# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn how local weather and climate conditions can lead to long-term water shortages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the 1930s there was a period of severe drought and dust storms. The ecology and agriculture in the Canadian prairies and the United States was damaged severely. This period became known as the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was caused because of wind erosion that occurred because of the drought.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What Caused the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The Homestead Act of 1862, which provided settlers with 160 acres of public land, was followed by the Kinkaid Act of 1904 and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. These acts led to a massive influx of new and inexperienced farmers across the Great Plains.

Many of these late 19th and early 20th-century settlers lived by the superstition "rain follows the plow." Emigrants, land speculators, politicians and even some scientists believed that homesteading and agriculture would permanently affect the climate of the semi-arid Great Plains region, making it more conducive to farming.

Manifest Destiny

This false belief was linked to Manifest Destiny -an attitude that Americans had a sacred duty to expand west. A series of wet years during the period created a further misunderstanding of the region's ecology and led to the intensive cultivation of increasingly marginal lands that couldn't be reached by irrigation.

Rising wheat prices in the 1910s and 1920s and increased demand for wheat from Europe during World War I encouraged farmers to plow up millions of acres of native grassland to plant wheat, corn and other row crops. But as the United States entered the Great Depression, wheat prices plummeted. In desperation, farmers tore up even more grassland in an attempt to harvest a bumper crop and break even.

Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led to massive dust storms and economic devastation-especially in the Southern Plains.

When Was the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl, also known as "the Dirty Thirties," started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer.

Severe drought hit the Midwest and southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931. A series of drought years followed, further exacerbating the environmental disaster.

By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres-an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas-was rapidly losing its topsoil.

Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close. The economic effects, however, persisted. Population declines in the worst-hit counties-where the agricultural value of the land failed to recover-continued well into the 1950s.

'Black Blizzards' Strike America

During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called "black blizzards," swept the Great Plains. Some of these carried topsoil from Texas and Oklahoma as far east as Washington, D.C. and New York City, and coated ships in the Atlantic Ocean with dust.

Billowing clouds of dust would darken the sky, sometimes for days at a time. In many places, the dust drifted like snow and residents had to clear it with shovels. Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin and furniture.

Some people developed "dust pneumonia" and experienced chest pain and difficulty breathing. It's unclear exactly how many people may have died from the condition. Estimates range from hundreds to several thousand people.

On May 11, 1934, a massive dust storm two miles high traveled 2,000 miles to the East Coast, blotting out monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Capitol.

The worst dust storm occurred on April 14, 1935. News reports called the event Black Sunday. A wall of blowing sand and dust started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and spread east. As many as three million tons of topsoil are estimated to have blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday.

An Associated Press news report coined the term "Dust Bowl" after the Black Sunday dust storm.

New Deal Programs

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a number of measures to help alleviate the plight of poor and displaced farmers. He also addressed the environmental degradation that had led to the Dust Bowl in the first place.

As part of Roosevelt's New Deal, Congress established the Soil Erosion Service and the Prairie States Forestry Project in 1935. These programs put local farmers to work planting trees as windbreaks on farms across the Great Plains. The Soil Erosion Service, now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed and promoted new farming techniques to combat the problem of soil erosion.

Okie Migration

Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states- Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma-during the 1930s. It was one of the largest migrations in American history.

Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 people to migration. Many of them, poverty-stricken, traveled west looking for work. From 1935 to 1940, roughly 250,000 Oklahoma migrants moved to California. A third settled in the state's agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley.

These Dust Bowl refugees were called "Okies." Okies faced discrimination, menial labor and pitiable wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shantytowns and tents along irrigation ditches. "Okie" soon became a term of disdain used to refer to any poor Dust Bowl migrant, regardless of their state of origin.

Dust Bowl in Arts and Culture

The Dust Bowl, and the suffering endured by those who survived it, captured the hearts and imaginations of the nation's artists, musicians and writers.

John Steinbeck memorialized the plight of the Okies in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath. Photographer Dorothea Lange documented rural poverty with a series of photographs for FDR's Farm Securities Administration, and artist Alexandre Hogue achieved renown with his Dust Bowl landscapes.

Folk musician Woody Guthrie, and his semi-autobiographical first album Dust Bowl Ballads of 1940, told stories of economic hardship faced by Okies in California. Guthrie, an Oklahoma native, left his home state with thousands of others looking for work during the Dust Bowl.

Sources

FDR and the New Deal Response to an Environmental Catastrophe. Roosevelt Institute.
About The Dust Bowl. English Department; University of Illinois.
Dust Bowl Migration. University of California at Davis.
The Great Okie Migration. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Okie Migrations. Oklahoma Historical Society.
What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation. Population and Environment.
The Dust Bowl. Library of Congress.
Dust Bowl Ballads: Woody Guthrie. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
The Dust Bowl. Ken Burns; PBS.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dust Bowl: Causes, Definition & Years - HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken southern plains of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Dust Bowl | Ken Burns | PBS | Watch The Dust Bowl | Ken Burns | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dust Bowl chronicles the environmental catastrophe that, throughout the 1930s, destroyed the farmlands of the Great Plains, turned prairies into deserts, and unleashed a pattern of massive, deadly dust storms that for many seemed to herald the end of the world. Full film now streaming.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Newsreel Announcer (archival): The tremendous crowds which you see gathered outside the stock exchange are due to the greatest crash in the history of the New York Stock Exchange in market prices.

Narrator: December 31st, New Year's Eve. The crash and its terrible consequences were still in the future. Financial leaders, everyone celebrated what had been a decade of prosperity and boundless optimism. They thought the party would last forever. They called it "The New Era," 1929. All the hope and promise and illusion of the 20s converged in that one year.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: The United States is afflicted with new eras. Let us not think for a moment that the illusion, the aberration of the 1920s was unique. It is intimately a part of the American character.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: The mood of the era, I think, can best be remembered by the hit song - was that 1929, Blue Skies?

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: In the 20s, yes, '28, '29.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: How did that go?

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Smiling at me...

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Yeah. Nothing but blue skies do I see. Yes.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: ...Never saw the sun shining so bright, Never saw things going so right. Gray days, all of them gone, nothing but blue skies from now on.

That was the whole tenor of the day. I mean, people believed that everything was going to be great always, always. There was a feeling of optimism in the air that you cannot even describe today.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: And everyone seemed to have an interest in the stock market. Certainly, the boot black, the tailor, the grocer owned shares of one kind or another.

Narrator: This was the first time that many ordinary Americans had begun to invest in stocks. A stock, a share of a company, is bought and sold here on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The stocks themselves have no fixed value. As in an auction, if the stock is in demand, its price goes up. No demand and the price goes down. For almost eight straight years, stock values had been rising. By 1929, there seemed to be no upper limits in this world of paper, numbers and dreams.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: It was an arena of unbounded opportunity where somebody like my grandfather could come into it and make a fortune. So many people made so much money in the market that late in the 20s, it seemed that you just couldn't go wrong buying stocks in American companies.

Narrator: Here was a whole new way to make a fortune. Unlike the Carnegies and the Rockefellers of previous decades, who built steel mills and dug oil wells, men like Michael Meehan, Jesse Livermore and Charles Mitchell had amassed their fortunes buying and selling stocks, pieces of paper. The public was fascinated. Bankers, brokers and speculators had become celebrities and they lived like royalty.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: I can hardly believe that a family lived in this kind of house. I mean, today, it would be almost unbelievable. Six stories and these great big rooms.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Enormous. We counted it up the other day. We had 16 live-in help in this house -

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Not counting the chauffeurs and others.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: - not counting the chauffeurs, yes, aside from all the help we had in the Tuxedo Park house and the Southampton house as well. But those days are gone forever.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: I should say.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: But we never thought of it as being grandiose because practically everybody we knew seemed to live in the same way.

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: Jesse Livermore had a ticker tape in every home that he owned. They had a beautiful house on 76th Street in Manhattan, on the West side of Central Park. They had a floor at the 813 Fifth Avenue because Dorothy did not like to go to the West Side to change her clothes. So they had a house in Great Neck, they had a summer house in Lake Placid, they had a house in Palm Beach. They had private railroad cars, two yachts. Oh, they lived. They really lived.

Narrator: Few Americans lived like Jesse Livermore, but there was a rising expectation that everyone could have a piece of this prosperity. During his presidential campaign of 1928, candidate Herbert Hoover would make this extraordinary promise.

Herbert Hover (archival): Given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.

Robert Sobel, Historian: There was great hope. America came out of World War I with the economy intact. We were the only strong country in the world. The dollar was king. We had a very popular president in the middle of the decade, Calvin Coolidge, and an even more popular one elected in 1928, Herbert Hoover. So things looked pretty good.

Narrator: The economy was changing in this new America. It was the dawn of the consumer revolution. New inventions, mass marketing, factories turning out amazing products like radios, rayon, air conditioners, underarm deodorant.

Robert Sobel, Historian: This is a period in which the American household gets the washing machine, gets a refrigerator, goes off gaslight and gets electricity in some cities. This is period in which people would buy little plugs to put into the outlets in the wall so the electricity wouldn't leak on the floor. "What will they think of next," was a 1920s saying, 'cause new things were continually coming out and they were new things which you could enjoy, not just for the few.

Narrator: One of the most wondrous inventions of the age was consumer credit. Before 1920, the average worker couldn't borrow money. By 1929, "buy now, pay later" had become a way of life.

Robert Sobel, Historian: So there were changes, many changes in the way people viewed the world and all of them optimistic. You extrapolate the curve and what do you have? Permanent prosperity. That was the term one heard in the late 1920s. "We're into the age of permanent prosperity."

Narrator: Wall Street got the credit for this prosperity and Wall Street was dominated by just a small group of wealthy men. Rarely in the history of this nation had so much raw power been concentrated in the hands of a few businessmen, men like William C. Durant.

Aristo Scrobogna, Secretary to William C. Durant: It's almost impossible to realize the power and the significance of the man. In Flint - when Mr. Durant came to Flint occasionally, people used to say, "Durant is in town." Just like that, you know, "Durant is in town." He was bigger than life.

