Colorado Experience: The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl was a dark and dreary time for many Coloradans. Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads to Americans under the Homesteading Act of 1862. This Colorado Experience episode follows two families who moved west, hoping to reap the benefits of the farming boom. Their luck changes as they find themselves in the middle of one of the largest environmental disasters to hit the plains.
Learn more at www.rmpbs.org/ColoradoExperience.

[@jerryhayes2351]

Watching these series for each individual state and how the dust bowl affected them has taught me that my public school education was woefully inadequate on this subject! I thank you.

[@lindastruckus776]

We can only keep trying to learn more!

[@gianna5869]

I read my great grandmothers biography she wrote just before she passed at 97 years old . In it she described her hardship losing the farm her livestock starving and all different types of hard times that eventually led her to move from the Dakotas to Washington state where as she said "everything is lush and green". She was an immigrant from Norway. As she wrote she didnt even realize she was writing about the dust bowl that devastated so many people. To her it was just reality of being farmers. She ended her bio with" I feel i lived a long life and God has been very good to me"

[@nathancook1905]

It sounds like her biography is a treasure! What a tremendous thing to have - the recollections of days-gone-by.

[@gianna5869]

@@nathancook1905 Thank you thats what i think.

[@1927su]

Put it into a book!!!

[@timmowrer3262]

Is her biography in a book that someone could buy

[@gianna5869]

@@timmowrer3262 no it was a biography she wrote about her life Wouldn't really be long enough for a book.

[@AndreaC_303]

Bravo the horse and his poor nose. 😢 When I hear “Dust Bowl” I think Oklahoma and Grapes of Wrath. It’s easy to overlook that eastern Colorado went through that too. I’d love to visit those sites. Great content!

[@49LivingtheDream]

Certainly enjoy these videos of Colorado history. I'm a native easterner having lived in New Mexico for six years and Minnesota several decades. I'm rather fond of America West, Southwest and Native American history.

[@Glendatheagoodwitch]

My grandma made Tea towel curtains, and they stuffed them in the window sills, and doors. Grandma laid the towels over my Aunt’s baby bed. That was 1936. Being the Farmers they were, and the cattlemen part of their business they made it through.

[@johnskehan3223]

They were great people in those times. Loved watching this. All the best from wet Ireland. !!

[@seventhson27]

It is still happening. I grew up in Baca County. When I graduated from Walsh in early 70s we had the largest class to graduate from Walsh, 41, Last year, they graduated 6.

[@lindamyers1386]

I grew up in NW Oklahoma and lived on a farm there with my husband and children in the 1980s. My grandparents survived the dust bowl in NW Oklahoma and heard many stories about their lives there. In 1987-88 or so, we got treated to a dust storm which drove those stories home for me. We saw it coming from far away. When it reached us it was impossible to keep that dust out of the house. We wet washcloths to cover our mouths and noses to help keep us from breathing in the dust. It was darkened at mid-day as if it were dusk. The air inside the house was infiltrated with dust finer than talcum powder even though we lived in a well built, modern house. It lasted for 2 days. I hope to never live through another of those.

[@jillbaribault6835]

my father was in the dust bowl in the 30s . My grandfather sold the farm to my cousins and they moved to Arkansas. Little rock where they where share croppers for a while

[@mblack7063]

One of the last pics shown was a watermelon harvest in Rocky Ford, in the Arkansas Valley. The Arkansas Valley was one of the first irrigated areas in Colorado, relying on the Arkansas river and a vast canal system to deliver water to the farmers. The Arkansas Valley was not hit as hard by the Dust Bowl as other parts of Colorado were.

[@djscrizzle]

Here's an interesting fact: the insulators on the pole lines paralleling the east/west railroads all have sand scouring on the side facing the prevailing wind. One side on the glass will be rough and opaque, and the other is clean & smooth.

[@DramaMustRemainOnTheStage]

Alot of people won't know what you mean but I do. Its amazing that happened. I can't imagine what that felt like to bare skin. Face, neck and then the dust that got into the lungs and people and live stock perished. Thank you. Now I know something new today.

[@julius04m]

Great Video! Awesome

[@tunsitn]

Erzähl kein scheiß

[@janealthompson2123]

You know people aren't from Baca County (we pronounce it "back-uh" ) when they say "Bach-ah". So, the pronunciations of "Baca" in the film are correct. I grew up in Bent County, Colorado during the 1950's and the drought and dust storms were terrible, then, also, and later lived in Walsh, Colorado, so I am quite familiar with southeastern Colorado. This is a very excellent account of the Dust Bowl and the trials and tribulations of a dryland farmer. Thank you.

