The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-09-04
THE GRASSHOPPER YEAR.
Kansas Grandfather Tells of Scourge
That Hit the State in the Seventies.


that cry, and a sorrowful enough
one it is. too-grasshOppers in Kan
sas. They came the first time, Tom,
in ~. when your father was just a
zee bit of youngster. He says he
can still remember how he used to
hate to step out the back door, be-
cause the hoppers flew up all around
him and above his head and whirred
in his face.
You hear lot of foolish talk every
wear about the seventeen-year locusts
but the Rocky Mountain grass-hop-
pers of the seventies came a heap
nearer being the Bible kind of locusts
the kind Moses brought down upon
the land of Egypt to "eat up every
sreen thing" That's what these mis-
cradle pests did all right.
1t was late summer-most OF the
small grain had been harvested when
they appeared first. I'd gone to town.
and YOUR Uncle Tom that you're NAM
ed after-a little bit of G shaver he
was then. about 10--was riding herd
on little bunch Of cattle. Everybody
had some work to do in those early
DAYS in Kansas, even the youngsters.
He had a little old pony, gentle 1t
was. and it was his job to see that our
cattle didn't stray off-there weren t
anv fences to speak Of in good part
of Kansas in ~.
Well, sir, it's the same story that
every one'll tell you that saw the hop
pers-they came like cloud before
the sun. Way, way up in the air they
flew, two, three hundred feet above
the earth, and when YOU looked up,
YOU could see their wings glittering
in the sunlight like little flakes of sill
ver-or like snow, some folks said.
We'd heard about 'em before, but It
seems like YOU can never quite realize
a thing of that sort till you see it.
And then they began to drop down
all around, and it seemed like they
hardly got to the earth before they
commenced to eat.
They weren't particular what they
ate. either. just so twas green. You
could watch them start on field of
corn-first the tassels and the silk
and the new tender shoots, and then
the edges of the big, broad leaves,
and finally the very stalks them
selves. drove home pretty quick, but
when l got there there wasn't sign
of YOUR Uncle Tom or the cattle. They
had just taken out for Nebraska, it
looked like. I got on a horse and
rode along their trail-it was broad
enough so a green New Englancer
couldn't have lost in, and in about
three hours or so I found 'em. The
cattle had stampeded when the hop
pers came-they settled on 'em thick,
on their eyes, their noses, all over
'em-and they put down their heads
and plunged off for the north, sullen
and stubborn-Tom said for good
while he didn't know whether they
meant to stop any short Of Nebraska.
But the little fellow kept along after
them and finally they we're plumb
played out; he headed 'em around
and got them started back toward
home.
l wonder if you can imagine what
it looks like to see trees stripped
naked in the middle of summer-just
standing there with the bare branch
es and no hint Of green. That was
what happened when the grasshop-
pers came. and the fields, too, bare
and brown, as if you'd peeled the
crops right off them.
They ate the very grass, and dis
carded wheat straw was boarded that
year-we used it to feed the cattle
during the winter. As the grasshop-
pers ate the country bare and went
on, or died, they left their eggs be-
hind-anywhere you could see the
sod honeycombed with holes that
looked as if they might have been
punched with an umbrella. And there
was a lot of argument about whether
or not those eggs would hatch next
spring. There was those that insist
ed and shouted 'emselves red in the
face over it that no grasshopper eggs
could live through Kansas winter.
You'll never see the hoppers
again." these fellows said, the Win
ter'll kill them sure
But it didn't Once in a while,
along through the winter, some fel-
low'd go out and grub up a piece Of
frozen sod with spade and AK and
bring it in and lay it by the fire,
where it was steadily warm. And
=, lo1> l.