Narrator: Earlier in the century, Durant had founded General Motors. Now, he made his money on Wall Street. Backed by Midwestern auto industrialists, he controlled so much money that he could singlehandedly drive up the price of a stock and then sell, reaping huge profits.

Aristo Scrobogna, Secretary to William C. Durant: He was just at the apotheosis, at the maximum of his power. He managed - according to the voices of the time, according to what was said - anywhere between two to five billion dollars, which in those days was a fabulous - the market was filled with bulls and he was the bull of the bulls.

Narrator: Durant came to Wall Street as one of the titans of industry. Jesse Livermore, whose fortune was estimated at over $100 million, never did anything in his life but play the market.

Robert Sobel, Historian: Everything Jesse Livermore touched turned to gold, it seemed. All he had to do was to press a button and a stock would go up ten points. And that meant, of course, that Jesse Livermore would make a lot of money. So the average American would look at this say, "Gee, if only I knew what he doing, I could make money, too. How do you get in on Jesse Livermore's brains?"

Narrator: Livermore was a speculator, pure and simple. He didn't study the health of a company. He didn't care whether it made a profit or paid a dividend. For him, the stock market was an abstract game of numbers.

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: Money was not the end for this man at all. Money was a very peripheral thing for him, but beating the odds, winning a game. That was his objective. He was a numbers man. He lived by the numbers, took an elevator by the numbers. He came into town by the numbers. Everything was done by numbers. When he left his house in the morning, he did not leave at 8:10, he left at 8:07. All of the policemen knew, because of his time schedule, that he would be going down Fifth Avenue, let's say, at 8:37. Well, of course, traffic lights were hand-operated then, had policemen on boxes. So the instant that they saw his car, the lights were green. He never stopped for a red light.

Narrator: The success of large speculators like Livermore and Durant lured smaller investors to Wall Street, but Charles Mitchell, president of National City Bank, virtually invented the idea of mass-marketing stocks and bonds to the general public. This was a totally new idea and a huge success.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: The bank, prior to father's being elected president in 1921, was geared mainly to doing business with large corporations. Father pointed the bank, for the first time, in the direction of going after the little man and

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Don't call him the little man. It was Everyman.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Well, jedermann (everyman), all right. How old was he then? Thirty-eight years old. And the National City Company had four offices. And then, within three years, there were over 50 offices and by 1929, it was the largest distributor of securities in the world.

Narrator: Even at the height of the speculative frenzy, only a small percentage of the American public actually invested in stocks, but the market had entered popular culture. Wall Street became Main Street. Everyone was talking stocks. Watching the ticker became a national sport. Popular magazines covered financial news. Dozens of best-sellers promised investors the inside track. The characters in the popular comic strip "Gasoline Alley," were investing in a company called "Rubber Keyhole." Stock tips came from everywhere. Some investors followed the advice of Evangeline Adams, an astrologer.

Manly P. Hall, Founder, Philosophical Research Society: She was able to calculate the variations of the stock exchange so accurately that there was practically no difference to having have read it in a ledger somewhere. Among her more interesting clients were Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and J. Pierpont Morgan.

Narrator: In February, Evangeline Adams looked at the stars and predicted a dramatic upswing in stock prices for the coming months. The stock market, once considered a highly risky place to put your money, was now beginning to attract a whole new group of amateur speculators. Among the new players was one Julius Marx. Everyone knew him by his stage name, Groucho.

Arthur Marx, Son of Groucho Marx: But they were poor and it always affected my father 'cause he was always kind of thrifty and worried about his future and what would become of him when no one else wanted him as an actor anymore. So he was always saving money, turning off the lights and turning off the water around the house even after he was in Hollywood and making a lot of money.

Narrator: Of all the Marx brothers, Groucho was the most financially conservative. In 1929, he took his life's savings and put it in a sure thing, the stock market.

Arthur Marx, Son of Groucho Marx: He was always phoning a broker and getting hot tips and wanting to know what the stocks were that - how they were doing. And if he wasn't on the phone, he would take me into Great Neck, which was a little village at the time but they did have a stockbroker called Newman Brothers & Worms and all these men who were investing in the market, they'd all sit there in chairs like a little theater and watch the ticker tape go by.

Narrator: Groucho, along with record numbers of smaller investors, was borrowing money to buy stocks. It was called "buying on margin." You only needed ten percent down. Just $1,000 would get you $10,000 worth of stock. Suddenly, you were in the same league with the big players or so it seemed. But the stock market was not a level playing field.

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: In the 20s and 30s, one of the big features of the stock market is the fact that it wasn't controlled and that operators could do a lot of things that are not permitted today.

Narrator: One of the most common tactics was to manipulate the price of a particular stock, a stock like Radio Corporation of America.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: RCA was, in the 20s, what Xerox was in the 60s, what was a great growth stock. The stock went from - I can't remember the exact numbers, but from something like 20 to 400, split many times and made many people, including my grandfather, very wealthy. It was one of the stocks that was manipulated by a pool.

Narrator: Wealthy investors would pool their money in a secret agreement to buy a stock, inflate its price and then sell it to an unsuspecting public. Most stocks in the 1920s were regularly manipulated by insiders like RCA specialist Michael Meehan.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: In those days, that was legal and it was quite common practice for a group of Wall Streeters to take a stock in hand. And they would acquire a position in the stock early on and then, they would see to it that there was good press on the stock, a lot of publicity.

Robert Sobel, Historian: I would say that practically all the financial journals were on the take. This includes reporters for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Herald-Tribune, you name it. So if you were a pool operator, you'd call your friend at The Times and say, "Look, Charlie, there's an envelope waiting for you here and we think that perhaps you should write something nice about RCA." And Charlie would write something nice about RCA. A publicity man called A. Newton Plummer had canceled checks from practically every major journalist in New York City.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: Then, they would begin to - what was called "painting the tape" and they would make the stock look exciting. They would trade among themselves and you'd see these big prints on RCA and people will say, "Oh, it looks as though that stock is being accumulated."

Robert Sobel, Historian: Now, if they are behind it, you want to join them, so you go out and you buy stock also. Now, what's happening is the stock goes from 10 to 15 to 20 and now, it's at 20 and you start buying, other people start buying at 30, 40. The original group, the pool, they've stopped buying. They're selling you the stock. It's now 50 and they're out of it. And what happens, of course, is the stock collapses.

Narrator: On March 8, 1929, Michael Meehan began one of the most successful pools on Wall Street. From the 8th to the 17th, Meehan and the pool pushed up the value of RCA almost 50 percent. On March 18th, they sold and divided up their profits. In today's money, they had made $100 million for one week's work.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: The pools were a little like musical chairs. When the music stopped, somebody owned the stocks and those were the sufferers.

Narrator: If small investors suffered, they would soon be back for more. They knew the game was rigged, but maybe next time, they could beat the system. Wall Street had its critics, among them economist Roger Babson. He questioned the boom and was accused of lack of patriotism, of selling America short.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: Roger Babson warned of the speculation and said, "There's going to be a crash and the aftermath is going to be quite terrible." And people jumped on Babson from all around for saying such a thing, so that people who were cautious about their personal reputation, who did not want to call down on themselves a lot of calumny, kept quiet.

Narrator: Mobster Al Capone was not a cautious man. From his Chicago headquarters, he condemned the wild speculation on Wall Street. "It's a racket," he said, "Those stock market guys are crooked." Capone invested his money in a $100-million bootleg liquor business. Business was good. On Valentine's Day, 1929, he had just eliminated the competition.

March 4th, Inauguration Day. Republican President Calvin Coolidge had run his administration on the belief that business was the basis of America's prosperity. Government should not interfere. Herbert Hoover had won a landslide victory, promising to carry on the tradition.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: This was a time in our history when governments did not, as now, take responsibility for the economy. They presided over it, but the level of economic activity and the level of economic growth and the stability of prices were not yet everyday concerns of the president. And what Coolidge did was to say how wonderful times were, how happy everybody was going to be and how prosperous everyone was going to be. And Hoover's responsibility was to continue that optimism.

Narrator: Politicians came and went, but in the 20s, the businessman was king. New York City had a dapper, corrupt and vastly popular mayor, Jimmy Walker, but behind the scenes were powerful financial leaders like Charles Mitchell.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Jimmy Walker was high, wide and fancy with the city finances. One day, Father called Mayor Walker up here and he had some other bankers with him. And Mayor Walker was sort of put on the grill in the upstairs library, while these bankers read the riot act to him to try and get some fiscal responsibility instilled into him. And I know that after the meeting, somebody took me into the library and pointed me out the chair that the mayor had been sitting in and he'd been so nervous - what were those, Louis XIV chairs with all the little -

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Louis XV.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Louis XV chairs with all the little tacks in there, the brass tacks.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Yes.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: And he'd pulled out almost all the brass tacks - they were sitting on the floor - out of sheer nerves.

Narrator: The stock market, too, was getting a severe case of nerves. On Friday, March 22nd, all eyes were on that august government body in Washington, the Federal Reserve Board. The board distrusted the boom. They saw the speculation as reckless and dangerous because it was based more and more on the shaky foundation of borrowed money, margin. The board had the power to curb the borrowing, the market was now dependent on borrowed money. Without margin, it would collapse. The board met day after day. Would they ask for regulation of the stock market? They issued no public statements. Their silence was terrifying.

On Monday, March 21st, investors began to sell. Blue chip stocks plunged. Tuesday, another wave of selling swept the market. As it fell, people holding stock on margin were hit hard. They'd put only ten percent down, but the value of their stock dropped more than 10 percent, so their down payment was gone. To hold their stocks, they'd have to put up more money. On March 26th, millions of investors suddenly found themselves in deep trouble.

Robert Sobel, Historian: Your broker would call you and say, "We need more money. You're wiped out." Unless you could give him more money, he would then sell the stock. Now, he would sell the stock, which would cause the stock to go down to 85, 86 and now, more margin calls are triggered. So one margin call triggers another margin call, triggers another margin call and it goes all the way down.

