An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 12

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726

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Third. The balance of the county, including principally that portion lying northeast of the railroad as far down as Lake Marshall and northwest of the Redwood river, will average at least seven-eighths of a crop.

Taking the whole county together, we believe there will be from two-thirds to three-fourths as much wheat and oats and seven-eighths as much eorn and potatoes as there would have been had we not been visited by the grasshopper plague. Some farms in the county have been totally stripped of everything in the shape of erops; and on the other hand there are many farms which promise abundant yield of every kind of erop, not having been damaged to the least extent by grasshoppers.

Before the paper which contained this estimate was put to press (July 16) the editor of the Prairie Schooner penned this qualification:

Later-It is of no use to estimate crops before harvest. Yesterday clouds of grass- hoppers were passing over from north to south, and as we go to press word has come that they have made a descent on the Yellow Medieine

and. at Rock Lake, scetions heretofore un- touched.

The invasion of July 15 was the worst of the season and resulted in almost total annihilation of crops in the Rock Lake and Yellow Medicine coun- tries-communities which had escaped before. Before they departed those parts of the county were literally alive with the voracious insects. And what havoe they wrought! So thick was the air with the flying pests that at times the sun was obseured. They appeared to the people below like a vast cloud, sweeping sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another always with the wind, but never traveling far to the west or northwest.

At evening when they came down near the earth, the noise they made was like a roaring wind. Those that alighted on the prairies seemed to know where the grain fields and gardens were and gathered in them from all directions. Every cornstalk bent to the earth with their weight. The noise they made eating could be heard from quite a distance and resembled that which might have been made by hundreds of hogs turned into the fields. In fact, such was the destruction that within a few hours after they came down whole fields of corn and small grain were as completely harvested as though they had been cut with a reaper and hauled away. It was a discouraging sight.

After gorging themselves with the erops, the grasshoppers sometimes piled up in the fields and along the roads to a depth of one or two feet. Horses could hardly be driven through them. Stories have been told of railway trains be- coming blockaded by the pests so as to be unable to move until the insects were shoveled from the track.

The last invasion was not of long duration, although grasshoppers in di-

IIISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

minished numbers remained until August. Fortunately, they departed without de- positing their eggs in Lyon county, although eggs were left in counties to the east of Lyon.

The greatest damage was to small grain. Many fields were entirely de- stroyed and yielded nothing to the acre. The wheat that was threshed-according to a thresher who operated in all parts of the county-averaged nine and one- half bushels per acre and oats nineteen bushels. Gardens were almost entirely destroyed; corn and potatoes, which constituted only a small part of the acreage, were a fair crop.10

This second successive crop failure was a terrible blow. A great many who had not been hard pressed by the con- ditions in 1873 were now reduced to the common level; their savings had been spent and they had no income. Those who were not compelled to live on charity were compelled to practise most rigid economy. Hay furnished the fuel; potatoes, pumpkins and squashes-a few vegetables left by the hoppers- supplied the bulk of the food. Meat was not on the bill of fare, except for those who could use a gun and bag the prairie chickens and ducks that were in great abundance. In this manner a number of the settlers were obliged to pass the winter. They bore their trials more cheerfully than might have been expected and made preparations to try their luck again next year.

The question naturally arises: Why did the people of Lyon county stay in a country in which the grasshoppers wrought such damage? It is doubtful if many would have remained could they have looked ahead and foreseen what they still had to go through, for

this was not the end of the scourge by any means. A few discouraged ones did depart for their former homes. All who could went away each summer to work in the harvest fields of more fortunate communities and earn enough to supply their absolute needs.

The majority stayed with their claims and weathered the storms of adversity. Hope was abundant that each year's visitation would be the last. The fer- tility of the soil had been demonstrated, and it was known that once the country was free from the pests, it would become one of the richest spots in the West. The settlers had invested all their accumulations of former years in im- provements, and to desert the country meant that they must go as paupers.

Before continuing the account of the grasshopper scourge, let us consider a few other items that occurred in 1874 which throw a light on conditions of that day.

The one railroad in the county was not in operation from February 16 to April S, due to snow blockades and the fact that its operation would not be a paying investment. Again the next winter the line was not operated regu- larly and for ten weeks prior to April 13. 1875, not a train was run in the county.

