The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-14
A CAMPAIGN AGAINST RED ANTS
Unnecessarily Waged In Phoenix,
 Arizona.

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 Unnecessarily Waged In Phoenix, Arizona. A The most desperate conflict that ever occurred between a Phoenix citizen and a colony of red ants Is about to be rela- ted, The industry and perseverance of the red ant is proverbial,' and his efforts are often directed against the most ob- stinate enterprises, yet are generally crowned with success. It has been frequently hinted that if the red ants in this valley had been men and the men had been red ants the Tonto dam would have been built years ago.
 This particular colony of red ants de- cided that 1t wanted to do business on a lively, thoroughfare, so it selected one of the principal streets of the city and settled under a cement sidewalk. When the summer: season came along better ventilation was desired, so with- out 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 a 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 a 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. It took the ants just twenty-four hours to carry away the putty. Fear full that they had got next to him and went to work on the putty before it got dry, he decided to get something with quicker 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 cali the attention of his friends to his supposed victory. He next tried plaster of paris, and af- ter that solder, but with similar results in both cases. Then he reported to the primitive method of drowning them out. He knew that nobody else 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. As he had plenty of time on his hands, he spent thegnext few days carrying water 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 a while 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 water cure. He is still sure that it would be success if he used water enough, but the contract to keep the cellar full of water all summer with a tin bucket and a funnel began to look formidable.
 Finally 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, but he can hear them gritting their teeth on the lower side ofsthe pavement, and he knows they are ribbing up some- thing designed for his mental prostra- tion,--Arizona Republican.