Narrator: With everyone trying to borrow money to cover the falling value of their stocks, there was a credit crunch. Interest rates soared. At 20 percent, few people could afford to borrow more money. The boom was about to collapse like a house of cards.

Charlie Mitchell was horrified. His success, his entire career, his personal fortune had been based on a rising market. If nobody else was going to stop the crash, Charles Mitchell would.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Father, at that point, stepped in and announced that the National City Bank would provide $25 million of credit, which was all very well and very necessary, but he added the fateful words, "whatever the Federal Reserve Board thinks." And Senator Carter Glass, who had been sort of the father of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, took that as a direct slap across the face. But whatever Senator Glass thought, immediately, the credit crisis was alleviated. In fact, within the next 24 hours, call money went from 20 percent to eight percent and that stopped the panic, then, in March.

Narrator: The next day, the market rallied. The Federal Reserve Board remained silent, tacitly accepting defeat. The hero of the day was Charlie Mitchell. He had singlehandedly stopped the crash of '29. With the start of the baseball season, people quickly forgot the break in the market.

New events filled the papers. There was a crisis in Nicaragua, where the nationalist hero, Augusto Sandino, was threatening American marines; tragedy in the British Mandate of Palestine as Jews and Arabs clashed over control of holy sites in Jerusalem. And in Antarctica, Commander Byrd was at his base camp, Little America, waiting for a break in the weather. His elaborately-planned flight over the South Pole was still on ice.

The newsreels had come into their own. Now, in living sound, patrons could keep abreast of the important events of the day.

Woman (archival): The biggest news of the day is not the Naval agreement, not even Prohibition, but the return of the natural waistline.

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: Dorothy Livermore was a typical flapper. She has to embody the 20s. She would do almost anything on an impulse. She had some priceless pieces of 18th-century furniture, but the house had settled and the floors were not level. But Mrs. Livermore didn't like to spend money that didn't show, so instead of having the hoist put underneath, she simply solved the problem by having the legs of the furniture cut off to fit the sloping floors, so that the tops of all of the furniture were level, but of course, the legs were on different angles. And this was her typical solution. As long as the tops were level, everything was fine.

Narrator: Everything was not fine that spring with the American economy. It was showing ominous signs of trouble. Steel production was declining. The construction industry was sluggish. Car sales dropped. Customers were getting harder to find. And because of easy credit, many people were deeply in debt. Large sections of the population were poor and getting poorer.

Just as Wall Street had reflected a steady growth in the economy throughout most of the 20s, it would seem that now the market should reflect the economic slowdown. Instead, it soared to record heights. Stock prices no longer had anything to do with company profits, the economy or anything else. The speculative boom had acquired a momentum of its own.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: It was this nature of mass illusion. Prices were going up, people bought. That forced prices up further, that brought in more people. And eventually, the process becomes self-perpetuating. Every increase brings in more people convinced of their God-given right to get rich.

Narrator: The 20s was a decade of all sorts of fast money schemes. Three years earlier, everyone was buying Florida real estate. As prices of land skyrocketed, more people jumped in, hoping to make a killing. Then, overnight, the boom turned to bust and investors lost everything.

Groucho Marx (Film, The Cocoanuts): Florida, folks. Sunshine, sunshine. Perpetual sunshine all the year around. Let's get the auction started before we get a tornado. Right this way. Step forward, everybody.

Narrator: In May, the Marx Brothers were before the cameras with their first film, The Cocoanuts. Its subject? The Florida land boom. Now, in 1929, the gullibility of those naive speculators was something to laugh about.

Groucho Marx (Film, The Cocoanuts): Eight hundred wonderful residences will be built right here. Why, they're as good up, better. You can have any kind of a home you want to. You can get even get stucco. Oh, how you can get stucco. Now is the time to buy while the new boom is on. Remember that old saying, "A new boom sweeps clean." And don't forget the guarantee.

Narrator: Groucho Marx would film these scenes and then rush to his broker to put more of his savings into the booming market, on margin, of course.

Arthur Marx, Son of Groucho Marx: Max Gordon, a Broadway producer, was also heavily in the market and Gordon could never get over the fact that the market was going up and up and up all the time. And he said to my father, "How long has this been going on, Groucho?" And my father said, "I don't know, but my broker down in Great Neck tells me that it's because there's a worldwide market for American goods and it's never going to go down, that the market'll just keep going up and up and up."

Narrator: May 1929. Stock prices were going up and up. With so much money to be made, people were borrowing more money than ever before to buy stocks. Market leaders like William Durant, far from being worried, were ecstatic. Off on his annual visit to Europe, he announced that everything would be fine as long as we all continued to believe: "Confidence - not halfway confidence, but 100-percent confidence - is the real basis for our prosperity."

Astrologer Evangeline Adams was now putting out a newsletter. Her 100,000 subscribers learned how the Zodiac could influence stock prices. Her advice for the coming summer: buy.

Ben Karol, Former Newspaper Delivery Boy: They thought this was a ride that was never going to end, just goes on and on and on and every day, they got more money and they're counting up their paper profits. And they're selling and buying and buying and selling and they're doing great.

Tom McCormick, Former Stock Sales Clerk: Geez, I'd go to get a shoeshine and they'd say, "How's the market?" You'd go to the barber to get a haircut, "How is the market?" Everybody was in the market.

Robert Sobel, Historian: There were people who were looking for the one lucky break, people who were just hoping that they'd strike it right, you know. You take a rifle and you aim it at the ocean and you hope to hit a fish.

Narrator: Along with the market, temperatures soared that summer. It was a record heat wave and a record three months at the Exchange. Some stocks doubled in value. In June, The New York Times index of stocks rose 52 points. In July, another 25.

In the middle of the summer, the Graf Zeppelin was completing its first leisurely trip around the world. The Marx Brothers had finished shooting their film, The Cocoanuts. Commander Byrd was still at his base camp near the South Pole. He, too, had money in the market and radioed his broker for the latest quotes. Back in Cleveland, George Herman Ruth hit his 500th home run and on the radio, they were playing the latest hit tune, "I'm in the Market for You." On August 17th, Michael Meehan's brokerage firm launched a new service.

Michael Nesbitt, Grandson of Michael J. Meehan: One of my grandfather's innovations was putting brokerage houses on the ocean liners - the first one on the Berengaria - and that allowed you during the - whatever it was, during the six- or seven-day passage to Europe, if you were such a stock market addict that you couldn't stand the withdrawal for that period, you could walk into the office and place your order to buy or sell 100 shares of General Motors or General Electric or whatever. And they would radio that order back to New York. It was being very modern at the time. They were very wealthy people on the trans-Atlantic liners and it gave them something to do.

Narrator: At sea and on land, everyone seemed to be making money. It was a stampede of buying. And major speculators like John Jacob Rascob whipped up the frenzy. He told readers of The Ladies' Home Journal that now everyone could be rich.

September 2nd, Labor Day. It was the hottest day of the year. The markets were closed and people were at the beach. A reporter checked in with astrologer Evangeline to ask about the future of stock prices. Her answer: the Dow Jones could climb to heaven. The very next day, September 3rd, the stock market hit its all-time high.

Ben Karol, Former Newspaper Delivery Boy: My father and I had an ongoing discussion about the stock market. And I used to say, "Pop, everybody's getting rich but you. You know, you work so hard and you're never going to make a nickel. All you do is you keep delivering these newspapers and that's about it. The guy who's shining shoes is in the stock market, the grocery clerk is in the stock market, the school teacher's in the stock market. The teller at the bank is in the stock market. Everybody's in the stock market. You're the only one that's not in the stock market." And he used to sit and laugh and say, "You'll see. You'll see. You'll see."

Narrator: On September 5th, economist Roger Babson gave a speech to a group of businessmen. "Sooner or later, a crash is coming and it may be terrific." He'd been saying the same thing for two years, but now, for some reason, investors were listening. The market took a severe dip. They called it the "Babson Break." The next day, prices stabilized, but several days later, they began to drift lower. Though investors had no way of knowing it, the collapse had already begun.

In the weeks to follow, the market fluctuated wildly up and down. On September 12th, prices dropped ten percent. They dipped sharply again in the 20s. Stock markets around the world were falling, too. Then, on September 25th, the market suddenly rallied.

Reuben L. Cain, Former Stock Salesman: I remember well that I thought, "Why is this doing this?" And then I thought, "Well, I'm new here and these people" - like every day in the paper, Charlie Mitchell would have something to say, the J.P. Morgan people would have something to say about how good things were - and I thought, "Well, they know a lot more about this market than I do. I'm fairly new here and I really can't see why it's going up." But then, when they say it can't go down or if it does go down today, it'll go back tomorrow, you think, "Well, they really are like God. They know it all and it must be the way it's going because they say so."

Narrator: As the market floundered, financial leaders were as optimistic as ever, more so. Just five days before the crash, Thomas Lamont, acting head of the highly conservative Morgan Bank, wrote a letter to President Hoover. "The future appears brilliant. Our securities are the most desirable in the world." Charles Mitchell assured nervous investors that things had never been better.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: Practically every business leader in America, and banker, right around the time of 1929, was saying how wonderful things were and the economy had only one way to go and that was up.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: Unfortunately, he didn't have a crystal ball to predict the future.

Robert Sobel, Historian: There's an old saying on Wall Street that the two most important emotions are fear and greed and you go from fear to greed in about a fraction of a second. So you're very, very greedy and you say to yourself, "I want to make more." And then, the market goes down ten points and you get frightened. "I want to keep what I have," so you sell everything. And that's how you have a panic. So you can panic on the upside - people rushing in to get in before the train takes off - and a panic on the downside, trying to get off the train before disaster hits.

