The Great Kansas Grasshopper Plague of 1874

[Music] the reading times of reading pennsylvania said in november 1874 of the disaster it was a calamity that no human foresight could have guarded against no human skill could have hurt it was as if the land had been directly smitten by the almighty it prostrates the staunchest unnerves the boldest and gives all indescribable feelings helpless hopelessness they were talking about kansas a land of promise for tens of thousands of post-civil war settlers which had been laid low by melanopolis spretus then simply called the grasshopper the great kansas grasshopper plague of 1874 deserves to be remembered to understand the grasshopper plague you have to first understand grasshoppers a group of insects belonging to the sub-order solifera grasshoppers are suspected to be among the oldest living group of chewing herbivorous insects dating back some 250 million years to the early triassic period the sub-order includes more than 11 000 known species grasshoppers are hemi metabolis meaning that they develop through three distinct phases egg nymph and adult in hemi metabolism also called incomplete metamorphosis the changes occur gradually without a pupil stage the nymph hatches from the egg and then we'll undergo five molts each time becoming more similar to an adult the nymphs are called hoppers and do not have wings until the final molt when they will become adults the hopping mechanism is interesting in itself and that it occurs with both high force and high velocity this is a contradiction in that a fundamental property of muscles that it cannot contract with high force and high velocity at the same time the grasshopper overcomes this issue by simultaneously building up force in a powerful extensor muscle and a small flexor muscle the power built up in the extensor muscle is then released by relaxing the flexor muscle allowing the insect to thrust through the ground with both a high force and a high velocity of movement the effect is much like releasing a catapult and allows the grasshopper to jump up to 20 times its body length with a peak acceleration at takeoff of some 20 g's a force that professor william heitler of the university of saint andrews dryly notes would probably squash a human grasshoppers are mainly though not exclusively herbivores who prefer grasses including many cereal grains they eat large quantities both during development and as adults and can thus be agricultural pests and that is particularly true when they swarm because some grasshopper species under the correct environmental conditions change color and behavior become the agricultural plague called locusts well grasshoppers are generally solitary and even then can be agricultural pests under certain circumstances they start to become both more abundant and more gregarious swarming usually occurs after a period of drought followed by quick plant growth in short good conditions for grasshoppers means that the eggs hatch the nymph for hoppers then experience overcrowding crowding causes an increase in serotonin which then causes the locus to change color eat much more and breed much more easily they stop being solitary and become gregarious joining together in bands that slowly join together and conform into swarms so large that they're referred to as plagues the swarms continue until they become adults at which point they grow wings and cover vast distances eating everything in sight there are several modern methods for controlling swarms but according to the united nations food and agricultural organization locusts still represent a threat to the livelihoods of some 10 percent of the world's population plagues of locusts are nothing new they occurred in prehistory and the insects are mentioned in the iliad the mahabrata the bible and the quran but while plagues of locus were both an ancient and a modern terror there is something unique about the swarms of the american midwest and that has to do with particular species of grasshopper first described by entomologist philip reese uller in 1866 the original name given the species was caliph spretus the word spretus means despised the reference was likely because the species had previously been overlooked by entomologists but there was unique reason to despise this species in 1878 the entomological community concluded that the species was correctly classified as melanopolis rather than caliph tennis and it is unclear exactly when the common name the rocky mountain locus was coined but this despised grasshopper had a unique distinction despite all the plagues of locusts throughout history their swarms occurred in numbers far larger than other locust species to give an idea in 1875 a physician named albert child calculated the size of a swarm of rocky mountain locusts by multiplying these swarms estimated speed with the time it took to move through southern nebraska his conclusion what became known as albert's swarm covered some 198 thousand square miles that is a swarm greater than the area of california the swarm included an estimated 12 and a half trillion insects it weighed an estimated 27 and a half million tons it was according to the guinness book of world records the largest concentration of animals ever speculatively guessed the rocky mountain locusts occurred along both sides of the rocky mountains they preferred to breed in sandy areas and thrived in hot and dry conditions this likely had to do with the nature of prayer grasses which tend to concentrate sugars in their stalks in times of drought when the species swarm they were likely assisted by the low-level jet stream that persists across north america in 1877 british-born american entomologist charles valentine reilly published the locust plague in the united states being more particularly a treatise on the rocky mountain locusts or so-called grasshopper as it occurs east of the rocky mountains with