Book Report: The Worst Hard Time

15. The Worst Hard Time is a book focused on the survivor accounts of people living through the dust bowl in areas affected by the disaster, like Oklahoma and Texas. It tells of the stories of these people who witnessed 10,000 foot high clouds of dust whip across the land, and the way it affected the people, the animals, and the landscape, effectively destroying one of the richest ecosystems on the planet.

16. Blowing at about 50 mph, the dust storms of the 1930’s were powerful enough to scrape the paint off of buildings, crush trees, and even dent cars, before piling into huge 50 foot tall mounds. If any plantlife managed to survive the winds, millions of grasshoppers would finish it off in return. Children died of dust pneumonia, and livestock and cattle suffocated on dirt. Women hung wet sheets on windows, taped doors, and stuffed cracks with rags in attempt to block the dust from getting in, but nothing worked.

17.  In 1935, Roosevelt established the Soil Conservation Service, who built natural barriers, irrigation ponds, holding tanks, and rotated crops. Grass was restored in some areas, but after the rain returned, and prices for crops rose again, farmers harvested the landscape once again, causing the dust to return. The High Plains have yet to fully recover from this.