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Dust Bowl Storms Timeline

(1930 - 1940)

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that devastated the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. Caused by drought and poor farming practices that stripped the soil of its natural grasses, massive dust clouds buried farms, destroyed crops, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to abandon their homes in the Great Plains. Less

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Settlement and Agriculture

Homestead Act offers settlers 160-acre plots

1862

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. This policy drew waves of farmers to the Great Plains and set the stage for the extensive cultivation that would later contribute to the Dust Bowl.

Image source: Homestead Acts

Homestead Act offers settlers 160-acre plots

End of Civil War spurs migration to Great Plains

1865

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.

Image source: Great Plains

End of Civil War spurs migration to Great Plains

Harsh winters and drought push landowners toward cultivation

1886

While initial agricultural endeavors were primarily cattle ranching, the harsh winters' adverse effect on cattle beginning in 1886, a short drought in 1890, and general overgrazing led many landowners to increase the amount of land under cultivation.

Waves of European settlers arrive in the plains

1900

Waves of European settlers arrived in the plains at the beginning of the 20th century, dramatically increasing the population and the amount of land converted to agriculture.

Image source: Dust Bowl

Waves of European settlers arrive in the plains

Farmland doubles then triples in Llano Estacado

1900 - 1930

In the Llano Estacado of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, the area of farmland doubled between 1900 and 1920, then tripled between 1925 and 1930, as mechanized agriculture pushed onto fragile grasslands.

Image source: Llano Estacado

Farmland doubles then triples in Llano Estacado

Kinkaid Act expands homestead grants in western Nebraska

1904

The government expanded on the 160 acres offered under the Homestead Act, granting 640 acres (260 ha) to homesteaders in western Nebraska under the Kinkaid Act of 1904.

Image source: Kinkaid Act

Kinkaid Act expands homestead grants in western Nebraska

Enlarged Homestead Act grants 320 acres across the Plains

1909

The Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 granted 320 acres (130 ha) elsewhere in the Great Plains, further encouraging settlement and cultivation of marginal lands.

Drought and Dust Storms

Region enters an unusually dry era

1930

After fairly favorable climatic conditions in the 1920s with good rainfall and relatively moderate winters, which permitted increased settlement and cultivation in the Great Plains, the region entered an unusually dry era in the summer of 1930.

First recorded dust storm strikes

Sep 14, 1930

The first recorded dust storm of the Dust Bowl era occurred on September 14, 1930, heralding the beginning of nearly a decade of devastating wind erosion across the Great Plains.

Severe dust storms strip South Dakota topsoil

Nov 11, 1933

On November 11, 1933, a very strong dust storm stripped topsoil from desiccated South Dakota farmlands in one of a series of severe dust storms that year.

Red snow falls on New England

1934 - 1935

That winter (1934–35), red snow fell on New England, as dust carried from the Great Plains mixed with snowfall thousands of miles from its source.

Three waves of drought define the Dust Bowl years

1934 - 1940

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. During the next decade, the northern plains suffered four of their seven driest calendar years since 1895, and Kansas four of its 12 driest.

Two-day dust storm removes massive amounts of topsoil

May 9, 1934 - May 11, 1934

Beginning on May 9, 1934, a strong, two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl, carrying dust as far as the East Coast.

Black Sunday black blizzards strike the Plains

Apr 14, 1935

On April 14, 1935, known as 'Black Sunday', the day started out clear and warm, with temperatures in the 80s and the air completely still, causing many people to let down their guard before massive black blizzards descended on the region.

Image source: Black Sunday (storm)

Black Sunday black blizzards strike the Plains

Drought ends as regular rainfall returns

1939

In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region, bringing relief to the battered Great Plains.

Record rains hit the region; Kansas bulletin on native grasses

1941

The entire region south to West Texas lacked any period of above-normal rainfall until record rains hit in 1941. That year, a Kansas agricultural experiment station also released a bulletin suggesting reestablishing native grasses by the 'hay method'.

Human Impact and Migration

About 3.5 million people leave the Plains states

1930 - 1940

Between 1930 and 1940, about 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states — a number greater than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 gold rush. The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families, unable to pay mortgages or grow crops, to abandon their farms, with losses reaching $25 million per day by 1936 (equivalent to $580 million in 2025).

Many families forced to leave their farms

1935

In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms as crops failed and dust storms made agriculture impossible, joining the growing exodus from the Plains states.

Survey shows only 43% of migrants did farm work

1939

An examination of Census Bureau statistics and other records, and a 1939 survey by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of about 116,000 families who arrived in California in the 1930s, showed that only 43% of Southwesterners were doing farm work immediately before they migrated.

Erosion-linked decline in agricultural land values

1940

By 1940, counties that had experienced the most erosion had a greater decline in agricultural land values, showing the lasting economic damage inflicted by the Dust Bowl on the hardest-hit areas.

One-eighth of Californians claim Okie heritage

2007

As of 2007, about one-eighth of California's population was of Okie heritage, reflecting the enduring demographic legacy of the Dust Bowl migrations of the 1930s.

