APPENDIX XXV. REPORTS FROM DAKOTA. [^45] 



a great swarm of the locusts made a descent on the prairies in one part of ihat county 

 where there were no cultivated lields, and that he also observed birds of a new species to 

 Lis observation, tbat seemed to prey on the 'hoppers. The birds were in great numbers, 

 and the swarm of 'hoppers soon disai)peared. Such is the substance of his report. It 

 is as complete as his observations enabled him to make. I have met with some appar- 

 ent reluctance to give information, because many people object to having the report 

 go out that locusts cause us any trouble. 



My own first observation of the locusts was in the month of May, 1873, in Union. 

 County, in the southeast corner of this Territory. While crossing a broad flat prairie, 

 between Richland atd Elk Point, where the land was at the time covered with water 

 from six to ten inches deep, the air suddenly seemed clouded and filled as with snow- 

 flakes, and the locusts loaded every blade of grass that reached above the water, and 

 continued flying in great numbers overhead all day. It was a new phenomenon to me 

 and I was much astonished. Great numbers perished in the water. Where the lands 

 were cultivated and the young grain was jast getting a start, the work of destruction 

 was very apparent. This was early in the season, and the locusts were fall fledged. 

 Where they came from I did not learn. I had not at that time any thought of investi- 

 gating their habits. 



The swarms of locusts during that year, 1873, did very great damage ever a consid- 

 erable portion of Southeastern Dakota as far northward as in Minnehaha County, 

 where I had opportunity to observe their ravages. In October of that year I rode 

 across the country from Canton, in Lincoln County, to Vermillion, in Clay County, and 

 observed a large number of fields that had not been harvested, because the locusts had 

 destroyed the grain. 



The next year, 1874, was the year of most; marked devastation. During the summer 

 from somewhere about the first part of June, the swarms of locusts were observed 

 moving with the wind, and occasionally some would settle on the prairies, but not so 

 as to damage much, if any. In our part of the country, in Brookings County, I think 

 no general alarm was felt. We had never sufiered from them, and hardly realized that 

 there was danger. The 17th day of July the locusts were observed as flying lower than 

 rsual, and when soon after noon the wind, which had been blowing from the north- 

 west, ceasfd, the locusts came down like a thick snow-storm, and covered ground, 

 woods, fields, and everything, loading down corn and other grain until it would droop 

 to the ground, unable to support the weight. Many means were tried, fire and smoke, 

 and stirring and whiijping with brush, to try to drive them off, but to no purpo^-e. The 

 attemi^t to cover plants in the garden proved futile, for the 'hoppers would eat sheets, 

 quilts, blankets, and carpets. By constant labor with brush my wife and I fought for 

 a little patch of potatoes in our garden, and prevented their total destruction. This 

 visitation continued until the morning of the I9th, when a north .rest wind sprang up 

 and the locusts left. On rev'ewiug the situation it was found that some portions ( f 

 some fields might partially recover and so a little be sav^d. It was observed that the 

 devastation was mostly on the north and west sides of fields. Also that broad fields 

 had lost much less in prox)ortion than long narrow fields. The red parasites on the 

 wings were observed, but not on a large proporticn of those examined. 



This visitation gave our settlement almost a panic. The swarms continued to fly 

 overhead, and now we were constantly in expectation of another visit from them. The 

 time passed on, however, so that we began to entertain a hope that we might be per- 

 mitted to harvest what hnd been left to us, until, on the last day of July, the locusts 

 again descended on us in forces exc eding even the former visit, and after two days of 

 their work the settlement was in consternation at the loss of every vestige of grain 

 and produce of any kind. Only one little garden spot, for which my wife and myself 

 struggled through day and night to save, escaped total destruction. We raised cur 

 potatoes, cabbages, and ruta-bagas that year, and they were, so far as I know, the only 

 crops saved by fightmg the 'hoppers. 



I have here to report a curious phenomenon. My farm lies along the southeast shore 

 of a little lake, that is about two and one-half miles long, and averages about three- 

 quarters of a mile wide. A farm lijingjust across the laJcefrom mine, distant only the undth 

 of the lake, was not injured at all ly the locusts. Wiih that one exception, the devastation 

 extended throughout the whole county, and through nearly all of the southeastern 

 counties of the Territory. This gave occasion for the eff"orts that were made to pro- 

 cure relief for impoverished settlers that following winter. The poverty and the suf- 

 fering were by no means mythical, as some have seemed to believe. 



I have no memoranda of flights and movements of locusts for that year. 



Early in the spring of 187.5, on account of a failure of health resulting from undue 

 exposure to weather and storms, I started on a tour in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wiscon- 

 sin. Traveling through the southwestern part of Minnesota, I observed the effects of 

 the work of the locusts in deserted farms. 



On turning again toward home I left Saint Paul July 23. I passea Redwood Falls, 

 Minn., on the 25th, and found that I was in a region in which grasshopper devastation 

 was going on. They seemed to be moving westward. I reached Lake Benton in Liu- 



