USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Dickinson County, Iowa, together with an account of the Spirit Lake massacre, and the Indian troubles on the northwestern frontier > Part 25
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The county has built a grade about four feet high the whole length of the sandbar. Had the lakes remained as they were. previous to 1857 this would have been wholly unnecessary. The lakes reached their highest level in the summer of 1881. As many fears were expressed then that all of the low land was going to be overflowed and the lake shores washed away and ruined as there has since been that the lakes are gradually drying up. Since then there have been dry seasons and wet seasons, the dry ones predominating, and the water in the lakes gradually growing lower until in 1898 they reached the lowest level known since the first settlement of the county. A careful examination of the lake shore at the time of the high water of 1881 showed conclusively that the water had ' as high before. But when? The ridges of sand and gravel that had been thrown up by the previous high water were clearly traceable and possessed that peculiar appearance which only the action of waves can give, while the line of boulders at the water's edge were piled up as only the action of the ice could pile them.
These circunstances must be taken as proof positive that the water has been up there before. Taking all these proofs into consideration, we are irresistibly forced to the conclusion that the lakes through a long series of years pass from their
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highest level to the lowest and then back again, and that this process has been going on for centuries. When for a series of years we have more than the normal rainfall, the lakes gradually rise, and on the other hand, when for a series of years we have less than normal, the lakes go down.
How much the cultivation of the adjacent land affects the rise and fall of the water in the lakes, we cannot determine. Of course it affects it some, but then again, the building of the dam across the outlet at the lower end of the lakes to stop the flow or waste, except in times of high water, counterbal- anees that somewhat so that it can be safely claimed that the theory that the lakes are gradually drying up is not in accord- ance with known facts any more than would be the theory that our rainfall is gradually diminishing, and that the prai- ries of northwestern Towa are destined in the near future to become a barren desert. Some of the bays and shallow parts of the lake are filling with aquatie vegetation to some extent. which, with the soil washed from adjacent land, may eventu- ally change the contour of the lakes somewhat, but this is a remote contingency.
One drawback that the mills on the ontlet always had to contend with was that the lake being quite shallow where it narrowed up to form the stream, the ice in very cold weather would freeze to the bottom and prevent the flow, thus shutting off the supply of water. The result was that the mills were compelled to shut down in the latter part of winter, even in times when there would have been plenty of water except for the ice.
Several dry seasons now following each other in succession, the water supply so far failed that it could not be depended on when most needed and the mills were compelled to put in steam power, which they did abont 1886. In 1896 the state built a dam across the outlet just below the lower end of Gar
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Lake, in order to prevent the flow of water from the lake until it reaches a given level. This was done to promote the fish- ing interest.
Another event worthy of note as occurring during this peri- od is the burning of the courthouse, which took place in Feb- ruary, 1872. The origin of the fire is unknown. The upper story was occupied and used as a school room at that time, and a singing school was held there the night of the fire. The rec- ords in the recorder's office were fortunately saved, but those of the treasurer and clerk of the district court were mostly destroyed. At the time it was burned the courthouse was in- sured in the Mississippi Valley Insurance Company. The company was immediately notified and payment demanded. This was refused on the ground that the building had been used for other purposes than were mentioned in the policy. Upon the refusal of the company to make payment, suit was brought against them by the county. The company took a change of venne to Clay County, where the case was tried and the county obtained judgment for something over $2,600. The company appealed, when the judgment was reversed and the case sent back for a new trial. Pending the trial the matter was compromised between the Board of Supervisors and the Insurance Company at about fifty cents on the dollar.
After the burning of the courthouse the question of removal of the county seat was discussed in some quarters, but the movement was not strong enough to lead to any practical re- sults. An endeavor was made by parties in the south part of the county to prevent rebuilding on the old site, but it was not heartily supported and a contract was let to T. L. Twiford for rebuilding upon the old foundation according to plans and specifications furnished by him. This was done in the sum- mer of 1872 and it was taken possession of by the county authorities the ensning fall.
CHAPTER XXVII.