The assessment for 1874 shows that the value of personal property was $120,384, divided among 525 residents. There were in the county 495 horses, 2690 cattle, 31 mules, 336 sheep and 356 wagons and buggies.

Despite the fact that the grasshoppers were doing most of the harvesting, a fair association was organized during this period and a county fair held. The first meeting to bring about organi-

10 Aeeording to the report of the commissioner of statistics, the loss of the several erops in twenty-eight counties of Minnesota in 1874 was as follows: Wheat,

2,646,802 bushels; oats, 1,816,733 bushels; corn, 738,415 bushels; barley, 58,962 bushels; potatoes, 221,454 bushels; flax seed, 52,833 bushels.

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AN EARLY DAY MAP

Lyon County As It Appeared in 1874, From a Map Published in a State Atlas That Year.

YLLów V

HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

zation was held in December, 1873, in a little room that had been partitioned off from the old company store building in Marshall. The preliminary steps were taken at that time and on January 31, 1874, the Lyon County Agricultural Society was organized. The first officers were as follows: J. G. Bryan, president ; C. H. Whitney, secretary; E. B. Jewett. treasurer; S. Webster, J. H. Buchanan, O. C. Gregg, R. D. Barnes, G. Watson, C. H. Bullock, James Morgan, R. H. Price, F. R. Holritz, John Ilstad, Ole O. Brenna and T. J. Barber, vice presidents ; J. W. Blake, T. W. Castor, G. S. Robin- son, J. W. Hoagland and Jacob Rouse, executive committee.

The first fair was held at Marshall in October, 1874, and was declared to be asuccess, several hundred people being in attendance. There were many exhibits, although the premiums were not liberal. 11

In the summer of 1874 came an Indian scare that created some little excitement in western Lyon county- the result, doubtless, of a practical joke.

On Saturday, July 18, three Norwe- gian families who lived on the Sioux river near Medary arrived in the Lake Benton settlement, driving their flocks and herds with them. They brought the alarming intelligence that Fort Wadsworth, Dakota, had been captured by Indians, who had massacred two hundred whites; that the village of Flandreau was in flames, that the people of Medary and Flandreau and elsewhere along the Sioux were fleeing the country, and that the redskins were on their way to Lake Benton, where they expected to arrive the next night.

11Those who received premiums at the first county fair were C. H. Bullock, D. P. Billings, Charles Belling- ham, J. W. Dickey, S. Webster, B. C. Emery, A. Emmerson, J. M. Lockey, C. II. Whitney, Norton Billings, Seth Johnson, Ben Johnson, J. G. Bryan, E. Jewett, C. Jewett, II. C. Simmons, J. W. Blake, C. A. Edwards, Alfred Edwards, HI. P. Gibbs, G. A. Gill, William Robinson, Z. O. Titus, A. Barrett, G. Watson, J. Bagley, Nathan Davis, C. Kennedy, M. B. Morse, O. A. Drake, J. W. Hoagland, William Living-

The report created consternation in the isolated settlement on Lake Benton. The news flew from house to house and there was great commotion. Some of the settlers gathered at the place where now the village of Lake Benton is situated and held a council of war. The majority favored investigating the report before deserting their homes, but six families hastily packed a few things, set out in hasty retreat for the east. alarmed all the people along the route, and reached Lynd before their fears were calmed.

Another council was held at Marsh- field, where it was decided to investigate the rumor. John Snyder and William Taylor rode to Flandreau, twenty-five miles distant, and found all quiet along the Sioux. Upon their return the alarmed people declared the war over. Within a few days those who had so precipitously fled returned to their homes.

The winter of 1874-75 was a severe one, punctuated with numerous bliz- zards. The lives of two Lyon county people were sacrificed to the winter storms that season.

One of the victims was Henry Gibbs, a resident of Fairview township. He and his wife had spent the day visiting at a neighbor's and in the evening started home with their ox team. One of the dreaded prairie storms suddenly came upon them and they lost their way and drifted with the storm until their wagon broke down in a slough in Stanley township.

Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs arranged a wind- break with the wagon box and prepared

ston, A. E. Watkins, J. H. Buchanan, Owen Marron, Henry Schaffer, L. Ticknor, H. Lovelace, H. J. Tripp, Blake Watson, Coleman & Company, B. A. Grubb, A. W. Bean, J. W. Williams, Pierce & Wakeman, Prairie Schooner, Mrs. C. A. Edwards, Mrs. E. B. Jewett, Mrs. D. P. Billings, Mrs. J. Bagley, Mrs. H. C. Simmons, Mrs. H. P. Gibbs, Mrs. A. W. Bean, Mrs. HI. Lovelace, Mrs. C. Kennedy, Mrs. Seth Johnson, Mrs. Z. O. Titus, Mrs. G. A. Gill, Miss Bryan, Miss Kate Watson, Mrs. Clemens and Mrs. Mott.

IIISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

themselves as best they might to spend the night. For two nights and one day the storm raged as only the blizzards of the Northwest could in those days, and the unfortunate people were im- prisoned in their illy prepared refuge during all of that time. When the weather had sufficiently cleared to see, Mr. Gibbs made his way to a house and sent aid to his wife. He was so badly frozen that he died soon afterward. Mrs. Gibbs was rescued from her perilous plight and recovered, although one of her feet had to be partially amputated.

The other victim was Thomas T. Pierce, of Lynd township, who met death in the storm of January 8, 1875. Mr. Pierce, who was an elderly man, had started from the home of a neighbor the day before the storm for his camp. He did not arrive at his destination and searching parties were immediately or- ganized. It was more than two weeks later when his dead body was found on the shore of Dead Coon lake. He was frozen stiff and was lying on his face. Mr. Pierce had traveled many long miles in the storm, a part of the way through a section of the county almost wholly uninhabited.

Although the losses occasioned by the grasshoppers in 1874 were greater than the year before, there had been also a much larger acreage sown and consid- erable grain had been saved and mar- keted. There were not many cases of destitution in the county during the winter of 1874-7512 and no aid was requested from the state for their relief. The United States government in a small way granted aid to those who re-

12"I have heard of only three or four cases of desti- tution in Lyon county this winter, though there may be more."-G. M. Durst in Prairie Schooner, February 19, 1875.

13The act was passed March 1, 1875, and provided for the extension of time of payment of personal property taxes to November I in the counties of Martin, Jackson, Nobles, Rock, Murray, Cottonwood, Watonwan, Renville, Lyon and parts of Blue Earth, Faribault and Brown. In order to secure the exten-

quested it. In March, 1875, H. Pauld- ing, assistant surgeon of the United States army, superintended the distri- bution of army clothing and rations to those who applied in the counties of Lyon and Lincoln. Again the Legis- lature granted an extension of time for the payment of taxes in some of the devastated -counties and, of course, Lyon county was among the number. 13

Notwithstanding the terrible experi- ences of the two preceding years, the farmers determined to put in a erop in 1875. The ground had been prepared, but the farmers were without seed grain and without the means to purchase it. 14 The Legislature came to their rescue with an appropriation of $75,000, the act providing for the distribution of seed grain to that amount, with certain provisions for its repayment. The money market was constricted and the state was not able to secure the cash to purchase more than $50,000 worth of grain.

The distribution was conducted under the supervision of a State Board of Commissioners and a local board was named in each county. Lyon county's share was $1500, all furnished in wheat. The Lyon county committee of distri- bution was composed of W. M. Pierce, James Mitchell and H. T. Oakland, and each precinct had a committee to de- termine who should be supplied. With the seed received from the state and that which was in the county, there was enough to seed a large part of the prepared land in Lyon county.

Days of anxiety followed the appear- ance of the grain above the ground.

sion it was necessary for the residents to give proof that they were unable to pay their taxes because of loss of crop in 1874 from grasshoppers or hail.

14"I have been on a tour of three or four days among the farmers of this county and find from actual observation that there are a great many who will be unable to seed their land unless they get aid from some source."-Samuel Carroll in Prairie Schooner, November 5, 1874.

HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

Would the grasshopper scourge again percentage of the crop was harvested. 16 come with its ruin and desolation? As But the dangers of the season were not yet over. During the entire week be- ginning August 31 there was a continual downpour of rain, which did much damage to grain in stack and shock. Blight injured some of the wheat, and instead of grading No. 1 it was second and third grades. the season advanced the people with deep concern scanned the skies for the appearance of their old enemy. As eggs had not been deposited in Lyon county the preceding season, there were no young hoppers, and the only apprehen- sion was an invasion by the "foreigners."

