The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-05-15
A PLAGUE OF INSECTS.
Strange Story of the Rsvages Of Grass
hoppers I'm q Kansas village.

Strange Story of the Ravages Of Grass-
hoppers I'm q Kansas village.
An old resident Of Kansas, whom
met the other day on the cars, related
to me various incidents of his life in
that State, and among other things
told me about the grasshoppers that
visit that region occasionally. al is
impossible for one who has never seen
the grasshopper in all his glory and
vigor," he said ''to realize what visi-
tation from these pests means to the
farmers here When first came here
to live the Deighbors used to tell me
about what they had passed through.
and laughed them to scorn. Their
stories of trains being stopped by hop
pers, and whole fields of corn being
destroyed in single day seemed to
me to be simply absurd; but was des-
tined to learn by bitter experience that
the half had not been told me.
When looked at one of the narrators
in an mcredulous manner he would
say: Well, think you will have a
chance to see for yourself before the
summer is over. as the 'hoppers were
in Nebraska last season. and it will be
a miracle if we do not have call from
them SOON
Il was employed on the railroad at
that time, and worked with section
gang whose duty it was to keen the
track for certain portion of the road
in good condition. Stories of the near
approach of the grasshoppers and the
destruction being wrought by them
were becoming more frequent day by
day, and we were constantly on the
lookout for them. Finally, one bright
August afternoon. as we were working
in a cut in large piece of woods, We
heard a roaring sound in the trees
coming nearer and nearer. took it to
be heavy breeze. One of the men who
had lived there many years and who
had often entertained me with his recol-
lections, looked up and exclaimed:
''.Here come the plaguy 'h0ppers,
curse them!-and all my summers la
Dor in my garden will be thrown away
I'm a moment grasshopper lit on
the ground beside me, and then anoth-
minutes the ground was covered with
them. and still they came, lighting on
our fences. on our hair. in our mouths,
if we were unwary enough to open
them; on the bushes, anywhere and
everywhere. In an hour it was almost
imposS BILE to see a bit of ground,
and the bushes were so loaded that
theS were bent to the ground. The
road between the rails was one living.
jumping mass, and the rails were al
most out of sight, so deep We're they
getting. Still they continued to come,
aad found myself wondering if they
would never stop. 1t was almost i'm
possible to work. 1t you looked up
suddenly and did not shield your eyes
in some manner. they would come
with such force that, striking you in
the eye, they would almost blind you.
We could not step without treading on
them and crushing them. so thick We're
they. The place where we were work
ing was at the summit of a slight grade
in the DAD. Up this grade a passen-
ger train soon came rushing along.
The grasshoppers did not all succeed
in getting off the rail. and thousands
were crushed. greasing the track and
the wheels of the engine. Before the
train had got half way up the grade it
began to sid ken its speed, and then
We saw the driving wheels of the en-
CINE slipping round and round, but not
taking hold OF the rail. Sand was
thrown beneath the wheel, but the eff
feet was only temporary, and the train
came to a stop. Brooms were fastened
on the engine Just in front OF the wheels
so that they touched the rail. sweeping
the insects aside, and after much effort
and long delay the train succeed in
starting again and worked its way
slowly along.
Wherever the pests had settled on
anything green they began at once to
eat, and such appetltes as they pos
seSsea, And such taste as they were
blessed with Their first tit-b.t was
the common smart-weed and in an
hours me there was none of it left
anywhere in sight. But they did not
object 10 ANYTHING unless it had a sweet
taSte-that they would not touch. The
leaves began TO disappear from the
trees and bushes as if BY mage. On
our way homo that evening We had to
pass a large confield, the owner of
which an his family had spent their
whole time that season in cultivating.
Such scene of destruction had never
dreamed OF as was presented to my as
tonished gaze. Where only twelve
hours before stood forty-acre field of
corn so tall and thick that a mans
head could not be seen anywhere in it
and all Just coming out in tasSel. moth
ing remained but the bare stalks look
ing like so many reeds. The owner
and his family stood looking at the
ruin with the tears streaming down
their sun-burned cheeks. the very pic
lures of despair. We stopped to SYM
pathize with him. As We spoke to him
he looked at US in heart broken man
ner and said:
% God only knows what will become
of us the coming winter! We depend
ed on our corn crop. and now it is all
gone, it is too late to raise another
crop, and we have not got cent to
help ourselves with.
Turning away We made our way
home with fear in our hearts for our
own gardens l went around to the
back of the house to see what was left
of the neat beds that had been my
pride; only that morning l had been
boasting TO my wife that we had the
finest garden in the village. Nothing
remained but the sweet potatoes and
the inner red meat of the watermeions.
The outside had been entirely eaten
away, leaving about two wagon loads
IT the sweet red meat lying in the sun;
in ten DAYS more they would have been