A PERIOD OF PROSPERITY-POSTOFFICE AT LAKE- VILLE AND LAKE PARK-THE GRASSHOPPER RAID OF 1873-WHERE THEY CAME FROM-VIEWS OF D. A. W. PERKINS-THEIR DEPREDATIONS-EX- TRACT FROM J. A. SMITH'S PAMPHLET-TIIE SEED GRAIN QUESTION-THE LEGISLATURE AP- PEALED TO-THEY APPROPRIATE $50,000 TO BUY SEED GRAIN-COMMISSIONERS FOR DISTRIBU- TION-$15,000 COVERED BACK INTO THE TREAS- URY-SOME "TOO PROUD TO BEG -THE EXPERI- MENT A FAILURE-THE YOUNG HOPPERS THAT HATCH IN THE SPRING DESTROY EVERYTHING- GREAT DESTITUTION.
T HAS BEFORE been stated that the period from 1868 to 1873 was a period of the most general prosperity en- joyed by the early settlers. The development of the country was at this time quite rapid. The vacant land was all claimed under either the homestead or preemption laws and was being improved as fast as the limited means of the settlers would permit. A daily mail had been established from Spencer to Jackson and other mail facilities had been secured in other regions sufficient for their immediate wants. A post- office had been established at Lakeville, where a lively settle- ment had sprung up and another one at Silver Lake. All of the congressional townships in the county were organized as civil townships. Schoolhouses were built and educational fa- cilities provided for on a scale of the greatest liberality, and people were beginning to feel that a period of prosperity was opening before them, and were looking forward with high hopes
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and bright anticipations for the good time coming for which they had waited so long and labored so hard ; when they should realize a substantial reward for the many dangers they had braved, the hardships and privations they had endured and the obstacles they had overcome and surmounted.
All this was beginning to seem a thing of the past ; a new era was dawning which bade fair to gladden the hearts of those staunch pioneers who had devoted the energies of their youth and strength of their manhood to the work of opening up and developing this, one of the fairest regions God's sun ever shone upon, for the occupancy and enjoyment of those who should come after them. But from this dream of happiness and pros- perity of growth and development the infant settlement was destined to a rude and rough awakening.
The summer of 1873 will ever be memorable in the annals of northwestern Iowa as being the time when that terrible scourge, the army of grasshoppers first commenced their depre- dations upon a scale that threatened to interfere to a material extent with the growth and prosperity of the country. The extent of the calamity which befell this country in the grass- hopper raid of 1873 to 1877 has never been fully compre- hended or understood except by the immediate sufferers. The almost total loss of four successive crops in any agricultural country would be considered a calamity that it would require years to recover from, yet that was just what befell the coun- ties of northwestern Iowa at this period.
Previous to this time there had been two invasions of the grasshopper into northwestern Iowa, neither of which did much damage or created much alarm so far north as this county. In 1867 and 1868 they were quite thick in the neighborhood of Sioux City and up the Floyd Valley. That season they came as far north as the southern portion of this county, but it was so late in the season that the damage done by them at that
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time was inconsiderable. That season they also did a vast deal of damage in Humboldt, Webster, Hamilton and Greene Conn- ties, and other places between the Des Moines and Missouri Rivers.
The army grasshopper, or as it is sometimes more appro- priately designated, the Rocky Mountain locust, is indigenous to the barren table lands along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. D. A. W. Perkins, in duseussing this question in the history of Osceola County, says :
"In Wyoming, western Nebraska, Texas, the Indian Terri- tory and New Mexico, the broods were annually hatched. In their native haunts they attained an enormous size, many spec- imens being three inches in length. Scientific men who have studied the habits of the grasshoppers state that each succeed- ing brood degenerates in size and after three or four generations the weaker are obliged to swarm and seek other quarters, being driven out by the larger and stronger insects. These exiles rise and go with the wind, keeping the direction in which they first started, stopping in their flight for subsistence and depos- iting eggs in a prolific manner during the incubating season, which lasted from the middle of June to the middle of Septem- ber."
