The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1903-09-11
IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT.
Unsuccessful Campaign of an Ariz0ns
Man Against a Colony of
Red Ants.

The most desperate conflict that ever
occurred between Phoenix citizen and
a colony of red ants is about to be re-
lated. The industry and perseverance
of the red ant is proverbial, and his eff
forts are often directed against the most
obstinate enterprises, yet are generally
crowned with success. 1t has been fire.
quently limited that if the red ants in
this valley had been men and the men
had been red ants the Tonic dam would
have been built years ago, says the Ari-
zona Republican.
This particular colony of red ants
decided that it wanted to do business
on lively thoroughfare, so it select
ed one of the principal streets of the
city and settled under cement side
walk. When the summer season came
along better ventilation was desired, so
without loss of time the whole colony
set to work and in few days had a
hole bored up through the sidewalk,
the ant engineers having chosen thin
place between the cement blocks.
Then came the mans turn, for red
ant hill is not a pleasing sight nor a
matter of utility on a cement sidewalk.
The man thought there must have been
break in the walk else the ants would
not have been able to get through. So
he got some putty and stopped up the
hole. 1t took the ants just "a hours
to carry away the putty. Fearful that
they had got next to him and went to
work on the putty before it got dry,
he decided to get something with quick
er action, so he secured quantity of
cement and again stopped the hole. This
held them for two or three days, but
they gnawed through again about the
time he began to call the attention of
his friends to his supposed victory. He
next tried plaster of paris, and after
that solder, but with similar results in
both cases.
Then he resorted to the primitive
method of drowning them out. He knew
that nobody elsA ever successfully
drowned out an ant hill, but he thought
it was because of the scarcity of water
In this valley. He could surely drown
the insects if he used water enough,
for the water cure fixes even Filipino.
AS he had plenty of time on his hands
he spent the next few days carrying wa
ter and running it through funnel
into the ant hole. Finally the insects
began to subside, and he thought he
was making progress when he made
the discovery that the cellar under the
house was full of water. Then he
stopped pouring water for awhile to let
the cellar dry. When the water in the
cellar began to go down the ants would
begin to come out again. After few
days spent in experiment he found that
by counting the ants on the sidewalk
he could tell just how much water was
in the cellar Then he gave up the wa
ter cure. He is still sure that it would
be a success if he used water enough,
but the contract to keep the cellar full
of water all summer with tin bucket
and funnel began to look formida-
BILE
Finally a new idea struck him. He
got a pound of wire nails and ham
mer and drove the ant hole full of nails.
At this date he has the ants pacified,
all the same Filipino, but he can hear
them gritting their teeth on the lower
side of the pavement and he knows
they are ribbing up something designed
for his mental prOStratiOn