Dry winds grabbed huge amounts of topsoil and blew it over the prairies, resulting in huge clouds of dirt that covered towns and transformed farms into deserts. Individuals who breathed in the airborne prairie dust suffered through coughing outbursts, shortness of breath, asthma, bronchitis and the flu. By 1940, more than 2.5 million individuals had fled from the areas affected by the Dust Bowl, resulting in almost 10 percent moving to California (“Dust Bowl,” 2009). Conditions in the big cities were not any better.
Stock markets crashing was a significant factor in the cause of the Great Depression. “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929, stock prices began to plummet and panic selling occurred as people tried to sell stocks for any price they could get. By October 29, “Black Tuesday,” stocks completely collapsed, thus leading to the start of what we now know as the Great Depression. On this day, Wall Street investors traded around 16 million shares