Narrator: Monday, October 21st. Hoover, along with the political and financial leaders of the country, arrives in Dearborn, Michigan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Edison's invention of the light bulb. The host is Henry Ford. The country is reminded that in 50 short years, men like Ford, Durant and Edison had transformed America from a third-rate power into the industrial giant of the world. And while they celebrated, their world was beginning to fall apart.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: There came a Wednesday, October 23rd, when the market was a little shaky, weak. And whether this caused some spread of pessimism, one doesn't know. It certainly led a lot of people to think they should get out. And so, Thursday, October the 24th - the first Black Thursday - the market, beginning in the morning, took a terrific tumble.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: The market opened in an absolutely free fall and some people couldn't even get any bids for their shares and it was wild panic. And an ugly crowd gathered outside the stock exchange and it was described as making weird and threatening noises. It was, indeed, one of the worst days that had ever been seen down there.

Narrator: There was a glimmer of hope on Black Thursday. Directly across from the New York Stock Exchange was a low, stately building, the House of Morgan. Twenty-two years earlier, J. Pierpont Morgan had stopped the panic of 1907. October 24th, high noon. All eyes were now on acting head, Thomas W. Lamont.

Edward Lamont, Grandson of Thomas W. Lamont: Tom Lamont called a number of the other bankers, like Charles Mitchell of the National City Bank and people from the Bankers Trust and J. Albert Wiggin of the Chase Bank and so forth - there were about a half a dozen of them there - and they were gathered together to really discuss what they could do to stem this tremendous onslaught of selling stocks on the stock exchange that was taking place.

Craig Mitchell, Son of Charles E. Mitchell: About 12:30, there was an announcement that this group of bankers would make available a very substantial sum to ease the credit stringency and support the market. And right after that, Dick Whitney made his famous walk across the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Narrator: Richard Whitney, vice president of the Exchange, was chosen by the bankers to be their representative. At 1:30 in the afternoon, at the height of the panic, he strolled across the floor and in a loud, clear voice, ordered 10,000 shares of U.S. Steel at a price considerably higher than the last bid. He then went from post to post, shouting buy orders for key stocks.

Horace Silverstone, Former New York Stock Exchange telephone clerk: He stood up on one of the seats at the post and he said, "I give 45 for 50,000 Standard Oil," and everybody started to applaud. "Oh, the crash is over. If Morgan's putting his money in, then maybe the crash is over."

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: And sure enough, this seemed to be evidence that the bankers had moved in to end the panic. And they did end it for that day. The market then stabilized and even went up.

Edward Lamont, Grandson of Thomas W. Lamont: The New York Times said that thanks to the formation of this bankers pool, most observers felt that the panic and the great sell-off was over. And most people did feel that way. Tom Lamont felt that way.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: But Monday was not good. Apparently, people had thought about things over the weekend, over Sunday, and decided maybe they might be safer to get out. And then came the real crash, which was on Tuesday, when the market went down and down and down, without seeming limit.

Narrator: October 29th. Morgan's bankers could no longer stem the tide. It was like trying to stop Niagara Falls. Everyone wanted to sell. AT&T down 50 percent. RCA, once $110 a share, couldn't find buyers at $26. Blue Ridge 100 plunged to $3 and still no buyers. On the floor, they had never seen anything like it.

Horace Silverstone, Former New York Stock Exchange telephone clerk: And it was just like a nightmare and I couldn't believe what was going on here. In those days, every buy order was on a black pad and every sell order was on a red pad. And all I saw was members running around with fistful of red orders.

Tom McCormick, Former Stock Sales Clerk: Just chickens with their head cut off, they didn't know which way to run. They were panicking, screaming. Everybody was bumping into everybody else.

Horace Silverstone, Former New York Stock Exchange telephone clerk: Don't remind him. Anyhow, this is what happened and I tell you - and I was supposed to answer everybody yelling at me - I said, "What am I supposed to do?" I mean, nobody knew what the hell to do.

Narrator: William Durant, the bull of the bulls, now tried singlehandedly to support the market. The further it plunged, the more of his millions he poured into it.

Aristo Scrobogna, Secretary to William C. Durant: He became truly convinced that he was omnipotent. He thought that nothing could really unseat him. It was unfortunate. The forces were too great. There was no one man that could have been so powerful to control the market.

Narrator: There were some people, however, whose investment strategies made money. On October 29th, Jesse Livermore's wife, hearing of the crash, ordered the servants to move all the furniture out of their mansion into a small cottage on the estate.

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: So when Mr. Livermore got home that night, he walked into a totally vacant house. When she told him that she had effected the move because she was sure that they had lost all their money, he told her that he had made more money that day than he had ever made before.

Narrator: For most others, it was all over. In brokers' offices across the country, the small investors - the tailors, the grocers, the secretaries - stared at the moving ticker in numb silence. Hope of an easy retirement, the new home, their children's education, everything was gone.

Arthur Marx, Son of Groucho Marx: My father was ready to kill himself. In the morning of the crash, he got a call and it was Max Gordon and Max Gordon says, "Groucho?" and my father said, "What?" And Gordon said, "Groucho, the jig is up."

Reuben L. Cain, Former Stock Salesman: There were all sorts of rumors and you'd see people going down the street looking up to see if they could catch somebody jumping out the window. Now, it turned out there weren't as many people who jumped out the window as they reported, but some did and others committed suicide other ways.

Narrator: Five hundred miles from Wall Street in the Atlantic, the luxury liner, the Berengaria, was heading home. From Michael Meehan's brokerage office, word spread through the ship: "The bottom's fallen out of the market." Men came running out of their Turkish baths in towels. Card games ended abruptly. Everyone tried to jam into the tiny office, yelling, "Sell at market!" They had left England wealthy men. They docked in New York without a penny.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist: There's nothing unique about this. It is something which happens every 20 or 30 years because that is about the length of the financial memory. It's about the length of time that it requires for a new set of suckers, if you will, a new set of people capable of wonderful self-delusion to come in and imagine that they have a new and wonderful fix on the future.

Narrator: In the 1930s, Charles Mitchell was hounded by Senate committees and the IRS. The crash had left him $12 million in debt.

Rita Mitchell Cushman, Daughter of Charles E. Mitchell: This house was taken over, of course, and things changed. And I began to know what the real world was all about. It was about time. I was 19 years old.

Narrator: Mitchell made a remarkable comeback. He paid off his debts and died in 1955, a highly-respected figure on Wall Street. In 1936, William Durant filed for bankruptcy. His only assets, which he valued at $250, were the clothes on his back. In the late 30s, the founder of General Motors tried his hand at everything from running a bowling alley to selling a cure for dandruff. He died in 1947, still talking about making a comeback.

Herbert Hoover spent much of the early 1930s fishing. He explained in a speech that fishing is a constant reminder of humility and of human frailty, "for all men are equal before fishes."

Patricia Livermore, Daughter-in-Law of Jesse Livermore: The game on Wall Street had changed a great deal for Livermore and the SEC was becoming a powerful factor and the rules were changed. He couldn't operate freely, buy and sell the way he had in the past and he couldn't adapt to the new regulations. So, in a sense, his playing with the market was over and I think a great deal of his interest in life was over at that point. The game was gone.

Narrator: In 1940, the day before Thanksgiving, a photographer snapped this photograph of an old and very tired Jesse Livermore. Several hours later, Livermore would go into a men's washroom and put a bullet through his head.

At the end of 1929, as they celebrated New Year's Eve, all that lay in the future. Nobody knew that the Great Depression was coming - unemployment, bread lines, bank failures - this was unimaginable. But the bubble had burst. Gone was that innocent optimism, the confidence, the illusion of wealth without work. One era had ended. They toasted the coming of the 30s, but somewhere, deep down, they knew the party was over.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Crash of 1929 | American Experience | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The unbounded optimism of the Jazz Age and the shocking consequences when reality finally hit on October 29th, ultimately leading to the Great Depression.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts & Music, Health, and Technology

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Great Depression: Causes, Definition & Dates | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in world history. Learn about the Dust Bowl, New Deal, causes of the Great Depression, a Great Depression timeline more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links

LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts. Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, while the Sahara in Africa is the largest of the hot deserts. There are also deserts close to Santa Barbara, such as the Mojave the Colorado Desert which encompass parts of Southern California. In North America, there are four major hot, dry deserts, including the Mojave and the Great Basin. Outside the U.S. hot, dry deserts are found in the Southern Asian realm, South and Central America, Ethiopia and Australia.

Another type of desert is the coastal desert, for example, the Atacama Desert in Chile of South America. And then there are cold deserts. That sounds pretty silly! If deserts are supposed to be hot, how can there possibly be a cold desert? Well these deserts are in places like Antarctica and Greenland where vegetation is sparce, just like the more commonly known hot, dry deserts.

WEATHER: Weather is not the same in all deserts. The seasons in hot and dry deserts are usually very hot during the summer and warm during the rest of the year. During winter these deserts get little rainfall. Rain is often light, or in short concentrated bursts. Most of the time evaporation rates are faster than rainfall rates. Sometimes the rain evaporates before even hitting the ground. This is the reason for the dry characteristic of this type of desert. Coastal deserts are in moderately cool to warm areas. Coastal deserts usually have cool winters followed by fairly long, warm summers. The temperature in the winters is generally 41°F (5&degC) or below. In the summer the weather heats up to between 55° and 75°F (12 and 24&degC). Average rainfall is usually 3 - 5 inches (8 - 13 cm). The Atacama is the Earth's driest desert. In the Atacama 1 millimeter or more of rain falls every 5-20 years. Cold deserts have short, moist and moderately warm summers, and long cold winters like one could expect in Antarctica. The winter temperature ranges from -5°F to -110°F (-20.5 to -79&degC), and in the summer it can be a nice, balmy, 32°F (0&degC). The coldest day recorded in Antarctica was -113°F (-80.5&degC)!

PLANTS: Deserts plants have many adaptations to survive in such a dry environment. They are good at storing and finding water. Some plants have seeds that can stay dormant in the sand for a long time, until there is enough rain for them to grow. In hot deserts, you'll often find Cacti. Cacti are great at storing water. With their waxy coating, water can't escape and their spines protect them from being desert dinner. Their roots are shallow, and widely spread so that any rain can be absorbed immediately! Some other plants you might find in the hot desert are creosote bush, sagebrush, and ocotillo. Coastal deserts house a variety of plants. These plants must adapt to minimal rainfall by having extensive root systems that come up to the surface to absorb any possible rainfall, and go far down to absorb any water saturated in the ground. These plants also have very thick leaves that can absorb and store water whenever it is available. The plants that live in coastal deserts include salt bush, rice grass, black sage and chrysothamnus. Plants can even live in cold deserts, but you won't find as many here as in other types of deserts. Plants in cold deserts include algae, grasses, and plants with spiny thin leaves. Usually these plants grow only in the summer.

