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The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl - Photograph Collage

A great drought and fierce wind storms destroyed numerous farms and ranches in the Great Plains during the 1930s. In many places, twenty-foot drifts of sand covered the roads, and farm houses and outbuildings were partially buried by wind-driven sand and soil. The photos that follow show the effects of the Dust Bowl drought and winds. If you had been a farmer living in the areas shown in the photos, how do you think you would have felt? What choices do you think were available to farmers to make a living and care for a family?

Click on the photographs to view larger images. View additional images from FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point.

abandoned farm

Abandoned farm, dust bowl area of Oklahoma

 soil blown by dust bowl

Soil blown by "dust bowl", near Liberal, Kansas
farmer raising fence

Farmer raising fence..., Cimarron County, Oklahoma

 adobe farm house

Adobe farm house of rehabilitation client, Cimarron County, Oklahoma

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Click on the photographs to view larger images. View additional images from FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945.Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point.

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Last updated 09/26/2002