The Grasshopper Plague

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What Effects Did the Grasshopper Plague Have on the Lives of the People? Investigation Plan: Introduction Surviving the Great Depression was a challenge. Food was scarce and jobs were even scarcer. Out in the Midwest, the effects of the Great Depression were even more devastating, since the Dust Bowl was a major aspect of the depression. The brutal dust storms brought forth tons of dust, but along with the deadly dust, thousands of grasshoppers were brought in too. The purpose of this investigation is to determine what effects did the Grasshopper Plague have on the mid-western society and how the lives of the average American were altered with the presence of these pests by evaluating the interviews of Stan Jensen, “Controlling Grasshoppers”, Walter Schmitt, “Dealing with Grasshoppers”, and the autobiography of Glenn D. McMurry, “Life in Western Kansas”, all survivors of the Dust Storm and Grasshopper Plague. These sources give a good overview of how people lived their lives everyday amidst the grasshoppers and how they dealt with this situation, and each one of these sources agree on the situation as being rather unpleasant. Glenn describes the incoming grasshoppers as a “dark cloud”, no better than the dusty clouds themselves (“Life in Western Kansas”). The already skimpy amount of crop production, due to the dusty droughts, became even skimpier as the grasshoppers endlessly and thoughtlessly devoured them hungrily, according to Walter (“Dealing with Grasshoppers”). With this investigation, it has been determined that the “dark clouds” of grasshoppers worsened the Dust Bowl conditions and increased discomfort in every way possible during the era of the Great Depression. Summary of Evidence The grasshoppers arrived during the Dust Bowl days, to add “insult to injury”. (“Life in Western Kansas”) If any light was accidentally visible through the dusty clouds,
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