Name ___________________________________
Period ___________________
Homework: The Dust Bowl during the Great Depression
The Dust Bowl
In the late nineteenth century, settlers on the
Great Plains turned the semiarid region into the
breadbasket of America, growing vast fields of
wheat and other crops. Intensive farming
destroyed the region’s native grasses and
loosened the soil. At first, this was not a
problem, as the Great Plains experienced higher
than normal rainfall in the late 1800s. Over
time, however, farmers exhausted the soil.
When rainfall began to decline and
temperatures rose in the 1920s, the soil began
to dry out. In 1932, a full-scale drought hit. The
fierce heat dried the exhausted soil into fine
dust like particles. The high winds of the open
plains easily lifted the dirt into the air creating
“dust storms.” In 1932 alone, 14 dust storms
struck the Great Plains. These storms carried
the soil of the Great Plains hundreds of miles.
In May 1934, a huge storm dumped piles of dirt
in Chicago. Further east, silt from the storm
collected on the windows of the White House.
How did the Dust Bowl Affect Americans
The “Dust Bowl” is sometimes called a humanmade natural disaster. The drought and rising
temperatures of the 1930s were a natural
disaster. But the dust storms were humanmade, the result of decades of over cultivation.
These “black blizzards” scoured and buried
homes, ruined vehicle engines, and diminished
visibility. The blowing dirt could injure eyes and
damage lungs; it even suffocated people. As
the drought destroyed their livelihood, and the
dust storms destroyed their belongings, many
farmers abandoned the land, packed up their
families, and fled the region in search of work
elsewhere
You will need to use the maps found on my website: mrsreesehistory.weebly.com. Click on More. Click
Dust Bowl Maps. Use these two maps to help you with this assignment. You will need two light hued
colored pencils to complete the assignment. NEATNESS COUNTS!
1. Label on your map the following cities and states affected by the Great Depression.
Cities
Amarillo
New York City
Dodge City
San Francisco
Chicago
States
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
Knoxville
Washington, D.C.
Kansas
California
North Dakota
Texas
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Nebraska
Colorado
South Dakota
Wyoming
Tennessee
Maryland
Virginia
Pennsylvania
New York
2. Using one color of pencil, shade the area damaged by the dust storms. This will be the larger
area of the two.
3. Using another color shade the area which was the most severely damaged. This is the smaller
area.
4. Draw the migration routes from the Dust Bowl to the West.
5. Make a box for the map key in the box at the bottom of the map. In the box,
A. title the map
B. draw small boxes and indicate the 2 colored areas which have been shaded. Use the map
key on the internet map as your guide.
C. And draw a line with an arrow to indicate the migration route
6. Answer the following questions.
A. Which states had areas that were damaged by dust storms? Name 10 __________________
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B. Which states had areas of severe damage? Name 5 _________________________________
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C. Approximately how many miles long was the area damaged by dust storms? (Use the
mileage gage on the bottom of the map.) _________________________________________
D. To what West Coast states did many of the migrants from the Dust Bowl move in hopes of
finding a better life? Name 3 ___________________________________________________
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E. Approximately how many miles would a family in Amarillo trying to escape the Bust Bowl
have to travel to reach Los Angeles? (Use mileage gage)______________________________
F. Which major eastern cities shown on the map might have had large numbers of
unemployed seeking food, shelter, and jobs? Name 4 _______________________________
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G. What were the two main highways that people took to leave the Dust Bowl and where did
they lead? __________________________________________________________________
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H. What created the conditions for the large dust storms in this region of the country?
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I.
If you lived in Dodge City and had to relocate west, where would you go? Why?
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