Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-12-20
The Iowa Famine.
What an Eyewitness Says of IL.

" hOt dh I'd w sdys VI
A sad state of affairs is existing in
Osceola and some of the other north
western counties of Iowa, says cor
respondent. They have been but re-
Gently settled, mainly by soldiers, who
availed themselves of the provisions of
the Homestead act to secure farms.
Without capital or accumulated stock
or provisions, their position, at the
best, was but precarious. The spring
promised well and all reioiced in an
ticipation of an unusually large crop,
but with early summer there came upon
the land a plague of grasshoppers.
People who live at the East have no
idea of the terrible character of this
Egyptian plague, which at times de-
scends on the Northwest and makes the
labor of the farmer vain. Official tes-
timony has been given in Red River
that the possibility of this scourge is
sufficient to render undesirable and
precarlous farming operations in that
valley, despite the fertility of the soil
and the cheapness of production. They
come in clouds that darken the sun,
and when they settle upon a field it
seems as if it was covered with fall of
rustling leaves which were still shiver-
ing in the wind. They do not leave be-
hind them one green blade. When this
visitation first took place the wisest of
the farmers and those who had the
means to do so at once left the country,
leaving behind those who were least fit
to stay-the poor, the weak, those who
had many mouths to feed. They took
to fishing and secured abundance of
fish, but had no means of curing them,
and so had to leave them to rot upon
the shores of the lakes. In some for
tunate localities they saved corn. and
coarse meal grated from the stunted
ears was luxury to be thankful for.
The good shots resorted to the swamps
and streams for wild fowl, and one hero
is reported who has saved thus far the
lives of several helpless women and
children by pu1veying them game.
Cattle and horses have been sacrificed
to greedy spectators who have gone
thither to trade on the necessities of the
starving people, and thus the settlers
are left without present means of flight
or future means of farming. They have
no clothing. They have no fuel, and
are burning twist of hay and rushes to
keep themselves warm. Their houses
are too frequently rude structures of
boards and sods, for timber is scarce
and dear on the treeless plains. They
lack the plainest necessaries of life
bread even, and meat. Insufficient
diet and innutritious and unwholesome
food have bred weakness and disease.
Women who have at this evil hour be-
come mothers have shivered to death
for lack of food and fire, and their
babes have been born to die on the
milkless breasts Of the unhappy women
who bore them. The people who have
but little give to those who have moth.
ing, but this relief is but temporary and
the county treasures are empty. The
people have nothing and can purchase
nothing. They placed all their labor
and capital in one crop, and it has failed
them utterly.
The suffering so far is not so great as
that which will inevitably ensue with
the first severe weather and heavy snow
fall. The enfeebled dwellers in those
crazy shelters will fall an easy prey to
the biting cold, and even those who
survive will hvea no opportunity for
eking out their scanty store of food
with game. Without the special inter-
vention of Providence there will be suf-
fering more intense and less merciful,
because more lingering, than marked
last winters snow-storms.
Already relief is being sent forward
from those who have to spare, but more
is needed. Fuel, clothing, and food
all are wanted.