The advance guard of this invading army first put in an appearance in this county about the middle of June, 1873. coming from the southwest. The first seen of them was a huge black cloud which was none other than a huge swarm of grass- hoppers. Their movements were accompanied by a dull roaring or buzzing sound that terrified the ears. They swarmed in such vast numbers as to obseure the light of the sun, giving every- thing that weird, sombre look that is always noticed during a solar eclipse. The phenomenon of stars being visible in the day time, by reason of the obscurity of the sun, was observed by many. The buzzing, roaring sound by which their flight was accompanied was ominous of approaching disaster. They settled down on the fields of growing grain in such numbers
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that it soon became evident that nothing could escape their ravages. They semed endowed with an intuition or unerring instinct that directed them to the nearest grain fields, no matter in which direction they were located. If by chance they hap- pened to alight on the uncultivated prairie a movement would immediately commence in the direction of the nearest growing fields. Their first appearance was alarming and their devas- tations were appalling.
These grasshoppers had crossed the Missouri River and com- menced foraging in the bordering Iowa counties, devouring everything as they went. By harvest time there was but little left to harvest and that of an inferior quality. The grass- hoppers deposited their eggs in countless numbers. The greater portion of the land under enltivation was thoroughly impreg- nated with them. Land that had been cleared of all vegetation suited them best. In such places the number of eggs that would be deposited on a given surface was thoroughly astounding. These eggs were in cells containing from twenty-five to fifty each and were deposited about half an inch beneath the surface. They were deposited in the late summer and early fall months and remained on the ground during the winter, when they were hatched out in the spring by the warm rays of the sun acting upon the sandy surface of the ground. The more sand in the soil the earlier they hatched out and the more vigorous the "hoppers." The following extracts from J. A. Smith's pam- phlet on northwestern Iowa conveys a very intelligent idea of the situation :
"Early in the spring of 1874 the eggs deposited the season before commenced hatching and the soil looked literally alive with insignificant looking insects a quarter of an inch in length but possessing great vitality and surprising appetites. As if by instinct their first movements were toward the fields where tender shoots of grain were making their modest appearance. Sometimes the first intimation a farmer would have of what
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was going on would be from noticing along one side of his field a narrow strip where the grain was missing. At first perhaps he would attribute it to a balk in sowing, but each day it grew wider and a closer examination would reveal the presence of myriads of young grasshoppers. As spring advanced it be- came evident that comparatively few eggs had been deposited in the territory that had suffered the worst in 1873. They had been laid further east. In Kossuth, Emmet, Diekinson and Palo Alto Counties in Iowa, and in Martin and Jackson Con- ties, Minnesota, the young ones were hatched out in far greater numbers than elsewhere.
"The carly part of the season was extremely dry; no rain fell until the middle of June. Grain did not grow, but the grasshoppers did, and before the drouth ended the crops in the counties named were eaten and parched beyond all hope of recovery. About the middle of June, however, a considerable rain fell and, outside of the before mentioned counties, the prospects were generally favorable for good crops. The young grasshoppers commenced to get wings about the middle of June and in a few days they began to rise and fly. The pros- pect seemed good for a speedy riddance of the pests, but Provi- dence had ordained otherwise. The perverse insects were wait- ing for an easterly wind and the perverse wind blew from the southwest for nearly three weeks, a phenomenon of rare occur- renee in this region, as it very seldom blows from one quarter more than three days at a time. During this time the grass- hoppers 'were almost constantly on the move. Straggling swarms found their way to central Iowa doing, however, but little damage.
"About the tenth or twelfth of July the wind changed to the east and as by common consent the countless multitude took their departure westward. Up to this time the erops had been damaged but slightly in the western counties but during the two or three days of their flight the grain fields in these counties were injured to quite an extent. After the date above men- tioned, with one or two unimportant exceptions, no grasshoppers were seen.
"There is no evidence that this region was visited in 1874 by foreign swarms, though it has been stated that such was the fact. On the contrary there is every reason for believing they were all hatched here. According to the most reliable informa- tion the grasshoppers hatched here prodneed no eggs and the
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inference is that they were incapable of so doing. They were much smaller than their predecessors and besides they were covered with parasites in the shape of little red bugs which made sad havoe in their ranks. What became of them after leaving here seems a mystery, but probably their enfeebled con- stitutions succumbed to the attacks of the parasites and the depleting effects of general debility."