ANIMALS: Deserts are a very important biome. No, not because of all the sand! Mostly because of all the plants and animals that call the desert "home". Some animals that live in the hot desert are cold-blooded, like snakes, insects, and lizards. Mammals that live in the desert are usually small, such as the kangaroo rat and kit fox. Sometimes it's hard to survive in the desert. Some mice build their home out of fallen cactus spines to protect themselves from predators like coyotes and hawks. In the Eritrean coastal desert in Djibouti, Africa, animals like gazelles, skinks, geckos and dikdiks roam the desert. Fewer animals live in the cold desert. In Antarctica, most of the animals live near the ocean shore. Because of their ice home, seals, penguins, and other birds rely on fish, squid and other sea creatures for their food.

PEOPLE AND THE DESERT: People have a variety of uses for deserts. The desert is popular for tourism and recreation. Often people visit to see the beautiful sand colors and rock formations. Many people enjoy visiting the desert because it is a quiet place to get away from the business and noise of cities and spend time in the open land. The desert offers many types of recreation, for example, rock climbing, hiking and dirt biking. Mining, grazing, road building, and utility projects take place in the desert. Because of desert sensitivity, it is important that desert uses be managed properly to protect the wildlife and habitat.
LINKS: The Deserts in the American Southwest Deserts Environment Geography for Kids: Deserts Cool Planet: Deserts Biomes of the World: Desert
Back to Biomes Index

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links

LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts. Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, while the Sahara in Africa is the largest of the hot deserts. There are also deserts close to Santa Barbara, such as the Mojave the Colorado Desert which encompass parts of Southern California. In North America, there are four major hot, dry deserts, including the Mojave and the Great Basin. Outside the U.S. hot, dry deserts are found in the Southern Asian realm, South and Central America, Ethiopia and Australia.

Another type of desert is the coastal desert, for example, the Atacama Desert in Chile of South America. And then there are cold deserts. That sounds pretty silly! If deserts are supposed to be hot, how can there possibly be a cold desert? Well these deserts are in places like Antarctica and Greenland where vegetation is sparce, just like the more commonly known hot, dry deserts.

WEATHER: Weather is not the same in all deserts. The seasons in hot and dry deserts are usually very hot during the summer and warm during the rest of the year. During winter these deserts get little rainfall. Rain is often light, or in short concentrated bursts. Most of the time evaporation rates are faster than rainfall rates. Sometimes the rain evaporates before even hitting the ground. This is the reason for the dry characteristic of this type of desert. Coastal deserts are in moderately cool to warm areas. Coastal deserts usually have cool winters followed by fairly long, warm summers. The temperature in the winters is generally 41°F (5&degC) or below. In the summer the weather heats up to between 55° and 75°F (12 and 24&degC). Average rainfall is usually 3 - 5 inches (8 - 13 cm). The Atacama is the Earth's driest desert. In the Atacama 1 millimeter or more of rain falls every 5-20 years. Cold deserts have short, moist and moderately warm summers, and long cold winters like one could expect in Antarctica. The winter temperature ranges from -5°F to -110°F (-20.5 to -79&degC), and in the summer it can be a nice, balmy, 32°F (0&degC). The coldest day recorded in Antarctica was -113°F (-80.5&degC)!

PLANTS: Deserts plants have many adaptations to survive in such a dry environment. They are good at storing and finding water. Some plants have seeds that can stay dormant in the sand for a long time, until there is enough rain for them to grow. In hot deserts, you'll often find Cacti. Cacti are great at storing water. With their waxy coating, water can't escape and their spines protect them from being desert dinner. Their roots are shallow, and widely spread so that any rain can be absorbed immediately! Some other plants you might find in the hot desert are creosote bush, sagebrush, and ocotillo. Coastal deserts house a variety of plants. These plants must adapt to minimal rainfall by having extensive root systems that come up to the surface to absorb any possible rainfall, and go far down to absorb any water saturated in the ground. These plants also have very thick leaves that can absorb and store water whenever it is available. The plants that live in coastal deserts include salt bush, rice grass, black sage and chrysothamnus. Plants can even live in cold deserts, but you won't find as many here as in other types of deserts. Plants in cold deserts include algae, grasses, and plants with spiny thin leaves. Usually these plants grow only in the summer.

ANIMALS: Deserts are a very important biome. No, not because of all the sand! Mostly because of all the plants and animals that call the desert "home". Some animals that live in the hot desert are cold-blooded, like snakes, insects, and lizards. Mammals that live in the desert are usually small, such as the kangaroo rat and kit fox. Sometimes it's hard to survive in the desert. Some mice build their home out of fallen cactus spines to protect themselves from predators like coyotes and hawks. In the Eritrean coastal desert in Djibouti, Africa, animals like gazelles, skinks, geckos and dikdiks roam the desert. Fewer animals live in the cold desert. In Antarctica, most of the animals live near the ocean shore. Because of their ice home, seals, penguins, and other birds rely on fish, squid and other sea creatures for their food.

PEOPLE AND THE DESERT: People have a variety of uses for deserts. The desert is popular for tourism and recreation. Often people visit to see the beautiful sand colors and rock formations. Many people enjoy visiting the desert because it is a quiet place to get away from the business and noise of cities and spend time in the open land. The desert offers many types of recreation, for example, rock climbing, hiking and dirt biking. Mining, grazing, road building, and utility projects take place in the desert. Because of desert sensitivity, it is important that desert uses be managed properly to protect the wildlife and habitat.
LINKS: The Deserts in the American Southwest Deserts Environment Geography for Kids: Deserts Cool Planet: Deserts Biomes of the World: Desert
Back to Biomes Index

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover details of the behaviors and habitats of some of the Sonoran Desert's creatures, focusing on the adaptations they use to survive in one of the most extreme environments in the world in this video segment from NOVA: "A Desert Place". This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Temperature

Precipitation

Deserts get about 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain per year-the least amount of rain of all of the biomes.

Vegetation

Cacti, small bushes, short grasses

Location

Between 15° and 35° latitude (North and South of the equator); examples are Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Great Basin (North America); Sahara (Africa); Negev (Middle East); and Gobi (Asia)

Other

Perennials survive for several years by becoming dormant and flourishing when water is available. Annuals are referred to as ephemerals because some can complete an entire life cycle in weeks.

Example: Cairo, Egypt
Monthly Temperature and Precipitation from 1970 - 2000

Month

Average Monthly Precipitation (mm)

Average Monthly Temperature (°C)

Download the Data (csv)

Description

Desert biomes are the driest of all the biomes. In fact, the most important characteristic of a desert is that it receives very little rainfall. Most deserts receive less than 300 mm a year compared to rainforests, which receive over 2,000 mm. That means that the desert only gets 10 percent of the rain that a rainforest gets! The temperature in the desert can change drastically from day to night because the air is so dry that heat escapes rapidly at night. The daytime temperature averages 38°C while in some deserts it can get down to -4°C at night. The temperature also varies greatly depending on the location of the desert.

Since desert conditions are so severe, the plants that live there need to have adaptations to compensate for the lack of water. Some plants, such as cacti, store water in their stems and use it very slowly, while others like bushes conserve water by growing few leaves or by having large root systems to gather water. Some desert plant species have a short life cycle of a few weeks that lasts only during periods of rain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Temperature Precipitation Deserts get about 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain per year-the least amount of rain of all of the biomes. Vegetation Cacti, small bushes, short grasses Location Between 15° and 35° latitude (North and South of the equator); examples are Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Great Basin (North America); Sahara (Africa); Negev (Middle East); and Gobi (Asia) Other Perennials survive for several years by becoming dormant and flourishing when water is available.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Science is such a versatile and evolving field that what seemed to be fact only a few years ago, may now very well be disproved by a new theory or scientific breakthrough. Throughout history there have been famous inventors and scientists who have brought new aspects of their fields to light. Scientific discoveries and inventions can be found from ancient civilizations to the present day. Some great inventors have made such significant contributions that we cannot imagine life without those breakthroughs. For instance, without Alexander Fleming there would be no penicillin and thus no antibiotics, without Louis Pasteur there would be no life saving vaccines, without Tim Berners-Lee there would be no internet, and without Sergey Brin and Larry Page there would be no Google.

Amongst different inventors, there have been some unmatched geniuses whose influence extended to so many fields that it is impossible to describe their contributions in a limited space. These include polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci, Ibn Al-Haytham, Archimedes, Al-Khwarizmi, Avicenna, and Al-Kindi. Some inventors have left behind a legacy that remains strong to this day, for instance George Eastman who gave us the Eastman Kodak company, Ole Kirk Christiansen who started the Lego company, Levi Strauss who invented jeans and started Levi Strauss & Co. and Walt Disney who made beloved children's cartoons that gained worldwide fame.

There have been many famous inventors who rose from the most difficult circumstances and made their mark in the world through sheer hard work and effort. For instance, Madam C.J. Walker was born to a poor family, lost her parents at an early age and was mistreated at her sister's home, was married at the age of 14, lost her husband at the age of 20 and earned a dollar a day. Yet, she managed to save money to send her daughter to school, and herself established a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women. Louis Braille was blinded at the age of 3, yet he gained an excellent education and invented the Braille system of writing for the blind. George Washington Carver was born into slavery, and not allowed to enter college because of his race, but he persisted in his efforts and his work in the field of botany and agriculture revolutionized the methods of farming.

