Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-30
The Grasshopper Plague.

| The farmers of Minnesota, it now ap-
pears, have been suffering from the raw
| ages of the grasShOpperS as badly as the
farmers of Iowa. 1t was hoped that they
would escape the atfiiCtion this year and
recover in some degree the losses of last
year But the work of destruction has
extended through several counties. 1t is
said that district of country on the eX-
IRENE southwestern frontier, 100 miles
long and so miles wide, has been cleared
OF every yestige of vegetatiOn-"s swept
as clear as prairie fires sweep the autumn
nal grass" A month ago slight amount
of consolation was derived from an opin-
ion that as soon as the grasshOppers sue
ceeded in gaining the use of their wings
they would rise with the wind and travel
thousands of miles away from Iowa and
Minnesota. The day of their departure
was looked for most eagerly. AT last
they began to move gin vast swarmS
which overspread the heavens and
darkened the sun like a snow-cloud; :"
but instead of riding upon the
winds to far-off lands they presently
descended upon new pastures and
began to devOur the crops with renewed
| vigOr. A writer in the St. Paul Press
! says that one irregular column covered
a space of more than twenty-five miles
in width. Thus devouring their way
| along, it will be wonder indeed if they
| do not spread desolation throughout the
entire State. Affections fall too often
upon those who are least able to bear
them. In Iowa the great majority of
those whose lands have been made a
barren waste are settlers with large fam
lilies and light purses The seed from
which they expected to realize so much
was purchased for them with the pro-
! ceeds of public subscription. The food
and fuel which enabled them to pass
through the winter were procured in a
similar manner, and now, after all their
hopes and anticipations of prosperity, it
is very disheartening that they should be
obliged to fall back once more upon the
contributions of the charitable.
1t is all the worse considering that
| many, perhaps hundreds, of these set
tiers few years ago had comfortable
homes in other countries The land of
promise to them has, indeed, been land
OF sorrow. The case Of the Minnesota
! settlers is almost precisely the same.
Last year they, too, lost their crops
through the grasshoppers, and they, too,
were supplied with seed to try again.
J NAhSSS cNtliC1S, Iht IllOSG VI
Iowa, have been the greatest sufferers
because of the plague They have moth
| ing left, and unless the hand of charity
! be soon extended there is no knowing TO
what lengths despair may drive them.
Private charity is said to have been al
ready overburdened by the appeals for
aid, and as there is no public fund at the
| disposal Of the Governor of Minnesota If
has been suggested that it would be well
to call a meeting of the Legislature and
have law passed to cover the emer-
| gency. Pending the consideration of the
matter by the Governor the telegram in
| forms Us that the Commissioners of Ram
sey County have made an appropriation
of s., 900 for the temporary relief of the
sufferers What has been done in a sim
liar direction in Iowa we are not fully
| informed, but there is ground for the be-
| lief that the unfortunate farmers of the
State will not be permitted to want for
the common necessities of life.
If there was a reasonably encouraging
| prospect that the grasshopper plague
would end with the present year, the poor
settlers of Iowa and Minnesota might be
able to drag through the fall and winter,
and have enough life left to begin agri-
| cultural operations in the spring; but the
| worst Of ii is that there is no such pros
ipect held out to them. It was from the