APPEI^DIX XXV, 



REPORTS FROM DAKOTA, MONTANA, UTAH, AND NEW 



MEXICO. 



[After giving direction of flights through the summer, as furnished by the Signal 

 Service.] I have not seen the deposits of their ova in either this or previous years, 

 though I have been informed by General Stanley that prior to the year 1870 they 

 batched in great numbers in this vicinity. 



At Swan Lake, about forty miles northwest of Fort Sully, grasshoppers were hatched 

 the present season and attacked a field of corn, which had reached the height of 

 about four or six inches, and devoured every spear of it, eating it quite even with the 

 ground ; but it sprang up again, and the planter sustained no loss save the retarding 

 of his crop. 



At Yankton the 'hoppers appeared a few days earlier than at this post, and the corn 

 being in "silk and tassel," they destroyed the foliage, leaving the bare stalk to blight 

 and wither in the sunlight. At Fort Thompson they destroyed the crops completely ; 

 so also at Brule agency. They have done comparatively no damage in the vicinity of 

 Sully, neither at the adjacent settlements at Medicine Creek, Peoria Bottom, or the 

 Little Bend of the Missouri. I can account for this only on the fact that the soil only 

 on the river-bottom is tilled at these settlements, while the 'hoppers have a preference 

 for the upland i)rairie, and seem to be satisfied w ith the rich pasture aff'orded by the 

 buflalo and grama grass, rarely attacking the foliage of the cottonwood and other 

 deciduous trees, though these in the vicinity of Yankton fail to escape their depreda- 

 tions. — [Letter from A. J. Comfort, acting assistant surgeon, United States Army, Fort 

 Sully, September 11, 1876. 



In the summer of 1875 the grasshoppers hatched in the vicinity of this post, took 

 wing about June, and left in the beginning of July. — [Letter from L. C. Hunt, lieu- 

 tenant-colonel Twentieth Infantry, Fort Totten, December 28, 1876. 



Vid.y also, Capt. William Ludlow, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Black Hills 

 of Dakota in the summer of 1874: 



Page 9. — Grasshoppers at Fort Lincoln in June. 



Page 10.— July 10, immense numbers on North Fork of Grand River. 



Page 14. — July 30, grasshoppers appeared, eight or nine miles from Harney's Peak. 



Page 15. — August 7, grasshoppers in creek valleys of the Hills. 



Of the grasshopper invasion of Minnesota in 1856 or 1857, I know almost nothing. 

 I was then living near the Yellow Medicine in Minnesota. "\Ye had in those years an 

 abundance of grasshoppers, but no army, and no considerable damage was done. 



In the month of June, 1873, a comparatively small number of grasshoppers came 

 from the westward and alighted near this place. They did some damage, but it was 

 not extensive. They left in a few days but it was found in the spring of 1874 that 

 they had deposited their eggs, from which came an innumerable multitude. They 

 destroyed all the gardens and wheat -fields in a circle of five miles about the agency. 

 * if * rpj^jg yg^j. (]^^75) ^ijgy have passed over this part of the country, going in a 

 southeasterly direction. (I tried to get Mr. Riggs to fix the date, but he could not re- 

 call it.) One day they lit down in considerable numbers, and there is reason to fear 

 they deposited their eggs. [They did, and a few were hatched there in 1876.] — [Letter 

 of Rev. S. R. Riggs, Sisseton agency, Dakota, September 9, 1875. 



1875. — The grasshoi^pers in 1875 came from the north on or about the 10th of July. 

 They alighted here, but seemed to be sluggish and did no damage, and after remaining 

 three days arose and flew southeast. — [Hector Bruce, Grand Forks, Dakota. 



1875. — Grasshoppers hatched in this county in the year 1875, and the country north 

 and northwest of this place for a long distance was alive with young 'hoppers. Those 

 hatched here took flight about the 10th of July, taking a southwesterly direction. 

 Other swarms from the northwest passed over this place high up, bearing a south 

 course. I cannot recall the dates, but they were from about the 20ch of July till late 

 in August. — [Extract from letter of Merrick Moore, Jamestown, Stutsman County, 

 April 16, 1877. 



Y^'ours of the 7th instant duly received. In reply I would state that I believe locusts 

 hatched to a very large extent in the valley of the James River in 1876, as I know they 



[•243] 



