Waves of European settlers arrived in the plains at the beginning of the 20th century. government expanded on the 160 acres (65 ha) offered under the Homestead Act, granting 640 acres (260 ha) to homesteaders in western Nebraska under the Kinkaid Act (1904) and 320 acres (130 ha) elsewhere in the Great Plains under the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. Recognizing the challenge of cultivating marginal arid land, the U.S. While initial agricultural endeavors were primarily cattle ranching, the harsh winters' adverse effect on the cattle, beginning in 1886, a short drought in 1890, and general overgrazing, led many landowners to increase the amount of land under cultivation. An unusually wet period in the Great Plains mistakenly led settlers and the federal government to believe that " rain follows the plow" (a popular phrase among real estate promoters) and that the region's climate had permanently changed. With the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, waves of new migrants and immigrants reached the Great Plains and greatly increased the acreage under cultivation. The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the Homestead Act of 1862, offering settlers " quarter section" 160-acre (65 ha) plots. The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive than other areas for pioneer settlement and agriculture. During early European and American exploration of the Great Plains, this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture explorers called it the Great American Desert. The region is also subject to high winds. During wet years, the rich soil provides bountiful agricultural output, but crops fail during dry years. The region is also prone to extended drought, alternating with unusual wetness of equivalent duration. The area is semiarid, receiving less than 20 in (510 mm) of rain annually this rainfall supports the shortgrass prairie biome originally present in the area. Elevation ranges from 2,500 ft (760 m) in the east to 6,000 ft (1,800 m) at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The Dust Bowl area lies principally west of the 100th meridian on the High Plains, characterized by plains that vary from rolling in the north to flat in the Llano Estacado. Geographic characteristics and early history A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas, in 1935. ![]() The Dust Bowl has been the subject of many cultural works, including John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, the folk music of Woody Guthrie, and Dorothea Lange's photographs depicting the conditions of migrants, particularly Migrant Mother, taken in 1936. The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as long as eight years. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and human-made factors: a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion, most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region. The Dust Bowl was the result of a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The most severely affected counties during this period are colored. ![]() Map of states and counties affected by the Dust Bowl between 19 originally prepared by the Soil Conservation Service. Iconic photo entitled " Dust Bowl Cimarron County, Oklahoma" taken by Arthur Rothstein. For other uses, see Dust Bowl (disambiguation).Ī farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, April 1936.
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