Image source: Okie

One-eighth of Californians claim Okie heritage

Study finds modest wage impacts from the Dust Bowl

2023

A 2023 study in the Journal of Economic History found that while the Dust Bowl had large and enduring impacts on agricultural land, it had modest impacts on average wage incomes.

Government Response

Roosevelt's first 100 days launch soil conservation programs

1933

During Roosevelt's first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the region's ecological balance as part of the New Deal response to the crisis.

Image source: New Deal

Roosevelt's first 100 days launch soil conservation programs

Soil Erosion Service established under Hugh Hammond Bennett

Aug 1933

Interior Secretary Harold Ickes established the Soil Erosion Service in August 1933 under Hugh Hammond Bennett, marking the federal government's first major organized effort to combat soil erosion.

Image source: Natural Resources Conservation Service

Soil Erosion Service established under Hugh Hammond Bennett

Soil Erosion Service becomes Soil Conservation Service

1935

In 1935, the Soil Erosion Service was transferred and reorganized under the Department of Agriculture and renamed the Soil Conservation Service, expanding federal efforts to promote soil-saving practices.

Federal government forms Drought Relief Service

1935

In 1935, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service (DRS) to coordinate relief activities and assist drought-stricken farming communities across the country.

President's Drought Committee issues report

1935

The President's Drought Committee issued a report in 1935 covering the government's assistance to agriculture during 1934 through mid-1935: it discussed conditions, measures of relief, organization, finances, operations, and results of the government's assistance.

Federal campaign promotes soil-conserving methods

1937

In 1937, the federal government began an aggressive campaign to encourage Dust Bowl farmers to adopt planting and plowing methods that conserved the soil. The government paid reluctant farmers a dollar an acre (equivalent to $22 in 2025) to use the new methods. The 'hay method', developed that year to speed up reestablishment of native pasture, was originally supposed to occur naturally over 25–40 years.

Conservation effort reduces blowing soil by 65%

1938

By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new planting and plowing methods promoted by the government.

Cultural Legacy

Associated Press coins the term 'Dust Bowl'

Apr 15, 1935

Reporter Robert Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma, to witness the 'Black Sunday' black blizzards of April 14, 1935; Edward Stanley, the Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, coined the term 'Dust Bowl' while rewriting Geiger's news story.

Steinbeck publishes Of Mice and Men

1937

John Steinbeck's 1937 novel Of Mice and Men became one of the major cultural works depicting the hardships of itinerant workers during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression era.

Image source: Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck publishes Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath

1939

Author John Steinbeck, borrowing closely from field notes taken by Farm Security Administration worker and author Sanora Babb, wrote The Grapes of Wrath (1939) about migrant workers and farm families displaced by the Dust Bowl.

Image source: The Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath

Sanora Babb writes Whose Names Are Unknown

1939

Babb's own novel about the lives of the migrant workers, Whose Names Are Unknown, was written in 1939, but was eclipsed and shelved in response to Steinbeck's success, and was not published till 2004.

Image source: Whose Names Are Unknown

Sanora Babb writes Whose Names Are Unknown

Guthrie releases Dust Bowl Ballads

1940

Many of folk singer Woody Guthrie's songs, such as those on his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, when he traveled with displaced farmers from Oklahoma to California, earning him the nickname the 'Dust Bowl Troubadour'.

Image source: Dust Bowl Ballads

Guthrie releases Dust Bowl Ballads

HBO series Carnivàle set during the Dust Bowl

2003 - 2005

The 2003–2005 HBO TV series Carnivàle was set during the Dust Bowl period, bringing the era's atmosphere of desperation and displacement to television audiences.

Image source: Carnivàle

HBO series Carnivàle set during the Dust Bowl

Interstellar features a new Dust Bowl-era America

2014

The 2014 science fiction film Interstellar features a ravaged 21st-century America again scoured by dust storms caused by a worldwide pathogen affecting all crops. Along with inspiration from the 1930s crisis, director Christopher Nolan featured interviews from the 2012 documentary The Dust Bowl to draw further parallels.

Image source: Interstellar (film)

Interstellar features a new Dust Bowl-era America

Grant Maloy Smith releases Dust Bowl – American Stories

2017

In 2017, Americana recording artist Grant Maloy Smith released the album Dust Bowl – American Stories, inspired by the history of the Dust Bowl.

Image source: Grant Maloy Smith

Grant Maloy Smith releases Dust Bowl – American Stories

Key Facts

  1. The Dust Bowl primarily affected the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, an area known as the Great Plains.
  2. Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, was one of the worst dust storms in history, turning day into night across much of the region.
  3. Severe drought combined with over-farming and the removal of native prairie grasses left topsoil exposed to wind erosion.
  4. An estimated 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states during the 1930s, many migrating to California as 'Okies.'
  5. The disaster led to federal soil conservation programs, including the Soil Conservation Service established in 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Source

This Dust Bowl Storms timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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