MEANS OF PEOTECTING MINNESOTA. 
305 
As bearing upon this point and tending to confirm the opinion here advanced. I refer 
yon to the chapter on chronology in the first report of the commission. In this it will 
he seen that the great, invasions of 1876 passed southward along the west side of Mani- 
toba not entering that province and not entering Minnesota (that is depositing eggs) 
north of Clay County, whereas in 185G they penetrated eastward in this latitude to 
Cass County. 
By reference to the map of Minnesota before alluded to you will see that the areas of 
egg-deposits in 1^7:>— '74 and 1875 'were in the extreme south western part "t the State. 
From these facts, and from many others which might be mentioned, 1 conclude, and, 
as I believe, correctly, that if (with the conditions hereafter mentioned) the eastern 
part of Dakota, from the west line of the James River Valley to the eastern border 
of the Territory, can be settled to a moderate extent with a farming population, Ihc 
locust invasions will be largely diverted from your State. The farther these settle- 
ments extend northward, and the more extensive and dense they become, the greater 
the benefit. 
In this connection I may add that while in Winnipeg I was informed that the Souris 
or Mouse River section is proving to be a better agricultural area than was supposed ; 
that coal has been found there, and that land is now being surveyed preparatory to 
settlement. If this is found to be correct, and the settlement should become extensi \ e, 
it will aid in the direction indicated. 
The benefit to be derived by Minnesota from the settlement of Eastern Dakota does 
not by any means consist wholly in the fact that it will then offer the first attractions to 
the invaders. Dakota, east of the Missouri, has evidently long been a kind of camping- 
ground for the locusts. Not simply a stopping "place for a few days of invading 
swarms that then passed onwards, but a temporary breeding ground, where the 
invaders of one season would deposit their eggs, the young from which, if the next 
season proved favorable, would pass onward to the southeast or east. I am fully 
aware that invading swarms from Montana and even British America sometimes 
extend their flights in a single season to Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas ; but I am also 
aware of another fact, not so generally kuown, that, in what are considered non-locust 
years, the shorter movements — as from Montana into Dakota, from British America 
into Dakota, and from Western to Eastern Dakota — are going on, to a greater or less 
degree, according to the seasons, and that for a season or two preceding the great 
invasions they are more than usually active in these movements. For proof of this 
I refer you to our First Report, pp. 82 to 92, and Appendix, pp. 243,244. 
A settlement of this section of Dakota will have a tendency to interrupt these 
movements and prevent the insects from using it as a temporary breeding-ground. 
That this portion of the Territory could be Considered a truly permanent breeding- 
ground of the Rocky Mountain locust I now consider improbable, for I do not believe 
they can remain permanently in any section where farming can be carried on contin- 
uously without any aid from irrigation, unless it be far northward in British America, 
or in some very elevated section. But, possessing largely tfie topographical and cli- 
matic characteristics adapted to the life, habits, and perpetuation of the locusts, they 
retained their hold here much longer than in the more truly temporary regions of 
Central Minnesota and of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, &c. As before sta ted, the elevated 
and treeless character of the Coteau of the Prairies has evidently furnished the pests 
with a temporary breeding-ground, and will explain the reason for their hanging so 
long in the southwestern part of the State. 
Is it possible to do anything to this coteau that will render it less adapted to this 
purpose ? If it is possible to clothe it with timber, I answer, emphatically, yes. Cover 
it with a forest and it will cease to be a rendezvous of the pests, and the influence of 
this changed condition will be felt in this respect down to the extremity of the long 
and gentle slopes extending into the southwestern counties of Minnesota. No one 
supposes that any artificial forest that can be placed here will form such a barrier as 
to stop the flight of a locust swarm; but it will prevent it from being a nesting-place. 
20 L 
