During the Great Depression , in portions of the North American
Great Plains there was a years-long drought, leading to soil
erosion and dust storms . Crops failed, forcing many farmers to
leave in search of work elsewhere, notably California . Many of
the displaced were from Oklahoma, and became known as Okies[?]
On May 11 a strong two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of
Great Plains topsoil[?] in one of the worst such storms of the
Dust Bowl. See also: Woody Guthrie - The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt,
and Depression, Paul Bonnifield, University of New Mexico Press,
Alquequerque, New Mexico, 1978, hardcover, ISBN 0-8263-0485-0.
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License