The Dust Bowl of the 1930's

It was the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s, a time when drought choked the Great Plains stretching across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado. Soil from America's breadbasket filled the skies. Sometimes a single dust storm lingered for days.

The storms were the result of drought and poor agricultural practices. Grasslands, which held soil in place, had been plowed and replanted with wheat. With rain, the crop was abundant. But when drought struck in the 1930s, farmers continued to plow and plant. With no ground cover remaining, the winds whipped the soil skyward.

In 1941, the 94th Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 646, authorizing the formation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts to develop and implement programs to conserve soil, water and related programs. Between 1942 and 1963, soil conservation districts were formed in every county in Ohio. Wayne County was formed in the year 1947. 

Photo credit: NOAA Photo Library