practical recommendations for its destruction in the tax reilly logs a number of recorded locust plagues in the americas starting with one in the west indies in 1632. riley notes a number of different occurrences in california in 1722 46 53 54 65 as well as in 1827 28 34 38 and 46. an 1863 report by the smithsonian institution noted that up to the 11th of october 1855 and commencing about the middle of may these insects extended themselves over space of the earth's surface much greater than has ever before been noted they covered the entire territories of washington and oregon and every valley of the state of california ranging from the pacific ocean to the eastern base of the sierra nevadas the entire territories of utah new mexico the immense grassy prairies lying on the eastern slopes of the rocky mountains the dry mountain valleys of the republic of mexico and the countries of lower california and central america and more ominously they filled the air like flakes of snow on a winter's day and attacked everything green or succulent with a veracity and dispatch destructive to the hopes of agriculturalists swarms were noted throughout the 19th century in the northwest in manitoba in iowa colorado minnesota they swarmed in such numbers that they were often so thick that trains were seriously delayed on account of the immense numbers crossed on the track there was another plague in 1873 that spread from colorado and wyoming across nebraska and the dakotas to iowa and minnesota but it was the plague of 1874 that riley said will long be remembered as more disastrous is causing more distress and destitution than any of its predecessors while the plague of 1874 was widespread hitting iowa nebraska and minnesota hard riley noted that kansas perhaps suffered most severely part of the story has to do with the situation in kansas following the civil war the homestead act of 1862 granted an area of public land to any citizen willing to settle on and farm the land by the 1870s the kansas pacific railway was operating long distance lines that would be a principal transportation route the settlement of the fertile great plains between 1865 and 1880 kansas presenting irresistible promise of a better life through land attracted immigrants at a faster pace than anywhere else in the united states in 1870 13 of kansas total population was foreign born between 1860 and 1870 the population of kansas more than tripled from 107 000 to 364 thousand it would nearly triple again to 996 000 by 1880. while much of the area affected by the grasshopper plague of 1874 was sparsely settled it hit hard in kansas where many of the people affected were new settlers who had little means who depended upon the crop that they had planted to get them through the winter the invasion began in late july would have been a promising year had given way to drought which had already damaged crops but the hot and dry conditions provided ideal breeding conditions for the grasshoppers a particularly mild winter meant that more grasshoppers had survived as had the eggs they had laid on the prairie in the plague of 1874. a pennsylvania newspaper reported in september nothing can describe the thorough and utter devastation of the grasshopper plague in kansas the insects seem to work together swoop down upon a town beating everything before them the air is literally alive with them they beat against the houses swarm against the windows and cover the passing trains they work as if sent to destroy when they came they ate everything they ate the wolf of life sheep and clothes off people's backs they ate the harnesses off of horses and the paint off of wagons the wooden handles off of tools the website history net told the story of a kansas girl who said that she was wearing a dress with a green stripe the grasshopper settled on me and ate up every bit of the green stripe in that dress before anything could be done about it the joke was they ate everything but the mortgage the leavenworth daily commercial reported in august it is said that they obscure the sun for hours as if a cloud was passing that they flew in vast swarms on the other side of locomotive like snow before a snowplow a quarter section of corn they could easily dispose of in an hour and a half taking for dessert whatever watermelons or pumpkins came in their way and leaving in them not even a vested rind after they passed a cornfield nothing was left but stubs of stalks two or three feet from the ground residents did whatever they could to fight them shoveling them into bonfires and even using explosives and shotguns but could not hold off the devastation the daily commercial continued they've already devastated the northwestern and southwestern counties literally devouring everything cornfields have been left bare trees stripped of their leaves the grass has been cut cling to the earth and everything in the shape of vegetation eaten by the countless myriads of voracious pests in nearly half of the counties of the state not a bushel of corn will be produced takes them only two or three days to destroy vegetation where they alight and they advance at a rate of 20 to 40 miles a day an inventor from colorado invented a device pulled by horses that essentially vacuumed the grasshoppers up and crushed them but only worked on level ground and come clogged with the crushed insects more common was something called a grasshopper plow a device larger ones pulled by horses but smaller ones that could be pulled by people that dragged a metal sheet along the ground grasshoppers would jump up and hit a metal plate falling into a bin where they could be killed with poison or kerosene or thrown into a fire again it only worked on level ground and there were just too many locusts farmers tried hurting the locust into burning pits but there were so many that they would often smother the fires the st louis newspaper lamented the inhabitants