 The Great Depression had several effects on Minnesota , with layoffs on the Iron Range and a drought in the Great Plains from 1931 through 1936 . While the Depression had several causes , one most relevant to Minnesota was that United States businesses in the 1920s had improved their efficiency through standardizing production methods and eliminating waste . Business owners were reaping the benefits of this increase in productivity , but they were not sharing it with their employees because of the weakness of organized labor , nor were they sharing it with the public in the form of lowered prices . Instead , the windfall went to stockholders . The eventual result was that consumers could no longer afford the goods that factories were producing . 
