This article is part of a monthly series on the history of Webster City and Hamilton County written by local historian

Nancy Kayser.

They came on a westerly wind, their masses darkening the skies according to accounts by early Hamilton County pioneers on the first grasshopper invasions of the 1860’s.

The grasshopper hoard, later identified as the Rocky Mountain Locust, first appeared in late September of 1867. They arrived too late to do much damage to matured crops, but early enough to deposit their eggs for the next year’s cycle of destruction.

As the young hoppers hatched in the Spring of 1868, they ate their way through about half of the crops in the county. Early pioneers were settled enough to withstand the loss of the crops. Recently arrived residents gave up and moved away.

When the 1868 hatch had matured, they returned in mass to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains to begin the cycle again.

Scientists were just beginning to investigate the life cycle of the migratory grasshopper. There was little knowledge on how to combat the pest. Farmers, just opening the Midwest and Western Plains, accepted the loss as part of the cropping cycle.

In the early and mid-1870’s the grasshopper plague scoured clean the newly developing counties in Northwestern Iowa. Some newcomers sold out at a loss to pay debts and moved on. Those who could not afford to leave suffered from food and clothing shortages. Their neighbors, including Hamilton County, contributed aid to help them survive. The Grange, a coalition of farmers, also provided aid along with seed for the next year’s crop.

The Iowa legislature also appropriated funds in 1874 to purchase seed for the next season. The effort enabled many farmers to remain in their area and maintain agricultural settlement of the affected counties. Some areas established bounties for a bushel of dead grasshoppers. The theory was one bushel of hoppers collected saved one hundred acres of corn.

The grasshopper crisis curtailed development and expansion of the western half of Iowa for a time. Immigration to settle the areas was slow. Land prices were depressed and businesses did not expand.

Hamilton County residents also helped their neighbors in the Dakota Territories in March 1875. Those early Dakota residents had suffered through several years of hopper invasions. They had no food for themselves or their livestock, no fuel to heat their homes and no seed to plant a new crop.

Committees were raised in each of the Hamilton County townships to gather food, clothing and seed. Towns and organizations held grasshopper parties to raise funds. The county gathered 430 bushels of seed wheat, 100 bushels of seed corn and 21 bushels of seed oats in the fund drive. More than two carloads of relief supplies were shipped at no charge by the Illinois Central railroad to Vermillion, South Dakota for distribution to the settlers. It was reported to be the largest shipment the sufferers had received so far.

By the mid-1870’s, there was enough evidence to support general theories on the grasshopper’s life cycle. It was learned the hopper took flight in the driest years to emigrate. Moved eastward by prevailing the winds, they darkened the sky seeking food. Farmers were encouraged to diversify their operations and rotate crops. And they were urged to hold back enough of their production in the good years to survive any calamity.

It was during this period that farmers began to realize they could wage a war on the pests to preserve their livelihood.

With guidance from scientific theories and more general sharing of knowledge, the effort to protect crops began. Inventors busied themselves obtaining patents on contraptions designed to eliminate the insect from the fields.

That knowledge was put to use when the grasshoppers returned to Hamilton County in 1876 and 1877.

J. D. Hunter, editor of the Hamilton Freeman, reported in the first week of September 1876 the county was the “scene of a genuine grasshopper invasion. They have filled the air until they looked like fleecy clouds around the sun.”

News reports show there was damage to gardens, groves and crops. In addition, there was damage to clothing, buildings, leather harness and even wooden handles on tools. The biggest fear was the millions of eggs laid would bring more widespread destruction in 1877.

This time the farmers fought back. They followed suggestions in plowing up the egg masses to expose them to weather and allow natural predators to feast on them. They attempted to burn off grasslands and ditch areas to prevent the hatching, but this didn’t work as the heat did not penetrate deep enough to kill the eggs.

An unusual warm spell in February 1877 allowed an early hatch of some the pests. Since there was no green food for them, most of them perished as winter weather returned. The Hamilton Freeman of May 2, 1877 expressed hope the threat had passed, especially since the area received a two-day snowstorm and freezing weather the last week of April.

Unfortunately, in late May 1877 the grasshoppers hatched by the millions and began eating the newly planted crops and hay ground. The insects mowed the ground bare. Not every field was infested, leaving the settlers to wonder why.

Landowners used long ropes strung between horses to drag the fields and keep the pests disturbed. This didn’t work well either as the hoppers would settle back down and continue feasting.

What did help in expelling the insect was the “hopper dozer”. The contraption was made of a 12-foot plank of wood fitted with tin compartments. There was a bank-board mounted on the back to deflect the hoppers into the compartments which had been filled with water with kerosene floating on top. By dragging the apparatus across the field, bushels of grasshoppers could be exterminated.

While the “hopper dozer” did not eliminate the threat, it did help minimize damage.

Just before the 4th of July, the grasshoppers, having munched their way to maturity, began to lift in mass to fly north and west to return to the plains in the far west. Hamilton County cropland suffered major damage in the 1877 infestation, but enough crop was harvested to avert a crisis.

Scientists believe the migratory grasshopper known at the Rocky Mountain locust was likely extinct by the early 1900’s wiped out by settlement of the west which changed their breeding grounds and habitat.

Hamilton County has been visited many times since 1868 and 1877 by other species of grasshoppers, especially in the drought years. With the help of scientific advances and research and education by the land grant colleges, diligent farm owners are no longer at the mercy of “Mr. Grasshopper”.