of the cities of the east and south have no conception of the terrible plague that has desolated some of the western states and reduced prosperous settlements to ruin and dismay the results were most devastating to new farm stats the daily commercial noted the older portions of the state can probably tide over the disasters of this unprecedented year without serious suffering but the desolation in ruin brought on by the drought and the grasshoppers in the newly settled counties will be dreadful a pennsylvania newspaper reported the results of the calamity cannot be foretold but already a panic has seized the new settlers of the western and northwestern portions of the state many of them had staked everything on this their first crop with hardly enough worldly goods to stand them until harvest time they suddenly find their all stripped from them starvation staring them in the face the wisconsin state journal of medicine was constantly reported in november 17 counties in which an aggregate of 150 000 acres have been planted in corn produced not a bushel of this cereal the eight in which the greatest destruction prevails have all but been populated within the past year or two and the greater part of that population settled within their limits either last spring or the preceding fall they had expended all their means in building their homes and getting in their crops drought and grasshoppers had brought a total destruction of everything they had planted leaving them totally destitute the bolivar bulletin of bolivar tennessee wrote in october people have perished from hunger hunger and despair have followed in the track of the grasshopper plagues the st louis republican reported in one case a family of six died within six days of each other from the want of food to keep body and soul together charles riley offered a unique solution noting that chickens and horses ate the locusts as had native americans he suggested solving both the locust problem and the starvation problem by eating the locus he suggested locust pan-fried with butter and salt one biographer said of riley that he once cooked a meal for dignitaries the menu which consisted of locus soup baked locust locust cakes locusts with honey and just plain locusts apparently pleased his guest of course most residents were keen on a grasshopper diet many returned east to live with families some planning to return but others abandoned their homestead claims in their dreams of a new life kansas lost as much as one-third of its population and the flow of westbound immigrants to the plains fell by as much as 20 percent the plague returned and did general damage in 1875 but then late spring ranks brought relief from the swarms and abundant new crops slowly governments responded with the advice of scientists like riley young hoppers were collected in early spring before the swarms occurred nebraska actually passed a law recording all people between the ages of 16 and 60 to work at least two days eliminating locusts and hatching time but perhaps the most surprising twist out of the entire story is that the last example of a rocky mountain locust was found in 1902 somehow between 1875 when albert swarm showed trillions of the insect and 1902 the entire species became extinct in fact there are very few examples that were preserved because entomologists didn't bother because entomologists could not believe that a species that prolific could possibly even go extinct research started in the 1980s by professor jeffrey lockwood of the university of wyoming suggests that it wasn't the eradication procedures of the 1870s that was the species demise rather the rocky mountain locus turned out to be highly specialized they would plant eggs on the plains during swarm years but the species was actually dependent upon a few narrow breeding grounds along the slopes of the rocky mountains and they preferred sandy soil near streams and that was perfect soil for agriculture as settlement moved west people farmed that land they plowed it they deforested it they irrigated it they replanted it they destroyed the eggs and ended the locust plague without even knowing it there were a few other swarms from other grasshopper species into the 1930s but even those are gone now not so in africa according to the world bank the desert locust found in various parts of africa asia and the middle east is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world despite the horrific newspaper reports about the 1874 kansas grasshopper plague by december newspapers reporting that the devastation was not as total as had originally been envisioned many crops actually matured later and so many farmers were able to bring in some crop and though there were dislocations and there were some starvation the nation largely managed to pull together farmers helped farmers american helped american cities in the east raise funds for relief for stricken kansas perhaps the best message that we can get from the 1874 grasshopper plague especially in the year when we're facing our own version of plague is that america has survived worse as long as we pulled together dr reilly gave his synopsis of the grasshopper plague of 1874. the calamity was national in character and the suffering in the ravaged districts would have been great and famine and death the consequence had it not been for the sympathy of the whole country and the energetic measures taken to relieve the afflicted people a sympathy beginning a generosity which proved equal to the occasion and which will ever redound to the glory of our free republic and our union i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do 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Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, us history, kansas, disaster, grasshopper, plague, locust

Id: FxqgBWxLZa0

Length: 17min 23sec (1043 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020