Most top inventors have won prestigious awards, medals and other favors in recognition of their work. But it is interesting to see the contributions of those who suffered throughout their lives, and whose efforts were only recognized after their death. The foremost name that comes to mind in this category is Nikola Tesla. He was a genius inventor but suffered from depression, anxiety and OCD. He died alone at the age of 82, without ever having profited enough to save any money. Other examples in this category include Charles Goodyear, Gutenberg and Antonio Meucci. However, we can say without a doubt that their work is remarkable and the contributions they have made to every aspect of our lives is unparalleled.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Science is such a versatile and evolving field that what seemed to be fact only a few years ago, may now very well be disproved by a new theory or scientific breakthrough. Throughout history there have been famous inventors and scientists who have brought new aspects of their fields to light.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
From bulletproof vests to dishwashers, from computer software to ice-cream makers, women over the centuries have achieved excellence in every field in spite of receiving little acclaim for it. Here are 12 names of famous women inventors whose ingenious inventions surpassed their time and expected abilities.

Invented: Circular Saw

Owing to her religious affiliation with the Shaker community that observed a simple life, Tabitha Babbitt never applied for a patent for her inventions. Nevertheless, men have her to thank for inventing the circular saw, machine-cut nails and refining other tools that are commonly used today.

Her idea was inspired by observing men in her community who used a pit saw to cut wood in which the back hand stroke was useless and wasted energy. Hence, Babbitt created the prototype for the circular saw that went on to be a key item in saw mills.

Since Babbitt worked as a weaver, she took a circular blade and attached it to her spinning wheel to produce the circular motion.

Invented: Dishwasher

Patented in 1887, Josephine Cochrane invented the first commercially successful dishwasher. Although it had been designed earlier by Joel Houghton in 1850 and L.A. Alexander in the 1860s, neither of these did the job quite as well as Cochrane's design that was the first to use water pressure as opposed to scrubbers.

In 1893, she won the highest prize for the best mechanical construction, durability and adaptation to its line of work. Soon after this Cochrane began receiving orders from hotels and restaurants in Illinois leading to her factory business Gris-Cochrane in 1897. It wasn't until the 1950s that the dishwasher became a household item.

Invented: Monopoly

Responsible for one of the most legendary board games of all time, Elizabeth Marie invented 'The Landlord's Game' or what we more commonly remember as Monopoly. The game was genius as Magie's designed it in a way that directly mocked the unjust capitalist practices of land-grabbing and the downsides of living on rent.

Although Magie received a patent for her hard work in 1904, her game was ripped off some 30 years later by Charles Darrow in 1934 who reinvented it as 'Monopoly' and sold it to the Parker Brothers. Luckily the Parker Brothers tracked down its original patent holder and paid Magie $500 for it.

Invented: Invisible glass

Known for her numerous contributions in the field of industrial chemistry, Katherine Blodgett is accredited for her invention of the non-reflecting or invisible glass.

Being the first female scientist hired at General Electric, Blodgett figured out a way to transfer thin monomolecular coatings to glass and metals in 1935. The resultant effect was glass that excluded glare and distortion. This invisible glass was a beneficial device for metallurgists, chemists and physicists. It has also been used in picture frames, camera lenses, optics, microscopes, eyeglasses and the like.

During the Second World War, Katherine invented smoke screens that saved many lives by protecting troops against exposure to toxic smoke.

Invented: Solar power heating system

Solar-power pioneer and biophysicist, Maria Telkes teamed up with architect Eleanor Raymond to build the first ever home that was entirely heated by solar power in 1947.

Telkes was a Hungarian scientist who invented the thermoelectric power generator to provide heating for Dover House in Scotland. She used Glauber's salt, sodium salt from sulfuric acid in order to store heat in extreme winters. This enabled the Dover House to survive three winters before the system failed.

Invented: Computer Software

Dr. Grace Murray Hopper is an inspiration for women in the field of computer science to this day. She, along with Howard Aiken, invented Harvard's Mark I computer in 1944. The computer was the size of a room and weighed five tons. Hopper played a pivotal role in compiling and translating written language into computer code and was part of the team that developed COBOL-the first modern, user-friendly programming language. She is also accredited for coining the terms 'bug' and 'de-bug' after discovering that an actual moth was the cause of trouble in her computer.

Invented: Secret Communications System

Although more famous as a world renowned Austrian actress and beauty icon, Lamarr proved to be more than just a pretty face. Her 'Secret Communication System' helped prevent classified messages from being intercepted by the enemy during World War II. Lamarr, along with her partner George Anthiel received a patent for their invention in 1941.

The system employed radio-controlling torpedoes or frequency-hopping technology to work effectively and this laid the technological foundations for modern day Wi-fi and GPS.her further contributions to the 'spread spectrum' technology also facilitated the digital communications boom including the invention of cellular phones, fax machines and other wireless operations. She is included in the 20 th century's most important women inventors.

Invented: Closed-Circuit Television

One would not even imagine the possibility of a home surveillance device back in 1966. However, Marie Van Brittan Brown, disgruntled by the slow response of the police to calls for help in her neighbourhood in New York, invented and patented a closed-circuit television security system, along with her partner Albert Brown. Her invention laid the foundation for modern home security systems, crime prevention systems and traffic monitoring.

The mechanism consisted of four peep holes and a camera that could be moved from one peephole to the other reflecting the camera's images onto a monitor. Doors of the house could also be unlocked using an electrical switch.

Invented: Kevlar

Invented almost by accident, Stephanie Kwolek's super-strong Kevlar fiber ended up being five times stronger than steel and serving about 200 uses. The most famous of these was the bulletproof vest. Kwolek invented it while she was actually working on a lighter fiber for car tires, earning a patent in 1966.

When Kwolek initially made her Hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) solution, it did not look like it would be able to do the trick. However, to everyone's surprise, the mobile and extremely watery solution made excellent fibers which are now widely used for bulletproof vests that saved the lives of many police personnel over the years. The aramid fibers are applied in tires, brake linings, composite materials, boat hulls, flame-resistant clothing and the like.

Invented: Various telecommunications technology

Touch tone telephone, fiber optic cables, solar cells, caller waiting, caller identification and portable fax- these are only some her inventions in telecommunications development. Dr. Shirley Jackson is accredited for much more. She was the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as well as the first black woman to preside over a major technological institute, that is, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Invented: Aquascope

Not much is known about the inventor herself but her invention speaks volumes for her genius mind. More commonly known as the Aquascope, Sarah Mather invented an underwater viewing device which was a combination telescope and lamp for submarines. It used a camphene lmp in a glass globe that would be sunk in water. Mather received her patent in 1845.

This 'Apparatus for Examining Objects Under the Surface of the Water' permitted sea vessels to explore the depths of the ocean. In 1864, Mather improved the device to be used to detect Southern underwater warships. It is now used for reefs, secchi disks, checking boat moorings and other surveying related activities. It also proves as an effective educational tool to watch underwater plants and habitat in water bodies.

Nancy Johnson (n.d.)

Invented: Hand-cranked Ice-cream Freezer

Up until 1843, ice cream was produced in a pot freezer where it had to be mixed for several hours using a spoon. In this year, Nancy Johnson from Philadelphia transformed this method when she applied for patent for her hand-cranked ice-cream freezer.

This artificial freezer consisted of a tub, lid, cylinder, dasher and crank. The crank was movable with a center paddle that was used to churn to ice-cream mix for 45 minutes - much lesser than the time it took previously.

Shortly after Johnson's initial invention, 70 improvements were made to it including the popular White Mountain brand that claims to sell thousands of such machines every year even though electric versions of ice-cream makers have been introduced since the last 50 years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From bulletproof vests to dishwashers, from computer software to ice-cream makers, women over the centuries have achieved excellence in every field in spite of receiving little acclaim for it. Here are 12 names of famous women inventors whose ingenious inventions surpassed their time and expected abilities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn more and understand better with BrainPOP's animated movies, games, playful assessments, and activities covering Science, Math, History, English, and more!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inventions and Science: Ideas and Inventors | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about great inventors like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, the Wright brothers, Alexander Graham Bell and Nikola Tesla, and inventions like the cotton gin, the automobile and the internet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wild West Legendary Women - The Wild West

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Women Of The Wild West | History Detectives | PBS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary epitomized this tough rebellious character. Hard-drinking, gun-slinging and bragging of her exploits, she often posed as a man to get ahead. Travelling to the West at the age of 13 with her parents, she eschewed the traditional female role and spent most of her time with the men and joining hunting parties.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ellen Liddy Watson was a female pioneer of Wyoming who became better known as Cattle Kate, an outlaw of the Old West, although she wasn't violent and was never charged with any crime. She was ultimately lynched by agents of powerful cattle ranchers whose interests she had threatened, and her life has become the subject of Old West legend.

Background:
She was born in Arran Lake, Bruce County, in Ontario, Canada. Her father was Thomas Lewis Watson, and her mother was Francis Close Watson. She was called Ella in her youth, and was the eldest of ten children born to the Watson family, the later four of which were born in Kansas after the family moved there in 1877.

The family settled near Lebanon, Kansas, and began to homestead. At the age of 16 Ella was courted by a local farmer named William A. Pickell, who was three years older than she. The two were married on November 4, 1879. However, Pickell was abusive, both verbally and physically, and drank heavily. He often would beat her with a horse whip. In January, 1883, she fled to her parents home. Pickell came after her, but was intimidated by her father, and fled, having no contact with her afterwards. She filed for divorce, and moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska, fourteen miles north of her family's homestead.

That same year she moved, against her family's wishes, to Denver, Colorado. One of her brothers lived there, and she stayed with him for a time, then moving on to Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was unusual during that period in American history for a woman to move independently and alone. However, she did so, finding work as both a seamstress and a cook.

She later moved on to Rawlins, Wyoming. While in Rawlins she began working as cook and waitress in the premier boarding-house/hostelry in town, the "Rawlins House." It is sometimes alleged that the "Rawlins House" was a brothel and Ella worked as a prostitute there, but it was not a brothel, and there is no evidence Ella ever worked as a prostitute anywhere. The idea that Ella was a prostitute was circulated by the influential cattle barons in order to discredit her.

On February 24, 1886, she met a homesteader named James Averell, who was in town on business. The two began a romance, and she moved with him to his homestead near the Sweetwater River country.

