The Great Depression and Dust Bowl

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The Great Depression and Dust Bowl

• Essential Questions
• Analyze the political, economic, and social
  impact of the Great Depression on Texas
• Explain how the Dust Bowl affected the political,
  economic, and social development of Texas

Dorothea Langes haunting portrait of a migrant
worker cradling her two young children.
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The Great Depression Begins

• Herbert Hoover became President of the U.S. in
  1929.
• He had been in office for only 7 months when Wall
  Street stock market prices fell
  sharplyculminated on Oct. 29, aka Black
  Tuesday.

3
Stock Market Crash of 1929

• Many investors, hoping to make quick fortunes,
  drove up the price of stock.
• Some investors borrowed money heavily to buy
  stocks, and when stock prices fell, those
  investors and the banks that loaned them money
  were wiped out.

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The Great Depression Expands Nationwide

• Factories closed
• Widespread unemployment
• Low morale
• Hoover greatly underestimated the severity of the
  crisis and believed that relief efforts should
  begin at the state and city levels.
• Hoovervilles emergeshanty towns built by
  homeless people

5
Too Much Oil

• Ross Sterling elected as governor in 1930
• Wildcatter, Columbus Marion Dad Joiner, drilled
  an oil well in northern Rusk County.
• First well of the East Texas Oil Field largest
  ever at the time
• Provided jobs for farmers and timber workers

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Oil Overproduction

• Overproduction caused oil prices to drastically
  drop.
• 1931 - TRC issued an order for operators to limit
  production, but they still pump oil anyway
• Governor Sterling declared martial law and sent
  Texas National Guard to enforce it
• 1935 - oil prices stabilize

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Crisis for Cotton Farmers

• 1920s Price of cotton declines
• 1930s Stored cotton created large surpluses and
  drops price even lower
• Texas Dept. of Agriculture urged farmers to
  reduce number of acres planted in cotton.

8
Wheat Overproduction

• After World War I, when wheat prices were high,
  farmers tried to earn more money by planting more
  crops.
• But, during the 1920s, wheat prices dropped
  drastically from overproduction.

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Dust Storms Blanket the High Plains

• Farmers plowed under the grasses of the plains to
  plant crops, but nothing could hold the soil down
  from strong winds.
• A severe drought occurred in the 1930s and dust
  storms made the area into a Dust Bowl.

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ustbowl/player/
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• Lasted for seven years
• Generally covered a five-state area Colorado,
  Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas
• Motorists often could not see 20 feet down the
  street
• People became ill from lung diseases
• Many families lost their farms because of the
  difficult economic times