This grasshopper raid was very discouraging to the country and interfered materially with its progress.
It will be remembered that during the four years previous to 1874, a heavy tide of emigration had been constantly pour- ing in. During that time all of the vacant government land in the county had been taken by settlers mostly under the homestead aet. This land was principally prairie, the timber land har- ing been previously taken. Like the pioneers of all new coun- tries these later comers were mostly poor men and the best of them had barely enough to tide them over from the time of taking their homesteads to such time as they would be able to open up their claims and raise a crop. They had just com- meneed to open their farms and were dependent upon their crops for subsistence. What would have been in older localities a serious misfortune was to them absolute ruin. The result was great destitution and the necessity in the more recently settled neighborhoods of asking for outside assistance. The situation, however, was not so desperate in this county as it was in the counties to the west of here and most of the out- side aid sent to this portion of the state went to O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux and Lyon Counties.
One of the serious aspects of the case was the seed grain question. The legislature being in session an appeal was made to them for state assistance in the matter of securing the neces- sary seed. In answer to this appeal a bill was passed and be- came a law appropriating fifty thousand dollars to aid in that
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STATE APPROPRIATION FOR SEED GRAIN
matter. Under the provisions of the bill a commission was appointed whose duty it was to make a thorough investigation of all of the conditions and circumstances of the case and then take such action as the exigencies demanded. The names of the commissioners so appointed were Hon. Tasker of Jones County, Dr. Levi Fuller of Fayette and Hon. O. B. Brown of Van Buren. After a thorough investigation of the matter, they decided to purchase and distribute seed directly to the settlers. Local committees were appointed to assist the com- mission in their work. The distribution for Dickinson and Osceola Counties was made at Sibley. They adopted a list of questions that eachi applicant was required to answer in writ- ing and from these answers the commissioners decided whether the applicant was entitled to relief or not, and if so his portion was dealt out to him.
Each applicant received about fifteen bushels of seed wheat, besides some seed corn and garden seeds. A considerable quan- tity of garden seeds was also distributed by the general gov- ermment through the Interior Department. About one hundred applications for seed grain were answered from this county. A good many who would have been entitled to aid under the pro- visions of the law were too proud to make the application. They had passed through hard times before and the same self- denial would take them through again. There was about fifteen thousand dollars of the appropriation left after the distribution was completed and this was covered back into the state treas- ury. But the well meant efforts of the state to relieve the sit- uation were unavailing. As has been before stated the grow- ing crops were destroyed by the myriads of young grasshoppers as fast as they made their appearance above the surface.
After the departure of the grasshoppers in 1874 our people experienced a sense of relief and hoped that they would not again be visited by the plague for years, if ever. The loss of
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the greater portion of their crops for two years in succession imposed a burden upon them heavy to be borne, but they had passed the ordeal and now with fortune favoring them in the future they hoped to recover a portion of what they had lost. Many had been obliged to mortgage their farms to keep their families from suffering while all were compelled to practice a degree of economy and self-denial to which they had formerly been strangers.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
TIIE SECOND INVASION-THE DESTRUCTION
GREATER THAN EVER-WHOLE NEIGHBORHOODS ABANDONED-EXTRACT FROM GOVERNOR CARPEN- TER'S ARTICLE IN "THE ANNALS"-GRASSHOPPERS BLOCK RAILROAD TRAINS-GENERAL N. B. BAKER -HIS EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF GRASSHOPPER SUF- FERERS IMPAIR HIS HEALTH-HIS VISIT TO SPIRIT LAKE-NEWSPAPER GOSSIP.
HE YEAR 1875 was marked by no event worthy of par- ticular mention. The farms that year proved remark- ably productive, and excepting a portion of the crops that were badly damaged by the long-continued rains in the months of August and September, the season would have proved a remarkably prosperous one. The people were begin- ning to look once more with hope to the future. But they were again doomed to disappointment. The grasshopper scourge through which they had just passed such a dreadful experience, and which they fondly hoped had left them forever, again made its appearance in the summer of 1876 in greater numbers than ever, this time coming from the northwest instead of the south- west.
