GREAT DUST STORM

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 146, 22 June 1934, Page 7

GREAT DUST STORM

SUFFERING IN AMERICA

■ Today the residents/of New 'York have been breathing freely again. A "black blizzard," with its pall;of dust 1500 miles long and 1000 miles wide, passed slowly from the' Eastern States over the Atlantic. - : ■

'Scientists estimate' that- fully 300,000,000; tons of soil and "other organic matter" have been redistributed in a few days, says the "Daily Telegraph." . ;

Meteorological experts describe this strange visitation, which 'originated in. the grain belt of the Middle/West States, as "the greatest dust storm ever seen >on the North American continent." -They say that it' has": affected nearly three-quarters of the country, and add:—

"We are lncky to escape rain and i mudstorm similar to the 'rain of blood' that terrifies peasants in Southern, France, when ■ dust from" the Sahara is precipitated there." V

The loss of crops cannot be definitely/ ■ estimated, but officials of the-Depart-' I ment. of Agriculture assert- that: the dust cloud, following the great, drought, has whittled another 20,000,000■ bushels of wheat, from their crop'estimate ci May. The dust chiefly affected North, and South Dakota/ Indianna, Minnesota, lowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan,-. Missouri, ;Kansas, Nebraska, a.nd Pennsylvania. The- volume 'of-. ; grit, carried iby high winds,^ became "perceptibly less as it travelled: eastwards to the sea and puzzled captains of ships.Irritation of eyes, hose, and throat are reported on all sides; In 'many places residents were advised to wear moist cloths over their mouths. Chicago was the great dumping ground of thj». dust, each "resident,- it is humorously calculated, being allotted about font, pounds.