Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-07
A PLAGUE OF INSECTS.
Strange Story of the Ravages OF Grass
hoppers in 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 thai
visit that region occasionally. SD Is
impossible for one who has never seer
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 neighbors 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 beine
destroyed in a 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 l looked at one of the narrators
in an incredulous manner he would
say: We'll. 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
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 keep 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
n nd V "a
lookout for them. Finally, one bright
August afternoon, as we were working
in a cut in large piece of woods, we
heard roaring sound in the trees
coming nearer and nearer. / took it to
be a heavy breeze. One of the men who
had lived there many years and who
lections, looked up and exclaimed:
'''Here come the plaguy 'hoppers,
curse them.-and all my summers Ia
Dor in my garden will be thrown away
I'm moment grasshopper lit on
the ground beside me, and then anoth-
er and another, and in less than five
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
impossible to see bit of ground,
and the bushes were so loaded that
they were bent to the ground. The
road between the rails was one living.
jumping mass, and the rails We're al
most out of sight, so deep Were they
getting. Still they continued to come,
and | 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 were
they. The place where we were work
ing was at the summit of a slight grade
in the load. Up this grade 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 slacken 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 a long delay the train succeed in
again and worked its way
slowly along.
Wherever the pests had settled on
green they began at once to
eat, and such appetites as they pos
sessed! And such taste as they were
blessed with! Their first tit-b;t was
the common smart-weed and in an
hours time there was none of it left
in sight. But they did not
object to 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 magic. On
our way home that evening we had to
pass a large confield, the owner of
which and his family had spent their
whole time that season in cultivating
Such a 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 lust coming out in tasSel moth
inc 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
IL. l. A to hi
be 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. I 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
but the sweet potatoes and
the inner red meat of the watermelons.
The outside had been entirely eaten
away. leaving about two wagon loads
of the sweet red meat lying in the sun;
in ten days more they would have been
ready to pick. The cabbages were all
eaten clean from the stump; the beets,
carrots, beans and the rest were all
gnawed close to the ground. L turned
away heart-sick and sat down by the
front door. In front of the house was
a high picket fence, and as the sun
went down l noticed the grasshoppers
gathering on the fence like chickens
going to roost; before dark you could
ro1 bo4..roon tho 1,icEntS The