[@rolandemartin854]

I was born in 1940. at that time, my family was living on a farm ranch operation NE of Sterling Colo. My older siblings and parents used to talk about when they were living around Wolback Neb. My Sister closest to me used to tell me about how there were times when they would have to go out to the corn crib and get ears of corn, grind it up and make corn meal mush in order to have something to eat. My father hired out to farmers during the summer months and worked for WPA during the winter. By the time I came along things had improved, somewhat, but all was not that great even then.

[@nileshchavan2424]

This is awesome piece of information,as we indians dont face such dust storm so frequently and with this isntensity but this will add to my knowldge from your experience.thank you.

[@chaselewis1719]

Had to watch this for an environmental sociology class and I actually found it very interesting. Makes me think about all the things I probably ignored back in high school haha

[@kristeehunting7094]

I didn’t realize Colorado was part of the dust bowl. Thank you for many great insights!

[@djscrizzle]

Once upon a time, Kiowa county had the bustling towns of Eads, Chivington, Haswell, and Galatea. Chivington is nearly a ghost town, and Galatea is a ghost town with several abandoned houses and other buildings. Haswell is also mostly abandoned.

[@fredharvey2720]

Yes. Look up Keota.

[@nancyrobles1005]

Very good teaching program !🤓👁

[@jerryhayes2351]

My niece lives in Manitou Springs. I love these historic episodes. Thanks so much!

[@bevcd3625]

Thanks I found that very interesting. Cheers from Australia 👍✌️

[@aribasmajian18]

This was interesting and a piece of colorado history.

[@vel230]

In 1965, when I was five, my parents and I came from Oklahoma to Rocky Ford, Colorado to work in the cantaloupe fields......we stayed in a motor lodge, and every day while my dad was in the fields, my mother and I would go to the restaurant nearby to visit with the friendly owner and drink a Coke. Whenever I see a cantaloupe, I think of Colorado.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

Excellent documentary. Thank you for posting.

[@jerryadams381]

My Grand dad lived in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and this is a heartbreaking time in history history is repeating it self again

[@granskare]

I was working on farms in western Illinois and I was born in 38 so did not know the bad days.

[@wayneakins7850]

My great grandfather and grandmother went through this

[@lindastruckus776]

They were tough!

[@dannypalmer7701]

Oklahoma is green and pretty!

[@alandavis9644]

I grew up across the river from Manzanola, was never told about this settlement.

[@dannypalmer7701]

Yes there is fine fine dust here in Wyoming! Im from Stecker Oklahoma!

[@alandavis9644]

I have a manuscript typed up in 1934 by a man that was a kid 8 years old in the 1880s south of Springfield. It is about 30 pages typed and belongs in a museum out there. It. Is fascinating reading.

[@beeble2003]

22:45 "But, in the mid-[19]80s, we started applying more science to the soil. We realised we could rotate our crops." That's not science. Crop rotationhas been common knowledge among farmers for thousands of years!

[@dannypalmer7701]

I love the dirt! Im native from Stecker Oklahoma! 😂

[@bloodsurf69]

The Grapes of Wrath

[@Glendatheagoodwitch]

My family came from near the Volga River . They are Czheck/ German/ Volga German. I can relate to Ukraine. 👍👍

[@adoxartist1258]

The music is so loud I can't distinguish the words. 😕

[@briannave7326]

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer....Whithin a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable. - The Washington Times, 1922. They’ve been trying to scare you for almost 100 years.

[@fredharvey2720]

Yeah that's not true

[@chandapollock7044]

I'm watching this now because I fell asleep while we watched this in class

[@siaramartinez1292]

Chanda Pollock hahahahaha

[@Socasmx]

What I find most interesting about history is that there is a double-edged sword. Someone has to suffer and progress for the next generation.

[@traci123171]

I grew up in baca county, and they are right ... it's desolate.

[@paulsoutbackgardenaustrali7674]

Wow....downunder a Drought is here about every 4yrs 😮😮😮

[@70snooky]

They shouldn’t have killed all the bison and raised them instead then that might not have happened .... just happy to see the people did learn from the mistakes that were made. Hopefully it will never happen again 😁

[@beeble2003]

It's not at all clear that bison can be domesticated on that scale.

[@aliceevans3357]

Sadly we are doing the same destruction to our precious farmlands. The older generation is passing away and farmlands are being sold to developers who build just as many cheaply built, expensive houses as they can fit on an acre. If someone doesn't wake up there will be no more land to grow crops and livestock on. They're also depleting the water tables so vital to existence. Will man ever learn?

[@Country_Girl63]

Great documentary! You are pronouncing Baca wrong! It is not pronounced "back-uh," it is pronounced "Bach-ah."

[@terr777]

@Olivia Kibblewhite She corrected pronunciation, not spelling. The county was named for Felipe Baca. If you are here to learn, she did a service to you.

[@GT-fi4sk]

That was driving me nuts...

[@donnebes9421]

holley edelbrock I like peanuts.

