The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-14
REMINISCENT OF THE
GRASSH0PPER
DAYS
Gen. Bishop, Before the State
Historical Society, Reads
a Valuable Paper on the
ST. Paul and Sioux City
Railroad and the Plague
Which Nearly Wrecked 1t.

CouhcI OF the state historical society
was held last evening in the rooms of
the society. The feature of the event
was the reading of a paper entitled.
The History of the st. Paul & Sioux
City Railroad" by Gen. Judson w.
Bishop, who was one of the chief pro-
motors of the enterprise in its infancy
while it was known as The Minnesota
Valley railroad"
The almost incredible hardships and
struggles endured and overcome by
those early settlers of the now famous
North Star state were very wildly pic
tured by Gen. Bishop and the difficult
ties offered the engineers of the road
by the overlooking of the Mississippi
in a manner not seen at this day, nor
for many years since those days of
1869-10, were something of which the
traveller, reclining in the parlor car Of
an Omaha train, thinks little in these
days But chiefest Of all these calam-
tiles was the famous "graSShopper
plague" which descended upon the
southeastern part of Minnesota and
the northeast portion of Iowa in Au-
gust of 1873. Gen. Bishop describes
it as follows:
The Grasshopper Syndicate.
"One day in August when the crops
were giving every promise of an
abundant harvest, there was a dark
cloud seen in the sky, which as it
came nearer, was discovered to be mil
lions and billions of grasshoppers.
They alighted in myriads and when
they arose the fields were devastated,
and they had filled the ground with
In early June of 1874 the
fields that had been devastated by the
grasshoppers in the previous summer
had been generally cultivated and re-
seeded and were promising a generous
return to the anxious owners. But
now the eggs were Matching and in a
few days the little hoppers outnumber-
ed the wheat plants five to one. few
more days and the fields were eaten
bare again. Whole counties in South
western Minnesota and Northwestern
Iowa were in this condition, and a
panic ensued at once. I spent day
in personal inspection of the devastat-
ed fields and in interviewing the de-
moralized settlers, and returning that
night to st. Paul, reported the situa-
ton next morning to our directors at
a special meeting. 1 suggested plan,
and it was adopted, and the next day
1 was at the front again putting 1t
into operation.
The Remedy.
~ had proposed to join with five 9TH
ers in the purchase from the company
at it's regular published prices of all
the railroads lands in two townships
LOCATED in the heart of the grasshopper
district, and to Immediately commence
breaking the sod, employing the set
tiers to do the work in small tracts.
Messrs. Horace Thompson, A. H. Wild
Grand John L. Merriam, of st. Paul,
and Adrian Iselin and George l. Seney,
of New York, who were consulted, and
approved by telegraph. formed with
myself the party who were facetiously
dubbed the 'Grasshopper Syndicate
While he proceeded to mark Off
square mile of land into twenty acre
tracts, 1 intercepted the migrating
settlers as they came in sight on their
way to Dakota, or to anywhere beyond
the grasshoppers, and before night [
had captured twelve of them, each
with a contract to break twenty acres
at $3.50 per acre. The wagon bed was
lifted off, and the wife and children
commenced housekeeping in it, while
the man numbered his breaking plow
and started in. The news spread over
the country like a prairie fire in No
vember, and within six weeks I had
over 1000 acres turned over. A good
many of these men, after completing
their contracts, returned to their
abandoned homesteads and broke TWEEN
ty acres or more, each, for themselves.
Meantime the hoppers had devOured
the crops, had grown to maturity, filled
the ground with eggs again and de-
parted. Now, evidently, there was
more trouble to come. With 1000
acres of newly broken land to be util-
lied, we built farm house, with barn,
sheds, granary, etc. Next spring it
was all put in crops, including corn,
oats, fax, barley, etc, and one square
mile field in wheat.
about the first of June the growing
grain was something to be proud of,
but a close inspection revealed the
ground alive with hoppers again.
Hunting the Hoppers.
81 telegraphed to ST. Paul for bar
rels of coal tar, and for plates of sheet
iron about eight feet long by four feet
wide, and we undertook to save that
square mile of wheat in this way. The
sheet iron plates were bent up a little
at the front edge, and at the rear edge
a strip was turned up six or eight
inches wide. These plates were laid
along the south line of the field at the
southeast corner with a space of eight
or nine feet between them, end to end
A horse was placed in front of and be-
tween each pair of plates, his whiff1e-
tree attached by wires about nine feet
long to the nearest corner of the two
plates behind him, so that when ready
to advance the line of battle as the
boys called 1t, extended about as many
rods as there We're plates. Then the
plates were brushed over with coal
tar and the line advanced northWard.
The hoppers in front of the horse would
Jump to the right and left. and another
and final lump would land them in the
tar. Each pan would accumulate load
of several bushels of hoppers in cross
| ing the field, and at the end of the
trip the pans were cleaned with SHOW
els, rebrushed with tar, readjusted in
| line, and a return trip was made in
| like manner over the adjacent ground.
| The "hoppers" vanished to give
/ place to other difficulties. but the Min
nesota Valley railroad went through,
and soon 1t poked its nose out of the
valley on it's way to Sioux City. Iowa
| and 1T was termed The st. Paul &
| Sioux City railroad" Of this Gen
! Bishop was general manager from the
| year 1878 till 1881, having been chief
| engineer of the Minnesota Valley road
] from 1857 till 1872.
Papers Preserved.
! 1t was moved and seconded that a
| vote of thanks be rendered Gen. Bishop
and that the paper be preserved for
| posterity, to whom it will be price
| less, and that copies be furnished the
| press of the city.
| Three life members were received
| last night, Judge Francis n. Crosby