River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-10-03
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The Home OF Mosquitoes.


"Ysuog man, you don't know what a
mosqlito is. You have, maybe, been
worried by y single mosquito, and thought
of doing awful things. Maybe you board
ed were they were too economical to put
up nets, or maybe you have been fishing
in sone If these Illinois lakes; but with
out ysN hay, been to the tropics, or up
the Mis- eur river. you are baby when
it coIncs down to mosquitoes. Up there
you Oct them in every style and shape.
SamCof them are pretty ard some of
them'ugly, some are big and some little,
but all the same big, little, black, brown,
red or grecn-they ell have agreed upon
the ode thiDg-they all bite, and bite hard.
It is shways considered necessary up there
TO wear a net over the face and to glove
the bands. That is no protection this
sumIyler. A new brand of mosquitoes
the l,oys csll them "sKeeters in
tro&fced this summer by Providence.
| They are 50 small that they penetrate the
meslses 81 the finest net. The bigger one
will bite through your clothes-yes,
| through your boots and buckskin gloves.
There IS no getting away from them. When
| they kill cattle it is pretty tough, isn't
| it2"
"Qn the cattle2 Yes"
| ssWell. sir, we saw poor cattle rush
! down. into the water and wade until every
| thing was covered but their heads, and
| then the pests would light on their heads
| m swarms, and bite their noses, and every
place they could settle on. until the poor
things beloved in their agony, and closed
their ewes and tossed their heads. If they
were human they would commit suicide.
| As il is they are driven mad. Poor things,
thew are nothing but skin and bones;
mere skeletons, clothed in swollen and
liberated skins. Some of the BOYS killed
a few Of them, but they were not fit to
bring On board. Same way with all the
animals. Antelope and deer were re-
duced 10 ching but skeletons by tie
vampires If you held your hand out tor
a quarter of a minute, itwOuld be covered
with mosquitoes that it would look like
YOU had glove on. The sutferings OF
The men were awful. 1t is supposed that
the natural oil of the negro's skin is Of
fensive 10 the pests. That Is not so. They
took to the negroes like a babe to its
milk. Ill tell you how we were able to
get through. | took down my stovepipes
and kept smokey fires burning all the
time. had to have two small hand
furnaces making smoke in the pilot-house
all the time, so that the pilots could work.
The men we're oil broke up. Every limb
was sweled up, and you could not have
recognized the features of your own
brother The smoke was the only pro
lection. and it was pretty near as bad as
/ the mosquitoes. The eyes of all the mer
were blo0dshot. Life was misery.
1.-The mosquito latitude begins about
5 seventv.i five miles below Bismarck, an6
I is good Tor seventy-tive above that poi"t
There never was season like tins one
/. before For the first time in many year.
thew had up there what you would cal
f an open winter. There was 70 ice o.
. snow. At Fort Benton-and Just look a
: Your map and you will find it about Al
deg: latitude, and that's pretty far nortf
a they didn't put up ton of ice. Abou
the ilst of March the rainy season set in
There has not been twelve good day
q since. | will venture to say, and minC
, YOU know all about the country, NOR
+ rain has fallen in that Latitude this yea
than in the fifteen years previous. Veg
g citation is rank and tropical Its luxuri
. ance. Weeds of unusually ordinary
growth are higher than a mans head, anC
n from the water mosquitoes are bred b!
S the million.
: III you publish what have been tell
ing you about the pests, some people viii
c laugh aud call it exaggeration. Youn!
q man, couldnt begin TO give YOU an ide
of their numbers. They fly in clouds
They obstruct the light of the sun. The.
+ are ravenous They are as bad in tn
!, day as in the night Talk about the 10
y Gusts Of Egypt or the grasshoppers o
Kansas, they are nothing. They drive
! man almost crazy. Just think of prefer
a ing to SIT in binding and sitting smok
Il rather than venture outside where tn
mo qurtoes would get at them. Rattle
o would / rHUuavi0 twenty nUurs ia.
e through the yellow fever d. .rict of New
+ Orleans than go through the experience
with mosquitoes that had this summer
! 1t is awful. l can give you no idea o
: the nuisance, the torture"
; Aud the Captain aimed a vicious blow
t at sleepy fly that was buzzing around
and then got up and walked vigoronsl.
Y around to make off the memory of Thu
!, Upper Missouri mosquito misery.