In the early 20 th century, farmers across the Great Plains harnessed new technology to cash in on a huge demand for wheat.
But over-farming led to the removal of prairie grasses which had kept the topsoil in place.
For years, the region was bombarded by monster dust storms called "black blizzards" that sometimes buried entire houses in grit.
During the 1930s, after an intensive period of over-farming, dust storms regularly wreaked havoc, blanketing towns and farms in grit, destroying crops and making people sick.
The drought and storms led to one of the largest mass migrations in a short period of time in US history.
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