Conditions during the winter of 1875- 76 were so much better than they had been during the two other winters of the scourge that aid from outside was not needed, and the county was able to supply its own seed for the next crop.

The census of 1875 gave Lyon county a population of 2543. Of this number 711 were men over twenty-one years old and 863 were children between the ages of five and twenty-one years. The population by precincts was as follows:17

Eidsvold 99

Fairview. 175

Grandview 150

Lake Marshall

397

Lucas.

116

Lynd

225

Lyons

152

Madison (Amiret)

158

Monroe

181

Nordland

208

Custer 18

166

Clifton

Stanley

Sodus.

114

Vallers and Westerheim.

104

Rock Lake and Shelburne

Coon Creek and Island Lake

Total 2543

bubbled over when describing conditions in 1875. The following item from the paper of August 13 of that year is not in reality a truthful portrayal of the state of affairs:

"We hear it reported down East that we are all eaten out by grasshoppers around Marshall this year. Such stories are at the opposite extreme of the fact, for we are harvesting the biggest crop ever harvested in this county. . . We can lose half a erop here and then beat their best erops. Thirty bushels to the acre for wheat will be a very common erop around Marshall this season, and we have fields of oats that stand seven or eight feet high, so thiek that a reaper can hardly run through them. . . We have not a hopper more than we want for chicken feed around here and are happy in the brilliant prospects."

17The population of nearby counties iu 1875 was as follows: Lac qui Parle, 1428; Yellow Medieine, 2484; Redwood, 2982; Cottonwood, 2870; Murray, 1329; Pipestone, 4.

1ºOnly the ten first named were organized townships and had been named.

The county was practically free from the pests until early July, although before that time they were reported active in other parts of Southwestern Minnesota. The settlers kept track of the movements of the grasshoppers as they would have those of an invading army of soldiers. They knew that only by chance would they escape. They felt as though the sword of Damocles were suspended over them, ready to fall at any moment.

The damage done in Lyon county in 1875 was by the Minnesota valley hatch. The army was not so numerous as the year before, nor did the pests eat so ravenously as formerly. They ap- peared to be a degenerate breed and many died after depositing their eggs. The farmers waged war on the enemy by the use of fire. tar and other legalized instruments. 15

In individual cases the loss of crops was quite severe, but generally in Lyon county the damage was slight and a big

15There was really very little that the settlers could do to destroy or check the pests, although many schemes were tried. Nothing availed against the invading hordes, but in the case of the native hoppers the farmers waged a more or less successful war by the use of tar. "Hopperdozers," a sort of drag made of sheet iron and wood, would be covered with tar and dragged over the ground. The young hoppers would be caught in the tar and destroyed. Another scheme was to prevent prairie fires during the fall months, conserving the grass until the hoppers had hatched in the spring. Then on a given day the country would be burned over and the pests destroyed. Ditches would be dug and the hoppers driven into them and burned; seoop nets were used, but little headway could be made with them. In some of the counties bounties were paid for their capture. In seven such counties 58,019 bushels were captured, upon which bounties aggregating $76,788.42 were paid; still no diminution was noticed in the damage done.

16The Prairie Schooner, which even in the darkest hours gave glowing accounts of conditions, fairly

HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

Lyon and Lincoln counties, which before had been attached to Redwood county for judicial purposes, were sepa- rated from the mother county by act of the Legislature of 1875. The first district court was held at Marshall June 13. 1876.19

Another event of 1876 was the placing on the market of the railroad lands. In August the company opened an office at Marshall and the first of the granted lands passed to private ownership that year. These were sold for one-fifth down and the balance in payments at seven per cent interest.

Grasshoppers brought destruction to crops again in 1876. During May the destroying agents hatched out in those portions of the county where eggs had been deposited the year before, notably in the Rock Lake district and around the newly founded village of Tracy. Late in May south winds brought in a few full grown hoppers, but they re- mained only a short time.

During the entire month of June the young hoppers continued their depre- dations in the southern part of the county. A correspondent from Tracy on June 23 said: "The grasshoppers have destroyed most of the grain and our trade is principally butter and pro- duce." A resident of Rock Lake wrote at the same time: "The hoppers are doing all the mischief they can." The other parts of the county suffered little damage in the early part of the season. Then was repeated the experience of former years.

Vast clouds of the pests swooped down upon the county early in July and for several days feasted on the crops.

