dust on the floor under the wall outlet in my bedroom. You could see the dust coming through the electrical outlet and pile into the floor.

[kenkeep]

I am a historic architect working on a project in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma and about a mile away is the Parallel Forest which was a test site for forest wind breaks. It was planted in the 1930s, I believe and is 16 acre of red cedars planted 6 feet apart from each other.

[TheYeti]

I love that this ended as a story of hope and recognition of humanities adaptability.

[bradmitchell]

Back in the 80's we had a hot dry summer in NE South Dakota. I knew a lady who'd lived through the dust bowl and she proclaimed, "This is the dirty 30's all over again" This was before my neighbors turned to "no till" which meant they didn't disc their fields until they were black with nothing laying on the surface except dirt. Another time an elderly gentleman and I were talking. It turned out he'd been in the CCC and had planted the shelterbelt behind my house which still stands today. I also urge anyone who visits South Dakota to visit the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. 8 miles S of Wall SD is an ideal place to camp where you can look E and see what looks like forever while your camped on the "wall" that overlooks some of the badlands. Just remember to pick up after yourselves before you leave.

[RolloTonéBrownTown]

Dust in the wind baby dust in the wind. Kansas said it first and Kansas said it best. Rock on brother