The details of this invasion are so similar to the one of three years before that they need not be repeated. The grasshoppers came in greater numbers than ever and their devastations were more general. This time no effort was made to secure outside relief. Many of the settlers who had been obliged to mortgage their homes to tide them over the first period of destitution now gave up the struggle and disposed of their places for what they could get, which was not much. Many realized nothing in
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addition to the encumbrances already on them. Whole neigh- borhoods were depopulated. The settlement at Lakeville fur- mishes the most conspicuous instance of this kind. Over fifty homesteads had been taken and were occupied in that immedi- ate vicinity at the time the grasshoppers struck them in 1873. Of these not more than half a dozen were occupying their places when the grasshoppers disappeared in 1877.
What was true of Lakeville was equally true of other neigh- borhoods, though perhaps not to quite so marked an extent, as the number of newcomers about Lakeville was greater at that time than any other point and the abandonment of their claims more general. The insects made their final flight in July, 1877, since which time they have not infested the country to any noticeable extent. They destroyed the crops here in 1873, 1874, 1876 and 1877, the last year being the worst of all. In Osceola County the reverse was true, the first year being the most disastrous, but here the last year was worse. The grass- hopper questions furnished a fruitful topic for newspaper writers, and many articles, wise and otherwise, were inflicted on a long suffering public. The following from the Sioux City Journal will serve as an example. It is quite certain that had the writer thereof ever tried or seen tried the experiment he recommends, the article would never have been written. The article is as follows :
"The grasshopper deposits its eggs at the roots of the grass in the latter part of summer or early autumn. The eggs hatch out early in spring and during the months of April, May and June, according as the season is early or late; they are wing- less, their sole power of locomotion being the hop. To destroy them, all that is needed is for each county, town or district to organize itself into a fire brigade throughout the district where their eggs are known to be deposited. This fire brigade shall see that the prairies are not burned over in the fall, and thus they will have the grass for the next spring and to be employed upon the pests while they are yet hoppers-the means
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EXTRACT FROM GOV. CARPENTER'S ARTICLE
of sure death. To apply it let all agree upon a certain day, say in April or May, or at any time when they are sure all the hoppers are hatched and none are yet winged. All being ready, let every person, man, woman and boy, turn out with torches and simultaneously fire the whole prairie, and the work, if well done, will destroy the whole crop of grasshoppers for that year, and none will be left to 'soar their gossamer wings' or lay eggs for another year."
The Annals of Iowa, Volume 4, Number 6, contains an ex- hanstive article on the grasshopper invasion of 1867 and 1868, as well as that of 1873 and 1876, written by the late Ex-Gov- ernor C. C. Carpenter, and the conditions so vividly described by him are so exactly similar to what occurred here a few vears later, that a few extracts will not be wholly out of place. His observations were confined principally to the counties of Greene, Boone, Story, Hamilton and Webster. He says :
"One of the most serious of the pioneer experiences of northwestern Iowa was the grasshopper invasion. The reader who did not see the destruction wrought by the grasshoppers and the strange phenomena of their coming and going will be very apt to regard the story of an eye witness as incredible. They made their first appearance in 1867. The Hon. Charles Richards, at that time a citizen of Fort Dodge, gives the fol- lowing account of their coming:
" 'The first appearance of these pests was on the eighth of September, 1867, when about noon the air was discovered to ยท be filled with grasshoppers coming from the west, settling about as fast as the flakes of an ordinary snowstorm. In fact, it appeared like a snowstorm, when the larger flakes of snow fall slowly and perpendicularly, there being no wind. They imme- diately began to deposit their eggs, choosing new breaking and hard ground along the roads, but not confining themselves to such places and being the worst where the soil was sandy. They continued to cover the ground, fences and buildings, eat- ing everything, and in many places eating the bark from the young growth of the apple, cherry and other trees, and nearly
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