During most of the 1930s, the Great Plains region was devastated by drought and high winds. Howling across the Great Plains, these winds whipped up the soil of the over-farmed land and created blizzards of dust. These “black blizzards” were so thick and blinding that daylight seemed more like dusk. Year after year passed without rain, the winds continued to blow, and the dust swirled endlessly. During this terrible period the region came to be called the Dust Bowl.

But the cause of the dust blizzards wasn’t just drought and wind. In a strange way patriotism was partly to blame. During World War I, the U.S. government encouraged farmers to support the war effort by planting more wheat. Farmers were eager to do their part to help feed the soldiers overseas. As farmers increased their production, their own profits increased. Following the invention of the farm tractor, farmers plowed up thousands of acres of grassland and planted wheat. Wheat production skyrocketed, but nature soon turned success into disaster.

When the drought began, farmers didn’t realize that by plowing up the grasslands, they had destroyed the land’s natural protection against soil erosion. The deep roots of the prairie grasses, which had always held the soil in place, were now gone. As the drought continued, one powerful windstorm after another blew across the prairie. Crops dried up and blew away. The dry topsoil rose in towering clouds and rolled across the land, blotting out the sun.

The dust storms made life miserable for the families of the Great Plains. Drifts of dust blanketed fences, porches, and farm equipment. Even people’s homes offered little protection against the thick dust. Inside the houses everything was coated with layers of dirt.

Nothing grew for years. Eventually most of the rich topsoil blew away. As the years passed, all the moisture in the ground evaporated, leaving even the deep roots of trees in powdery dust. Trees and animals died, and unproductive farms left families in poverty and despair.

The Great Plains became a desolate place as thousands of people fled to California to escape the dust and look for work. Most found only low-paying agricultural jobs. But there were those who refused to leave. For these farmers, a reprieve was on its way. A federal program encouraged farmers to utilize new methods that would protect the precious topsoil from eroding. But revitalizing the soil took time, and the farmers still needed rain. It wasn’t until the fall of 1939 that the farmers began to experience the rain they had been so desperate for. After that, rain began to come regularly again. Rain meant more to the farmers than it ever had before. It meant a future.