The+Dust+Bowl

The Dust Bowl
I can't imagine how hard it would've been to live in the Dust Bowl. Imagine the hopelessness of the situation. During the 1930s, around 1/3 of the United States were farmers and large amounts of food was produced in the Dust Bowl region. Due to the crash of the stock market in 1929, almost a quarter of the population was unemployed. Farmers had it hard as it was. My grandparents have told me stories about the annual routine their parents and other farmers who lived in Genola went about each year in order to produce crops. Prior to the Great Depression, each spring, farmers would borrow money in order to buy seed and maintain their crops. In the fall, after harvest and farmers had sold their crops, they would repay their loans. They went through this routine each year. During the Great Depression, and most especially in the Dust Bowl region, farmers were struggling. Due to the six years of drought, farmers were not able to repay their seed loans because they had not been able to produce any crops. Therefore, they did not have money to repay loans. This put banks and others who were not farmers in a tight spot. It began a vicious cycle that took years to resolve. The dust was relentless, the heat unbearable, and the situation heartbreaking. From the letter I was able to learn more about the daily life during the Dust Bowl. I've had a very small taste of what if must've been like, living in a small farming community. Sometimes during the spring, when farmers are plowing their fields, and a storm moves it, I can almost imagine what it must've been like. I don't know how they did it. It would've been quite depressing, facing it year after year. However, I can understand how hard it would've been to try and leave. To pick up roots, leave everything you've know, possibly family. It would've been so.