[@jerryhayes2351]

I thought so 🤔.

[@jimholmes2555]

I know several people where I live who's last name is Baca, They pronounce it as you have corrected, Bach-ah.

[@dannypalmer7701]

Oh yes when i left oklahoma to Colorado and Wyomimg! There was nothing out here! 😂😢

[@Caperhere]

Interesting. But are they showing poor judgement again, with glyphosate? And will they be able to bring a crop to harvest with climate chaos burning up the plains, and aquifers emptying?

[@TheKelly198]

Dryland farming techniques rely heavily on no-till farming to preserve moisture, so that makes it hard to go organic because the insect larvae aren't being brought up to the surface during tilling to freeze over winter - so they have to rely on insecticides. It would be fantastic is someone could come up with a reliable organic solution to get rid of the main pests, because overuse of insecticides and the insect apocalypse aren't great either.

[@lensperspective9753]

@@TheKelly198 there is native americans used to do it all the time, its called a Tobacco plant, natural insecticide, and using three sisters method of planting will improve soil and water retention. Add some hot peppers, for more incesctide properties

[@johncourtneidge]

Another first-rate contribution: immensely depressing. And well worth watching. I have long argued that north America (particularly the US) is largely uninhabitable by humans. Because of the water shortage there. Co-operative Regenerative Mixed Farming is the only way forward. But Capitalism is the problem: one that the Powerful continue to support.

[@fredharvey2720]

There's another obvious problem nobody wants to touch: mass immigration

[@dannypalmer7701]

Its somthing that the glaciar may have grinded the fine dust!

[@dannypalmer7701]

Stecker Oklahoma had Tree belts planted on the Indian Dawes act farm lands.😂

[@sharondrury5676]

The “tall grass” disappeared.

[@quercusrubra777]

Maybe because of minimum tillage practices farmers have felt comfortable dozing out the windrows of Bois d'Arc trees, but I feel that this is a mistake.

[@alenorion123]

Am I the only one arching this cause of school PS THIS IS COY SWAFFORD

[@gaara69420]

Herr Mohring lässt grüßen!

[@granskare]

mine the miners ! President Wilson introduced jim crow into Washington, DC.

[@jmweed1861]

Poor farming techniques from Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas all Contibuted to the Dust Bowl. Franklin Roosevelt's Policies for the Great Depression, ( CCC, Tennessee Valley Athority) of Socialism , still with us today Did Not get us out of the Depression, WWII did. And Roosevelt and Stalin, leaving Churchill out, led directly to the Cold War until President Reagan ended it.

[@darlenecypser4587]

Not poor techniques. Farming on land that was not capable of sustaining it. From the 1860s to the mid-1880s the West was experiencing an abnormally wet period. The people who homesteaded then did not know that. When the dry years came back they were shocked. FDR set aside those marginal lands and created the National Grasslands so people would not farm on them again. FDR did a lot to improve people's lives. He found work for people. You are correct that it did not completely end the Depression until WWII. We though the Cold War ended in the 1990s but Putin brought it back.

[@fredharvey2720]

No, it wasn't technique. It was they didn't know the climate and thought the wet seasons would continue

[@carlasullivan3637]

East of Pueblo it's flat like Kansas.

[@djscrizzle]

With occasional ridges, rolling hills. It truly doesn't go dead flat 'till ya hit Las Animas, Haswell, and Wild Horse.

[@jamesstone9213]

😂😂 3/4 couldn't growa tomatoe..

[@fredharvey2720]

Tomato.

[@granskare]

I hope that farmer's learned to put a line of tree's to help keep soil in place. Hmm, mine the miner's.

[@granskare]

I believe trees would save the land where trees grow. Put up rows of trees & the land is saved.

[@darlenecypser4587]

Not the solution in the arid West. Need to maintain the prairie grasses.

[@henrimatisse7481]

greed is the game

[@granskare]

"mine the miners "

[@hellop8964]

If they did'nt cut the grass that would'nt had happened

[@ElectricAngel19]

oh look... gov't offers a quid pro quo.. ya don't say. lol!

[@chrisstaylor8377]

But the lands wasn’t there’s to give away ,it was stolen landv

[@ChillinVillin-in7sj]

Wholesale theft!

[@Greaser303]

Stolen land. Ruined. It belongs to the Utes,,

[@fredharvey2720]

The Utes never roamed the plains, Mr History.

[@salmanansari-ll6pn]

USA needs Islam to give back the rights and recognition of natives what they truly deserve. Amen.

[@fredharvey2720]

Lol

[@billhosko7723]

Too much of the 'they shoulda they coulda' on here... Too much opinion... just the facts, the memories of those who lived here and that ultimately Mother Nature is in control... man adapts as does all life. At one time, an ice age gripped this area and at others long-term droughts has not yet experienced in NA.