The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-02-08
THEY GOT RID OF LOCUSTS.
Day OF Prayer was Followed by a Sc
we're Frost.

Day OF Prayer was Followed by Sc
we're Frost.
did you ever hear how the locusts
were destroyed in Minnesota, and how
an English colony in that state was saved
from absolute poverty?' asked Edward
Barber, the veteran real estate man and
well-known Englishman, the other day.
!. One of the coolest days in the excep-
tionally. cold winter of 1876" said MI.
Barber, when he. had been induced to
unreel the narrative, "while was sit
ting. in the chamber of commerce here,
Archie McFadyen, the veteran doorkeep-
er, came to me and said that gentle
went out into the hall and saw fine-ap-
pearing man, enveloped in a great ulster,
with fur cap on his head-a person
with the general appearance Of man Of
business, if not of wealth. He said he
had been recommended to call on me and
would like to have a business talk.
he presented half-dozen letters from
prominent people in New York, Canada
and England. He then informed me
that, as the accredited agent of the Min
nesota Southern railroad, think it was,
he was DESTROYS of forming a combina-
fish colonies along the line of road. In
brief. he made me proposition, by
which, if would accept, was to have
a large interest in the company's lands,
providing l would go to England, adver-
tise the lands and the advantages of this
country, especially of the Northwest, and
get my former countrymen to come over.
II said to him: Il have seen a number
Of Englishmen during the past few years
who were on their way to settle in Min
nesota; where are they?' He replied
that it was true that. a small colony had
already settled on his lands, and i'm
mediately asked why in the world he did
to return to England and advertise his
new Eldorado. And this was the reason
he gave me for not desiring any OF his
first settlers to go back for that purpose:
The fact that since they had located
tables, etc., particularly army beans, the
pesky locusts had come every year and
destroyed everything they had started to
raise. AS a result. they-the colonists.
not the locusts-were about starved to
death. Taking in the. situation, de-
clined his fattering offer upon the ground
Of my former countrymen, on my say 50,
to settle in hotbed Of locusts, would
not dare to return to this country, as the
first Of my victims who met me would
certainly shoot me.
and I learned the following year how
they got rid of the locusts. He had as
sured me, by the way, that the weather
was so cold that winter that everybody
in the locust infested section felt certain
that the pests. would :. be. frozen out
and that nothing would ever be
April of the following year they appeared
in greater quantities than ever, and like
the grasshoppers in Nebraska, they fairly
obscured the sun. An unusually-warm
condition Of the weather that month
seemed to warm every last one Of the
eggs and young l0custs into life, and the
poor people were terror-stricken: It was
finally decided to appoint a day Of prayer
in which it was suggested that everybody
pray for the removal Of the pests The
day of supplication was set; the prayers
were made, and on the following day
sudden and very severe frost came upon
the country, up there, after which it was
joyously discovered that every mothers
son of locust had been frozen to
death. s. -: s. s E ~ -sE< ssz!l
II afterward learned that my gentle
manly caller went ahead with his big
scheme; got thousands to come over from
England and Scotland and locate there.
and that he retired immensely wealthy
as result Of his labor. .