Before You Move Ons

“The Dirty Thirties” Before You Move Ons

Pg. 297 1. A “dry farmer” is a farmer who depends on the rain for his or her water and not irrigation systems, reservoirs or canals. 2. I think the Panhandle farmers were poor because “when there wasn’t enough rain they were forced to sell” things and they had to borrow money from the banks. 3. The factors that led to the loss of so many farms in 1932 were 1) the stock market crash, 2) the great depression beginning, 3) farmers not being able to pay their bills, and 4) banks taking back control of farms.

Pg. 301 1. The Dust Bowl was from “the western half of Kansas, the eastern half of Colorado, the northeast portion of New Mexico, and Northern Texas.” 2. Horace described the storms as “[boiling] red, blood red.” These words show me he felt the storms were powerful and brought injury or death. 3. Some of the things the Okies did in response to the Dust Storms were putting wet towels in cracks around windows and doors, hiding in root cellars, checking the animals, and tying down equipment.

Pg. 305 1. Patsy Lamb and her family cried when they saw the San Joaquin valley because it was so green and there was no sign of dust. They were happy because they felt they had made the right choice in coming to Californ-I-A. 2. The Okies faced more hunger and misery in California because the growers had advertised for too many workers and there were not enough jobs to go around. 3. I would characterize the attitude of the Okies who headed to California as brave because they went somewhere new without being sure that it was going to be better and for at least trying to improve their situation.