In what was one of the most fertile areas of the United States, one of the nation's worst agricultural disasters occurred. It didn't rain, so crops didn't grow, leaving the soil exposed to the strong winds that hit the area in the 1930s. Spanning an area of ​​150,000 square miles and encompassing parts of five states - including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico - the Dust Bowl was a period in which more than 100 million acres of topsoil were stripped from fertile fields, leaving nothing but sterile. lands and piles of dust everywhere (Ganzel). While things have been done to alleviate the problem, one has to wonder whether or not anyone has learned from this disaster. If not, one must consider the possibility that the United States could be hit by a drought as destructive as the Dust Bowl, if not worse, leaving us with mass famine and the loss of our cultivated and productive lands. The rich, dark soil of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado, an area also known as the Great Plains, formed by thousands of years of soil-forming factors in action (Surviving the Dust Bowl). Since the beginning of human settlement in the area, the lands, for the most part, have remained untouched and untouched by the plow. Dense prairie grasses covered the area and held the soil in the ground even during periodic periods of drought. This area of ​​land was suitable for grazing practices and large livestock farms flourished in this area. The newly arrived farmers did not realize that this seemingly abundant land followed a pattern of several years of rain followed by several years of drought and strong winds. Farmers were lured to the Great Plains by the promise of rich, chocolate-dark soil and the promise of bounty....... middle of paper......b. February 26, 2011.Francesco, Randol. “The Texas Dust Bowl in Historical Perspective: What Happened and Could It Happen Again?” The dust bowl. June 1998. Web. February 26, 2011. Ganzel, Bill. “The Dust Bowl of the 1930s.” Agriculture in the 1930s. The Wessels Living History Farm, 2003. Web. February 26, 2011. Harris, Richard. “Dust storms threaten snowpacks.” NPR: National Public Radio. Public Service Broadcasting, May 30, 2006. Web. February 26, 2011. "Man-Made Disasters, Part 2: The Dust Bowl." Green planet ethics. November 14, 2010. Web. February 26, 2011. Schmaltz, Jeff. “Dust Storm Over North Texas.” Earth Observatory. NASA, February 27, 2007. Web. February 26, 2011. Surviving the Dust Bowl. prod. Chana Gazit. WGBH: American Experience. Public broadcasting service. Network. February 26, 2011.Worst, Donald. "The dust bowl." The Texas Handbook. Texas State Historical Association. Network. February 26. 2011.