The Dust Bowl Years
The Dust Bowl Years of 1932-37 were caused by drought and bad agricultural practices. 80 mile per hour winds roared through black blizzards, making drifts of dirt 30 feet deep. The Dust Bowl covered 300,000 square miles. A half a million people fled their homes. Cows that grazed in the Dust Bowl later died from mud balls that formed in their intestinal tract. Many farmers suffocated in the field or succumbed to “dust pneumonia”. Clouds of dust darkened the sky as far away as New York City and Washington D.C., where President Roosevelt found a film of prairie dust on his desk. 650 million tons of topsoil were blown away.
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When I was a kid, everyone put their glasses away upside down. I just thought it was the proper way. My mother also used shelf paper that she changed frequently, I guess for the same reason. Thanks for the info! 
Can't remember its title. A co-worker loaned it to me. Really scary stuff. I can't remember if Ken Burns wrote it, or if he based his documentary on the book, but I wish this information was required learning for everyone. We really need to not repeat these kinds of mistakes.
sure, there was drought, but it was the "bad agricultural practices" that really sealed the deal. Let's see, a natural cycle amplified by stupid human practices based on profit turns into a major environmental disaster. I guess that could never happen again, right?
...and yeah, that is 
for the irony challenged.
