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state, vast expanses of prairie were
plowed up to plant crops. Kansas
quickly established itself as one of the
nation’s top farm states. By the mid-
1880s, flour milling had become its
leading industry.
Kansas’ agricultural boom was a
mixed blessing. In good years, many
farmers prospered. But cultivating the
prairie left the land vulnerable to a
serious problem: dust storms. The
prairie grass had acted as a natural
protective barrier against erosion.
Without the thick roots of the grass to
hold the soil in place, the plowed land
was exposed to the strong winds of the
Plains. When periods of drought hit,
the fragile topsoil blew away in great
clouds of dust.
The 1930s were a period of severe
23
Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
A huge cloud of dust can be seen behind the buildings in the city of Elkhart, in southwestern
Kansas, May 1937. A series of droughts during the 1930s were compounded by the use of farm-
ing methods that were not appropriate for the Great Plains. These created the conditions for mas-
sive dust storms, and ultimately resulted in thousands of Kansas families having to abandon their
unprofitable farms.