The herald., 1895-08-11
DARK DAYS IN KANSAS
The History Of the Grasshopper
Plague
A TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION
OF All Kinds Of Vegetation and
Crops
The Brave Farmers Of Kansas Have Had All
Sorts Of Plaques to Contend With
From Cyclones to Bugs

IOVcrnOr MOrrlll s IdVOrlbe story is uDOuU
The Kansas grasshopper. Here it is:
"Up to 1866 there had been no grasshop-
pers seen in Brown county. The county
had been settled IL years, and our people
were in blissful ignorance of the existence
of this plague. In the latter part OF Au-
gust of that year reports were brought in
by settlers on the frontier that fhey had
appeared there in immense numbers and
were very destructive. Day by day reports
came that they were drawing near, and
about Sept. they reached the western
line Of the county, moving from to 19
miles per day.
"On Sept. 10 the immense army, which
no man could number, reached Hiawatha,
devouring every green thing from the face
of the earth. The cornfields were literally
stripped, leaving the bare stalk with the
ears hanging to it and the latter often
badly eaten. The corn was too far ad-
yanced, however, for them to injure it
worry seriously, and the only real loss from
them that fall was in the destruction Of
forage. They deposited immense quanti-
ties Of eggs, which Matched out in the lat
ter part of April and early in May, 1867.
"This crop was Of course obliged to
feed upon whatever was within their reach
until they were large enough to travel and
whenever thoy Matched in large numbers
near fields of small grain there was no pos
sibility of raising 1t. The beaten paths and
roads and the newly broken prairie seemed
to be favorite locations for depositing their
eggs. Many fields of small grain were en-
tirely destroyed that spring, while many
others escaped unharmed. The corn was
not much injured, though in some locali-
ties the early corn was destroyed. About
June 20 they left and were not again seen
during the season. But small portion OF
the county was under cultivation then,
and tho total loss was small compared with
that of 1874.
'In the fall Of 1868 they again appeared,
but far less numerous and causing far less
loss Their appearance at this time caused
very little excitement, and but slight i'm
portance was attached to it. A few eggs
were deposited, and the following spring a
few gardens were injured, but not much
attention was paid to it.
"In the early part Of August, 1874, they
again appeared. At this time the country
west was much better settled, and the rail-
roads penetrating to the Rocky mountains
brought tho news Of the approaching hosts
whilc they were hundreds of miles away
and weeks before they reached here. The
season had been very dry one, with fre-
quent hot south winds, SO common an at
tendant of droughts and SO exceedingly
disagreeable. The corn at best would have
been nearly failure, but what little there
was Of grain or foliage speedily disap-
peared. Trees were stripped OF their leaves.
Apple and peach orchards could frequently
be seen loaded with rich fruit, but without
a leaf to protect it from the hot sun. In
many cases the fruit was much injured,
and it was a common sight to see peach
trees hanging full Of pits, the meat of the
: fruit having been neatly nibbled off. In
some cases the bark was eaten from trees
different as to the quality of their food.
Tomato plants, onions and even tobacco
plants were utterly destroyed.
numbers. Heavy freight trains on the
railroads were frequently delayed for hours
by their gathering on the track in large
numbers, the wheels crushing them and
forming an oily, soapy substance.
"The spring of 1876 but little apprehen-
sion of much damage was felt, and the
farmers put In an unusual amount Of
small grain. When the warm days OF
spring came, the little pests Matched out in
numbers far exceeding anything before ex-
perienced The season was unusually ia
vorable for small grain, and on May /
there was as fine prospect for an abun-
dant harvest as was ever known. Ten
days later the myriads Of little hoppers,
fast developing, were sweeping 1t away,
and on June but few fields of grain were
left The corn was much injured; nearly
oil tba A. rct plantin0 vas uffar1v deStroved
Many replantcd at once, without waiting
until they had passed away, and again lost
it all. In ono case farmer planted 200
acres four times
"Those were indeed dark days for the
farmers. All hope for raising anything for
the season was we'll nigh gone. The mid
die of June came, and still the hoppers tar
ried. The farmers with wonderful courage
and patience had plowed up their young
grain fields where the crop had been de-
stroyed and were busily engaged in plant
ing corn. From June 10 to 20 an immense
amount Of corn was planted. In an ordi-
nary season this would have been too late
to make any crop, but the season proved
most favorable. Rains were frequent and
not too heavy. About June 30 the grass
hoppers commenced leaving, and by the
25th not one could be found.
"If ever men showed true pluck under
disoouraging circumstances, the farmers
did during the spring Of 1875. Braver men
never lived; truer men never bit bread.
The season continued favorable, and an
immense crop Of corn and vegetables was
raised.
'The plague has not visited Kansas
since. kansas City Times.