The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-07-30
INCALCT,LlBLE DAMAGE
Terrible Havoc Wrought by Hot Winds
IN the States OF Kansas and
Nebraska.
FIGURES HARDLY TELL TT.
Nebraska Was Expected to Raise AGO..
100000 Bushels of COrn---NOw
They Will Import 1t,

DENVER, July 30.-Passengers arriv-
ing on the trains from the east report
wide destruction through Kansas and
Nebraska to all kinds of crops on &C.
count of the high winds Superintend-
ent Campbell. of the Burlington road,
says that figures will hardly express the
damage that has been wrought within
the past week Two weeks ago it was
estimated by experts that Nebraska had
contributed 100000 600 bushels of corn
to the worlds product of 1894 Mr..
Campbell prophesies that i W Il be nec-
essary to ship corn into many counties
OF the state In order that the farmers
may live until another season
Hundreds of Square Miles
OF the finest looking corn hangs dry and
lifeless over an extent of territory as
large as the state of Pennsylvania or
New York. The reports from the lines
OF the Union Pacific, Burlington Rock
Island, Missouri Pacific and
Santa Fe are all of the same
tenor Passengers from the car wiz
dows look ont upoE vast fields Of corn
and thousands of acres of hay rendered
absolutely worthless by the poisonous
breath of the simeon from the sand
deserts Of Texas. In many places the
farmers anticipated the corn destruction
that was borne upon the air, and sew
eral days ago they began to cut the corn
rs II stood, green i'll the fields, to be
used for fodder. Thousands Of farmers
stood Helpless In Their Fields
watching with gloomy forebodings
while the dreaded blast from the south
west got in its deadly work Their only
hope is that bounteous rains may start
another grass crop before it is too late
i'll the season. Travellers also report
that the highways leading eastward
through Nebraska and Kansas are
already thronged with disheart-
ened settlers who have abandoned
their homes, and are hurrying toward
Iowa and Missouri, for relief from the,
almost unbearable heat. A similar scene
has not been witnessed since 1878, when
the hot winds almost depopulated West.
ern Kansas. s. @a
Deserted towns and lonely houses
standing out in the naked plains are
silent witnesses Of the memorable exodus
Of 1878, The year following came the
grasshopper plague, from which 1t re-
quired Kansas 10 years to recover
Worse Than the Strike.
Railroad men look on the advent of
hot winds in Kansas and Nebraska this
year as vastly more damaging to the
railroad interests than the recent strike.
The strike was of short duration. but
the falling off in crops in the region east
OF the mountains will be keenly felt
by the railroads for many months
&c come. The disaster will be felt in
Colorado in many ways. one
Of which will be the inability of large
region to buy coal mined in the Rocky
mountains Colorado cattlemen have
been accustomed TO ship their cattle to
Kansas ana Nebraska 70 be fattened for
the market. With the corn crop more
than 90 per cent short it will be a serl.
Gus matter with the cattlemen 10 find A
.attening ground for their stock.
Reports at the railway offices also
show that there is great danger of fires
along the railroad tracks and the roads
will be required to take extra precau
tions to prevent extensive prairie fires.
The dry grass will be constant source
Of danger for months to come