He had previously married Sophia Jaeger after his second service in the army was up. The two had a child together, but both Sophia and the infant died from fever in August, 1882. Devastated, Averell began homesteading fifteen miles north of the homestead he had worked while married to Sophia. He began to frequent the "Rawlins House", where he became acquainted with Ella, who then moved to his home.

Jim had built and opened a "road ranch" (a restaurant- general store) on his homestead property, serving both cowboys and settlers who were enroute to Oregon and other locations west. Ella served as the cook, and was allowed to keep the money she made, fifty cents a meal. In March, 1886, Ella's divorce became final. Ella and Averell did apply for a marriage license in Lander, Wyoming that same year, but it is unclear if the two ever legally married, as the license was never filed. On June 26, 1886, Averell was appointed Postmaster of the community. Ella, however, expressed her desire to have her own ranch, working independently from his.

She filed on a homestead adjacent to Averell's in August, 1886, and built a small two room cabin. At the time, the Maverick Law stated that unbranded calves found on a property were to be branded with an "M", and became the property of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, a powerful group of cattlemen at the time. The cattlemen association limited small ranchers from bidding on cattle at auctions, and insisted all ranchers, small and large, have a registered brand. Although this seems reasonable at first glance, the cost for registering a brand was set quite high, to insure that few smaller ranchers could afford it. Also, a brand had to be accepted, and the cattlemen's association had substantial power inside the committee that either rejected or accepted brands. Essentially, this locked out many smaller ranchers from operating within the scope of the law of the time.

The wealthy cattlemen began to build portable cabins on land, claiming it as a homestead, thus making the land theirs, and after registering it with the county, they would simply move the portable cabins to another location and repeat the same process over again. Averell, being the local Justice of the Peace, began writing about these acts to a newspaper in Casper, Wyoming. This infuriated the cattlemen.

On March 23, 1888, Ella filed her claim for her homestead, where she had built her cabin two years before. By law, this made the property hers. Between her claim and Averell's, the two owned 320 acres. She fenced much of the property, built a livery stable and a several corrals. In 1888, under extreme pressure from small ranchers and homesteaders, the Governor repealed the Maverick Law, bringing on heavy opposition from the wealthy cattlemen. By now, Ella had been dubbed by local newspapers as "Cattle Kate".

In the Fall of that year, Ella purchased twenty eight cattle from a man who was driving them from Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah. On December 3, 1888, Ella applied for the "WT" brand, but was rejected. On March 16, 1889, likely feeling her own brand would never be accepted, she bought a brand already registered, thus now having a legal operating brand.

That same year she adopted an 11 year old boy named Gene Crowder, whose father had worked for her previously, but who was a heavy drinker and unable to properly care for his son. Together with another young boy, 14 year old John DeCorey, they worked her steadily increasing ranch. By the middle of July, 1889, she had forty one head of cattle, and hired another man named Frank Buchanan to mend fences. Albert John Bothwell, a wealthy cattleman and member of the cattlemen's association, lived only about a mile from the ranch. Although he had never owned the area of land on which Ella's ranch was now located, he had used it from time to time in years past. He now greatly resented the presence of her ranch.

Averell had granted Bothwell right-of-way so that Bothwell could irrigate his property. Bothwell began to fence in parts of Ella's ranch, and sent cowboys working for him to harass the couple. On July 20, 1889, a range detective, George Henderson, who was working for Bothwell, accused Ella of rustling cattle from Bothwell and branding them with her own brand. The cattlemen sent riders to arrest Ella. They forced her into a wagon while young Gene Crowder watched, telling her they were going to Rawlins.

Crowder rode to tell Averell and Buchanan what had happened, finding Buchanan first, and Buchanan rode after the wagon. By the time Buchanan arrived, the group of riders were lynching both Ella and Averell. Buchanan rode in and opened fire on the riders, and a shoot-out followed. At least one of the vigilante riders was wounded, but Buchanan was forced to withdraw, as there were around ten men facing him. He then rode to the ranch, where he was met by employee Ralph Coe and the two teenage boys. By that time, both Averell and Ella were dead.

County Sheriff Frank Hadsell and Deputy Sheriff Phil Watson (no relation to Ella) arrested six men for the hangings. A trial date was set, but prior to the date several witnesses were intimidated, threatened, and several people were killed mysteriously. One of those who disappeared was the boy, Gene Crowder. He was never seen again. Buchanan fled after another shoot-out with unknown suspects, and was seen periodically over the next two to three years, eventually changing his name and disappearing all together. Ralph Coe, who was a nephew to Averell, died the very day of the trial, from poison.

Another witness, Dan Fitger, had observed the lynchings, and had seen the riders arrive at the location with Buchanan riding far behind. He also witnessed the shoot-out between Buchanan and the riders, stating that at least one of the vigilante riders was wounded, possibly two. However, he did not come forward until years after the incident, for fear of the cattlemen. At the time of the trial, it was unknown that Gitger had witnessed this. He stated he had been plowing in a field when the incident happened.

In the end, Averell and Ella's possessions were sold off in auction, and their property eventually became the property of members of the cattlemen's association. This was one of many events that eventually sparked the Johnson County War, and numerous killings similar to that of Watson and Averell, to include the murder of Nate Champion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ellen Liddy Watson was a female pioneer of Wyoming who became better known as Cattle Kate, an outlaw of the Old West, although she wasn't violent and was never charged with any crime. She was ultimately lynched by agents of powerful cattle ranchers whose interests she had threatened, and her life has become the subject of Old West legend.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The outlaw Belle Starr is killed when an unknown assailant fatally wounds the famous "Bandit Queen" with two shotgun blasts from behind.

As with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James, fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels made Belle Starr's harsh and violent life appear far more romantic than it actually was. Born Myra Belle Shirley on a small farm near Carthage, Missouri, in 1848, she received an education in the classics and became a competent pianist. Seemingly headed for an unexciting but respectable middle-class life, her fate was changed by the outbreak of the Civil War, which ruined her father's business as a Carthage innkeeper and claimed the life of her brother Edwin. Devastated, the Shirley family abandoned Missouri to try to make a fresh start in Texas.

In Texas, Belle began her life-long pattern of associating with men of questionable character. In 1866, she met Cole Younger, a member of the James-Younger gang that was gaining notoriety for a series of daring bank and train robberies. Rumor had it that Younger fathered Belle's first child, Pearl, though the father might have actually been another outlaw, Jim Reed. Regardless, Belle's relationship with Younger was short-lived, and in 1866 she became Reed's wife. Belle was apparently untroubled by her new husband's reputation and she had become his partner in crime by 1869. She joined him in stealing cattle, horses, and money in the Dallas area. Riding her mare, Venus, and sporting velvet skirts and plumed hats, Belle played the role of a "bandit queen" for several years.

In 1874, a member of his own gang killed Reed, and Belle was suddenly on her own. Pursued by the law, she drifted into Oklahoma Indian Territory, where she led a band of cattle and horse thieves. There she met a handsome young Cherokee named Sam Starr, who eventually became her common-law husband and new criminal partner. The Starrs managed to elude capture for nearly a decade, but in 1883 they were arrested for horse theft and both served five months in the Detroit federal prison.

Freed from prison, the couple immediately resumed their criminal careers. In 1886, Belle again lost a husband to violent death when Sam Starr was killed in a gunfight with an old enemy. Belle wasted no time in finding a third companion, a Creek Indian named Jim July, an outlaw who was 15 years her junior. In 1889, July was arrested for robbery and summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to face charges. Belle accompanied her young lover for part of the journey but turned back before reaching Fort Smith. On her way home, someone ambushed and fatally wounded her with two shotgun blasts to her back. Jim July believed the murderer was a neighbor with whom the couple had been feuding, but no one was ever convicted of the crime.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The outlaw Belle Starr is killed when an unknown assailant fatally wounds the famous "Bandit Queen" with two shotgun blasts from behind. As with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James, fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels made Belle Starr's harsh and violent life appear far more romantic than it actually was.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Belle Starr gained notoriety as an outlaw on the western edge of the United States in the mid-1800s. While she did consort with infamous characters, historians suggest her renegade reputation surpasses her actual criminal activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
- Belle Starr stated to the The Fort Smith Elevator about one year prior to her death.

Belle Starr was born Myra Belle Shirley in a log cabin near Carthage, Missouri on February 5, 1848 to "Judge" John Shirley and his third wife, Elizabeth Pennington. Her father was the black sheep of a well-to-do Virginia family who had moved west to Indiana, where he married and divorced twice. His third wife, Eliza, was on the Hatfield side of the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families.

After they married, the Shirleys moved to Missouri in 1839, where John prospered raising wheat, corn, hogs and horses in Jasper County. Myra's older brother, John Allison "Bud" was born to the Shirleys in 1842, and a younger son, Edwin, in 1850. The next ten years were a financial success for the Shirleys who had two more sons.

In 1856, they sold their land and moved to Carthage, Missouri where they built an inn, a tavern, livery stable and blacksmith shop-their businesses taking up almost an entire city block. John Shirley had become a respected member of the burgeoning county seat of Carthage.

At first, Myra Belle lived the life of a spoiled, rich girl, attending the Carthage Female Academy, where in addition to the basics, she was taught music and classical languages. She was a bright student, with polite manners, and a talent for playing the piano. However, she also liked to flaunt her status a "rich girl" and liked having an audience. She also loved the outdoors, where she spent many a day roaming the countryside with her older brother Bud, who taught her how to ride a horse and handle a gun.

However, her life changed dramatically when the Kansas-Missouri Border War broke out. Jasper County watched both armies pass through time and again, forcing residents to take sides, and making neighbors into bitter enemies. Irregular bands of "Jayhawkers" and "Red Legs" laid waste to Missouri communities in support of the Union.

When son Bud joined Quantrill's Raiders, John Shirley was a proud father. Bud, who knew the area and the people well, served admirably as a scout, quickly attaining a captain's rank.

