Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-08-20
Letter From Nebraska.

The average Nebraskian requires
an inordinate amount OF profanity to
express his views 10 common par
lance, upon tho events OF the last
few weeks, but of course We DO not
| approve OF this /; aud if we did, l
must confess that orr knowledge OF
the vocabulary of 'cuss words" IL
inadequate to do The subject justice.
The spring was on suspicious one,
aud a more luxurient vegetation We
never aw, nor the promise OF more
| abundant harvest; bat like many
other prom ses, this was not fulfilled.
We had frequent and abundant rains
all through the spring months and
up to the middle of jane, when the
rain cea ed and for weeks we suffered
severe drought The light and
pourous soil is i'll adapted TO drought,
and g effects were soon visib bic.
Still the crops did not suffer so much
until the "h0t winds" set 10. These
shot winds" the "almoon of the
| American Desert" arc peculiar TO
the great west, though they seldom
prevail so early in the season as they
did this. They come from the south
like hot flashes from q fire, aud have
depressing, eDervating effect upon
man aud animals, and whitening,
blighting effect upon vegetation
They rapidly rlpened the grain
much of it prematureiy though only
| FASTENED IL out OF tho way OF more
tell destroyer which followed close
| in their wake. The latter consisted
of graSshoppers, IN countless myrlads
of millions, and which soon swept
every thing in their course. Foi
DAYS the air was filled with them
their wings gIistening in the sun.
light, aud having an appearance not
unlike falling snow. When they
| como down 1T WAS like swarms oil
bees settling, and they soon covered
and devoured everything for which
grasshoppers have a relish, corn
Vegetables, fruit trees, shrubbery
hedges, oil fell befo g this devouring
hord. 1t is difficult to picture the
destruction and desol4tion which
mark their course. Nothing escaped
them save the ripeLed small grain
and even that suffered.
We might say of them as id the
prophet Joel, of old, The land is as
the garden of Eden before them, and
/ behind them desoiate wilderness. y
But we are inclined to doubt the 20
sition taken by some writers, that
these are the "locusts OF egypt" for
we Think these would have brought
Pharoah to terms unless his heart
was mole obdurate than that of man
! Gin these degenerate daye." At all
events, TO insure their removal, we
would gladly consent 10 tho depat-
ure OF all the I.ratlites from the
state.
This is ,he first appearance Of the
grasshoppers in this county, though
| they crusaded the counties TO the
eastward Of this seven years ago.
Had they put in an appearance
earlier in the season they would
doubtless have caused suffering, but
as it is, we have good crops of small
grain, though far inferior to those Of
last year and the recent heavy
rains will do some damage to that
before it IS threshed
The amount of breaking done the
present season is enormous. But
breaking here is easy compared to
the stumpy and stony ground of the
east, where you break everything
from the harness and plow up o the
seventh commandment tor here
there is no obstruction save tho root
known as 'shoestring5
This country has improved rapidly
the present season, though recent
events vii probably throw damper
upon it for awhile as many of the
recent settlers now wear pretty long
| faces. The older settlers are still
| hopeful, as even that irrepressible
parsonage known as the "oldest in
habitantn has no recollection of such
disastrous year in the past nor any
strong hopes for another In the tu-
ture. Like all new countries, this
has some serious wbacks, and the
pioneer will have to countend with
many privations and difficulties un-
known in older states but that
should always be taken into consid-
Grafton at the outset. Our opinion
is still that this will ultimately be-
come a great and rich state. The
great wants Of the country are tim
Der and water, and we would like
also to dispense with some of our
high winds. Water can be obtained
anywhere by digging, but the great
depth at which 1t is commonly found
is an impediment to the stock raiser.
Many make use of mindmlls to draw
water, as the motive power is seldom
wanting. The water is generally
considered good, though we can de
tecJ a slight alkaline taste in mos tof
it. From the east, we occasionally
hear of anticipated Indian raids upon
us, but here, we are 100 far from the
Indians TO ever think of it. Think
an Eruption of Piutes would have
been acceptable during the visit OF
the grasshorpers. X.
cg Referring to the interesting let
ter of the r form candidate for Con-
gross in the 9Th District, Mr.. Geo.
Cate, the Wood County Reporter say: