The 1930s were a time of despair and devastation, leaving millions of people in ruins. America was at rock bottom during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The stock market crashed and a severe drought turned into a disastrous storm. The 1930s scarred the nation and no one knew the answer to the million-dollar question: What caused America's downfall? Historians have strived to solve this impossible riddle and many have their theories, but the exact cause of the Dust Bowl remains unknown. At the heart of understanding the Dust Bowl is the question of whose fault it was. Was this the result of farmers working beyond what the environment could support, or was it simply a natural fluctuation in the atmosphere? These issues caused the Dust Bowl to roam throughout the Midwestern United States, destroying the ecology and agriculture of the United States and the Canadian Prairies. The 1920s were so prosperous with many new inventions and adapted lifestyles. Farmers now had the help of a tractor to plow fields faster and further.2 Was newly plowed land the cause of the Dust Bowl, historian. , Professor R. Douglas Hurt seems to think so. Professor R. Douglas Hurt is director of the graduate program in agricultural history and rural studies at Iowa State University in Ames. Professor Hurt wrote the book The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social. The story, based on historical events and his opinion on what caused the Dust Bowl.3 Professor HurtThe nature of the soils of the Southern Plains and the periodic influence of drought could not be changed, but the technological abuse of land could have been stopped. This is not to say that mechanized farming has irreparably damaged the land – it has not. New and improved implements such as tractors, one-way disc plows, grain seeders and combine harvesters reduce the costs of plowing, planting and harvesting and increase agricultural productivity. Increased productivity led to lower prices, and farmers compensated by breaking more sod for wheat. At the same time, farmers have given little thought to using their new technology to conserve natural resources.