But in June 1864 Bud was killed in Sarcoxie, Missouri. The raids had taken their toll on Shirley's businesses and after Bud's death, the "Judge" gave up, sold his Missouri property and moved his family to a farm near Scyene, Texas, a small settlement southeast of Dallas.

In 1866 the James-Younger Gang robbed their first bank in Liberty, Missouri, and fled with $6,000 in cash and bonds. Splitting up, Jesse and Frank James, along with the Youngers, fled to Texas, where they met up with Myra Shirley. Soon, Myra became smitten by Cole, quickly becoming a member of their "gang."

One of these outlaw bands, seeking refuge, stayed at the Shirley house one night. Belle later stated that it was there that she became reacquainted with the first man she ever loved. His name was Jim Reed, and she had first met him back in Missouri, where the Reed and Shirley families had been friends. The romance blossomed in Texas, and Belle and Jim married on November 1, 1866.

The Shirleys had no objection to the marriage, as Jim Reed was not yet a wanted man. Jim moved into the Shirley household near Scyene and shared the farm chores. Later, he became a salesman for a Dallas saddle and bridle maker. By late 1867, though, he and Belle were living on the Reed homestead in Missouri. Early in September 1868, Belle gave birth to her first child, Rosie Lee. Belle adored the baby and referred to her as her "Pearl." The nickname stuck.

The presence of Cole Younger at the Shirley residence has led to the fiction that he seduced Belle and she bore his illegitimate daughter. Younger admitted that he did visit the Shirleys in Texas, but in 1864, not 1866. He stated that the next time he saw Belle was at the Reed residence in Missouri in 1868. She was six months pregnant with her first child. Some authors insist this denial was the response of a "Southern gentleman," but a manuscript compiled by Richard Reed, younger brother of Belle's husband, supports Younger's story.

When Jim and Belle moved to Missouri, Reed was a wanted man, allegedly for murdering a man named Shannon. The two fled to California with their young daughter Pearl and before long a second child came along who they named Edward.

In 1869 Belle, Reed and two other outlaws rode to the North Canadian river country, where they tortured an old Creek Indian until he told them where he had hidden $30,000 in gold. With their share of the loot, Jim and Belle returned to Texas, where she played the role of "Bandit Queen" to the hilt.

But, it wasn't long before the outlaw life caught up with Reed and on August 1874, Reed was killed in a gunfight by a member of his own gang. Belle left her children with her mother while she rode the outlaw trail. In Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma,) Starr got involved with a flat-faced Indian outlaw who went by the name of " Blue Duck."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Belle Starr stated to the The Fort Smith Elevator about one year prior to her death. Belle Starr was born Myra Belle Shirley in a log cabin near Carthage, Missouri on February 5, 1848 to "Judge" John Shirley and his third wife, Elizabeth Pennington.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Civil Rights Movement | Free Middle School Teaching Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The civil rights movement changed America forever. Who were the leaders of the civil rights movement? What were the major events in the movement?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thank you, sister Rosa! Ms. Parks, that is! This movie is all about the civil rights movement, from segregation trials to freedom marches. Plus a few words from Dr. Martin Luther King!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can separate ever be equal? Tim and Moby examine the rise and fall of legalized segregation under Jim Crow laws.

# data[].attributes.headline
National Geographic: Curate Collection or resources on Westward Expansion

# data[].attributes.subject
National Geographic: Curate Collection or resources on Westward Expansion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the 1810s. It was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west. In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner declared the frontier closed, citing the 1890 census as evidence, and with that, the period of westward expansion ended.

Explore these resources to learn more about what happened between 1810 and 1893, as immigrants, American Indians, United States citizens, and freed slaves moved west.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the 1810s. It was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a network of trails leading west.

# data[].attributes.body
NewsELA Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Westward expansion, the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Pioneer life has a special meaning in America. In less than 300 years, settlers spread across a vast wilderness that covered the western United States. From the first landings in Virginia and Massachusetts in the early 1600s, American settlers kept pushing westward against an ever moving frontier. Into wild country went hunters, trappers, fur traders, miners, soldiers, surveyors, and farmers. Every part of America had its pioneers.

In the 1840s and 1850s the western frontier began at the Mississippi River. Hundreds of thousands of pioneers made the long trek west to new frontiers in Oregon and California. For months they lived in covered wagons stuffed with all their possessions. These adventurers traveled in caravans, with 30 or more wagons rocking westward on the overland trails. On fine days a wagon train could cover 20 miles (32 kilometers); when the rains brought mud, the pioneers would be satisfied to cover half that distance. To learn more about the journey west, read Joshua's Oregon Trail diary.

Once pioneers arrived at their destination, their journey had only just begun. With few resources, settlers had to rely on themselves and the land. Hunting wild animals provided some food and leather for clothing. New settlers also gathered wild fruits, nuts, and berries until they could plant their own crops. Pioneer women learned to supply their own household goods. Gourds served as pails and dippers. Wood ash was made into soap. Tallow, sheep and cattle fat was molded into candles. Every cabin had two spinning wheels - a big wheel for wool and a smaller wheel for flax, the fiber from which linen was made.

Pioneer families tended to be large. Most cabins had a cradle, hollowed from a log, and the cradle was rarely empty. Children were helpful in new lands. Girls soon learned important household tasks - gardening, cooking, spinning, weaving, mending, sewing, making soap and candles. Boys worked in the woods and fields with their fathers. They learned to chop wood, to clear out brush, to split rails, and to build fences. Pioneer children were also in charge of keeping animals away from the fields. A rail fence would keep hogs and sheep out of the corn, but deer could leap that barrier. It was the children's job to chase the deer away and to keep squirrels from devouring the growing crop. Sometimes children also pounded dried corn to make cornmeal.

Of course, pioneers had more to worry about than just everyday household duties. The arrival of so many Americans on the western frontier sparked a war with Mexico over land. Americans who had settled in Texas had revolted against Mexico, formed an independent republic, and asked that Texas become part of the United States. America went to war with Mexico in order to incorporate Texas into the Union.

Many Americans also wanted to obtain more than just Texas. They sought to acquire, by purchase or conquest, other Mexican territories, including California. They believed that it was the destiny of the United States to span the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Canadian border south to the Rio Grande, the river that is now the boundary between the United States and Mexico.

As pioneers demanded more land, problems with Native American tribes also increased. Between 1850 and 1880, numerous treaties were negotiated between whites and Indians in all parts of the West, from Nebraska to California. The original reason for these treaties was to separate the two groups and reduce the risk of war. But as the size of the settler population increased, the agreements gained a new purpose: to get good land for white settlers.

Indian tribes were restricted to reservations where their lives were controlled by unsympathetic government agents and many of their cultural traditions were forbidden. Many tribes resisted and fought back against the American government and settlers, but all of the tribes were defeated. In the 1860s and 1870s, this process of "clearing" the West for white settlement led to conflicts with the Navajos, Kiowas, Blackfeet, Comanches, Sioux, and Cheyennes.

Through their labors and accomplishments, pioneers helped define the character of America. Looking for opportunity and happiness, families risked their lives to build new communities far from the settled east coast. However, in the quest for a bigger America, Native American communities were destroyed and a war was fought with Mexico.

To learn more about the struggles and successes of pioneer life, read the journals of Augustus Pelletier, who explored with Lewis and Clark and Sarah Nita, a Navajo girl, as well as Susanna Fairchild, who participated in the Gold Rush.

Westward Expansion Timeline

1836: In the Texas War of Independence, Texans defeated at the Battle of the Alamo, but later defeat Mexicans at Battle of San Jacinto. 1838: Cherokees, forced to leave Georgia, set out for Oklahoma on "Trail of Tears." 1842: Settlers move west along the Oregon Trail. 1845: Texas admitted to the Union. 1846: War declared against Mexico; Zachary Taylor defeats Mexicans at the Rio Grande. 1847: Winfield Scott's troops take Mexico City. Mormons settle in Utah. 1848: Gold discovered in California. 1853: Gadsden Purchase establishes final U.S. boundaries in Southwest. 1860: Pony Express begins carrying mail. 1867: U.S. buys Alaska from Russia. 1869: Transcontinental Railroad completed. Wyoming becomes first state to allow women to vote. 1889: Oklahoma land rush. 1890: Battle of Wounded Knee kills over 300 Sioux Indians and ends the Indian Wars. 1897: Klondike Gold Rush begins.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pioneer life has a special meaning in America. In less than 300 years, settlers spread across a vast wilderness that covered the western United States. From the first landings in Virginia and Massachusetts in the early 1600s, American settlers kept pushing westward against an ever moving frontier.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nineteenth-century Americans settled the western United States, but displaced Native Americans in the homesteading process. Tim and Moby look at the concept of Manifest Destiny.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What Are Reptiles?

Reptiles are cold-blooded, usually egg-laying vertebrates (animals with backbones). Their skin is covered with scales or plates. Unlike mammal young, which are dependent upon their mothers for some time after birth, most reptiles are independent from day one.

There are more than 6,500 reptile species; below is the list of reptiles on exhibit at the Zoo or shown through Animals & You.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens | Reptiles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reptiles are cold-blooded, usually egg-laying vertebrates (animals with backbones). Their skin is covered with scales or plates. Unlike mammal young, which are dependent upon their mothers for some time after birth, most reptiles are independent from day one. There are more than 6,500 reptile species; below is the list of reptiles on exhibit at the Zoo or shown through Animals & You.

# data[].attributes.headline
Leaf blower experiment   shows how lizards lounge in   high winds 

# data[].attributes.subject
Leaf blower experiment   shows how lizards lounge in   high winds 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
All About Reptiles: What Makes it a Reptile? - FreeSchool

# data[].attributes.body
Read about the desert tortoise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reptiles | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are four main groups of reptiles: turtles and tortoises; lizards and snakes; crocodiles and alligators; and the tuatara, the only species left from an ancient group of reptiles that goes back to the dinosaurs. Some reptiles spend most of their time in water, and many spend their time on land.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Your destination for news, pictures, facts, and videos about reptiles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates. (Vertebrates have backbones.) They have dry skin covered with scales or bony plates and usually lay soft-shelled eggs.