The Grasshopper Plague of 1874

Cartoon of grasshoppers strangling farmer.

Source unknown, Found in Roots magazine, 2:2 (Winter 1973-4), p. 24

"...the fact is crops are almost entirely destroyed, and we have doubt if even grain enough will be cut and threshed in the county to make straw enough to fill a bed tick. The 'hoppers are leaving but it is now too late to plant crops for this year. It is a serious question with most of the settlers as to how they will obtain a livelihood during the next fifteen months."

The Prairie Schooner (Marshall, Minn.), July 9, 1874.