They were of a roving disposition and did not remain in any one location any great length of time. The Marshall Messenger, which had succeeded the Prairie Schooner, told of the invasion in its issue of July 7. 1876:

The grasshoppers have been on a bender for the last few days. While looking toward the sun in the middle of the day the sight presents the appearance of a million swarms of bees. They are lighting and flying all the time. There is not a farmer in this vicinity who can predict what his prospects are for a harvest this fall. They are coming down in many places, but are very unsettled in their conclusions about location.

Again, on Thursday, July 20, came the agents of destruction in countless numbers and attacked the fields in all parts of the county. They remained all day Friday, feasting, and on the follow- ing day all departed for the south. Oats, barley, corn, vegetables, and all crops except wheat were almost wholly destroyed; wheat, the big crop, by some strange turn of fate. was only a partial loss. The grain that was left was quickly cut and put out of the way of danger.

The last invasion of the year came on Sunday morning, August 6, out of the northwest. The grasshoppers, with ex- cellent appetites, covered about two townships, remained a few days, and flew away with the wind, most of them to the northwest. Wheat was then in the shock and proved dry eating, so the invaders attacked the corn fields and made a clean sweep of the crop in the territory invaded. Only a few eggs were deposited during the season, but the ground was peppered with them in a belt extending from Martin county north to Kandiyohi county.

Petit Jurors-Fred Gley, Jacob Rouse, S. E. Morgan, J. Lawrence, W. H. Cook, A. Ransom, D. Monroe, P. Kiltz, R. M. Addison, C. A. Cook, A. Williams, A. Lee, S. Van Alstine, William Rich, A. Bates, J. Owens, N. Webster, S. Johnson, J. Sanders, J. M. English, H. H. Welch, R. H. Price, A. R. Cummins, T. S. Downie.

1ºThe jurors who served at the first term of court in Lyon county were as follows:

Grand Jurors-J. B. Greenslitt, G. E. Cummins, B. F. Link, L. S. Kiel, H. G. Howard, O. Marron, W. L. Watson. Gustave Jacobson, N. Warn, Zenas Rank, G. W. Linderman, E. B. Downie, H. D. Frink, C. H. Richardson, H. Mussler, I. P. Farrington, Olof Pehrson, M. M. Marshall, J. W. Blake, W. M. Todd, John N. Johnson, O. A. Drake.

HISTORY OF LYON COUNTY.

There was no disguising the fact that Lyon county had met another damaging setback. Many who had fought the scourge so long gave up and quit trying to raise erops; some left the county. The prospects were indeed discouraging. The grasshoppers had again deposited their eggs in neighboring counties, and there seemed little prospect that the country would ever be free from them. Many did not give up, however, but determined to fight to a successful end or meet utter failure in the attempt. The Messenger on March 2, 1877, said: "Our farmers are making ready, with the clear grit that has become chronic during the grasshopper afflictions, to sow all they can get seed for."

The Legislature of 1877 took measures to care for the devastated counties. One hundred thousand dollars were appropriated to be used in bounties to pay for the destruction of grasshoppers and their eggs, $75,000 to furnish seed grain,20 and another sum for a relief fund. Some Lyon county farmers were able to purchase seed, and grain so shipped in came without transportation charges by the railroad company. Lyon

20The law provided for the repayment of this money by those receiving the grain; in case it was not paid back the county was bound to make payment to the state. Applicants were obliged to furnish affidavits

county's share of the appropriation for seed was $3840.90, the applicants being given their choice of wheat, corn or peas. There were 177 applications, so that each received an average of $21.70 worth of grain.

A "grasshopper congress" was held at Marshall March 13, 1877, and was largely attended. Means of contending with the common enemy were discussed and plans were laid for burning the prairies on a given day. In accordance with a proclamation of Governor John S. Pillsbury, Thursday, April 26, 1877, was set aside as a day for fasting and prayer, and on that day religious services were held throughout the state and deliverance from the scourge was asked.

Whether or not these means assisted in the deliverance is not certain, but certain it is that the grasshopper scourge, so far as Lyon county was con- cerned, ended in 1876. Thereafter for two or three years the pests in small numbers visited the county but did practically no harm. Grasshoppers had struck terror to the hearts of Lyon county people for the last time.

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An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 12

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 726

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726