How did settlers on the great planes help create the dust bowl?

Answer 1

The dust bowl the occurred in prairie states which included Kansas and Oklahoma. The prairies were covered with prairie plants, mostly grass. This formed a natural sod which was rather deep. The sod kept the soil in place during times of low rainfall. When farmers came to this area they plowed up the sod exposing the soil. For this reason they were called 'sod busters'. In the 30s a large drought occurred. When winds blew, soil was picked up and blew about. More and more soil was picked up and blown about. This time was called the dirty 30s. Sometimes people would get the soil blown in their eyes and never saw again. The dirt was blown as far as Washington DC. Washington finally came up with the Soil Conservation Act. Farming practices were changed to preserve the soil. Teddy Roosevelt was President at this time.