The Dust Bowl Years

The Dust Bowl Years. Burlington Colorado. The Great American Dust Bowl lasted from 1930 until 1939 and was really the "perfect storm" that had an impact on generations of families throughout the mid-west. "Suitcase farmers" from all over the country came to the plains where land was cheap and wheat was profitable. They would plant wheat in the fall, leave the area, return just to harvest the wheat and leave again. When the price of wheat dramatically fell to .20 cents per bushel they never returned, leaving thousands of acres lying barren. The extensive acres of exposed scil coupled with drought and poor farming practices caused an environmental disaster of then-unknown consequences., swept through the region from the north and then into Kansas travelling at 60 miles per hour. The density of the storm was such that it was said to have suffocated entire flocks of geese and ducks. , Amidst the devastation of these dust storms and low wheat prices, many families who had borrowed money for their land and equipment left the region broke, never to return. This caused one of the biggest migrations of rural families back to urban areas in the history of the United States of America. , During the Great Depression, many families were able to keep their homes with the help of government programs such as the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). Many worthwhile projects such as city streets, curbs and gutters, buildings and school houses were funded jointly by federal and local governments to create paid jobs for the unemployed and to establish municipal infrastructures. , A W.P.A. sewing room was established in Burlington which provided work for women distributing shipped-in food and sewing garments and mattresses for families with little or no income. The program especially benefited rural communities and the west.