West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-08-16
Where Mosquitoes were Thick

lhe captain of steamb boat gaVea St
Louis reporter the following informa-
ton concerning mosquitoes on the up
per Missouri: "Well, sir, we saw poor
cattle rush down into the water and
wade in until e"erything was covered
but their heads, and then the pests
would alight on their heads I'm swa rms
and bite their noses, and every place
they could settle on, until the poor
things beloved In their agony, and
tossed their heads. If they were hu-
man they would commit suicide. As it
Is they are driven mad. Poor things.
they are nothing but skin and bones :;
mere skeletons, clothed ia swollen and
liberated skins. Some of the BOYS kill
ed few of them, but they were not fit
To bring on board. Same way with all
the animals. Antelope and deer were
reduced TO nothing but skeletons by the
vampires. If you held your hand out
for quarter OF a minute, it would be
covered so thick with mosquitoes that
that IL would look like you had a glove
on. The suffering of the men was aw-
ful. / will tell you how we were able
To get through. took down my stove
pipes and kept smoky fires burning all
the time, | had to have two small hand
furnaces making smoke i'm the pilot
house all the time, so that the pilots
could work. The men were all broke
up. Every limb was sweled and
you could not have recognized the
features OF your own brother. The
smoke was the only protection, and IL
was pretty near as bad as the mosqui-
toes. The eyes Of all men were blood
shot. Life was misery. The mosqui-
to latitude begins about seventy five
miles below Bismarck, and is good for
seventy-five miles above that point.
There never was season like this one
before. For the first time In many
years they had up there what you
would call an open winter. There was
no ice or snow. AT Fort Benton, and
just look at your map aud you will find
it about forty seven degrees latitude.
and that's pretty far north, they didn't
put up ton of Ice. About the first of
March the rainy season set in. There
has not been twelve good days since.
| will venture TO say, and mind you
know all about that country, more rain
has fallen In that latitude than in the
last fifteen years previous. Vegetation
is rank and tropical In its luxuriance.
Weeds of unusually ordinary growth
are higher than mans head, and from
the water mosquitoes are bread by
the million. If you publish what
have been telling you about the pests,
some people will laugh and call it ex-
ageration. Young man couldn't begin
TO give You an idea of their numbers.
They fly in clouds. They obstruct the
light of the sun. They are ravenous.
They are as bad in the day as in the
night. They drive man almost crazy.
Just think Of preferriRg 70 sit i'm "A
binding and sitting smoke rather than
venture outside where the mosquitoes
would get at them. Rather would /
promenade twenty hours day through
the yellow fever district of New Or
leans than 20 through the experience
with the mosquetoes that / had this
summer. II ~ awful. I can give YOU
no idea of the nuisance, the torture 80
and the captain aimed vicious blow
at sleepy fly and walked vigorously
around TO shake off the memory Of this
Missouri mosquito misery.