Were They Crickets or Locusts, and When Did They Come?

IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. XIII. DECEMBER, 1909. No. 2.

Were They Crickets or Locusts, and When did They Come? BY DR. JAMES E. TALMAGE.

No summary of Utah history, be it ever so brief, is complete without a mention of the insect invasion by which the field crops were threatened with destruction soon after the arrival of the pioneer band of 1847. The incident is known in history as the "cricket plague," and is generally ascribed to the spring or early summer of 1848; though, as will be shown, the years immediately following were also plague years. The chronicles of the times directly succeeding the arrival of the pioneers in the valley of the Great Salt Lake inform us that the first attempts to raise crops in the desert soil were but partly successful, owing to dearth of water and unseasonable frosts.

Then, we are told, when the colonists were rejoicing in the prom- ise of the first abundant yield, the fields were invaded by hosts of

crickets that swarmed down from the hill-sides in devastating hordes. Against these devouring foes all efforts of the settlers seemed inadequate if not ineffective; and but for the onslaught of the gulls not a stalk of grain would have been left to mature. For reasons that will become obvious as we proceed, the accounts of the occurrence, as recorded by historians of repute, are presented here in full. Bancroft, in writing of the year 1848, gives space to the fol- lowing:

98 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

The spring saw everybody busy, and soon there were many flourish- ing gardens, containing a good variety of vegetables. In the early part of March plowing commenced. The spring was mild and rain plentiful, and all expected an abundant harvest. But in the latter part of May, when the fields had put on their brightest green, there appeared a visita- tion in the form of vast swarms of crickets, black and baleful as the locust of the Dead Sea. In their track they left behind them not a blade or leaf, the appearance of the country which they traversed in countless and desolating myriads, being that of a land scorched by fire. They came in solid phalanx, from the direction of Arsenal Hill, darkening the earth in their passage. Men, women and children turned out en masse to combat this pest, driving them into ditches or on to piles of reeds, which they would set on fire, striving in every way, until strength was exhausted, to beat back the devouring host. But in vain they toiled, in vain they prayed; work of destruction ceased not, and the havoc the threatened to be as complete as was that which overtook the land of Egypt in the last days of Israel's bondage. "Think of their condition," says Mr. Cannon, "the food they brought with them almost exhausted, their grain and other seeds all planted, they themselves twelve hundred miles from a settlement or place where they could get food on the east, and eight hundred miles from California, and the crickets eating up every green thing, and every day destroying their sole means of subsistence for the months and winter ahead." I said they prayed in vain. Not so. For when everything was most disheartening and all effort spent, behold, from over the lake appeared myriads of snow-white gulls, their origin and their purpose alike unknown to the new comers. Was this another scourge God was sending them for their sins? Wait and see. Settlingupon all the fieldsand every part of them, they pounced upon the crickets, seizing and swallowing them. They gorged themselves. Even after their stomachs were filled they still devoured them. On Sunday the people, full of thankfulness, left the fields to the birds, and on the morrow found on the edges of the ditches great piles of dead crickets that had been swallowed and thrown up by the greedy gulls. Verily the Lord had not forgotten to be gracious! To escap3 th.3 birds tha crickets would rush into the lake or river, and thus millions were destroyed. Toward evening the gulls took flight and disappeared beyond the lake, but each day returned at sunrise, until the scourge was past . Later, grasshoppers seem to have taken the place of crickets. Ihey were of a kind popularly called iron-clad and did great mischief*

• Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Utah, pp. 279-281. Italics

introduced by the present writer.

WERE THEY CRICKETS OR LOCUSTS? 99

The account given by our own historian, Whitney, agrees in all essentials with Bancroft's statement, as will appear by compar- ing the foregoing with the following:

The opening of the spring of 1848 in Great Salt Lake City saw nearly seventeen hundred souls dwelling in upwards of four hundred log and adobe huts inside the "Old Fort." Over five thousand acres of land had been brought under cultivation, nearly nine hundred of which had been sown with winter wheat, the tender blades of which were now beginning to sprout. * * * *

But now came a visitation as terrible as unexpected. It was the cricket plague. In May and June of that year myriads of these destruc- tive pests, an army of famine and despair, rolled in black legions down the mountain sides, and attacked the fields of growing grain. The tender crops fell an easy prey to their fierce voracity. They literally swept everything before them. Starvation with all its terrors seemed staring In the northern sections the situation was the poor settlers in the face. much the same, though at Brownville on the Weber, the ravages of the crickets were not so great. With the energy of desperation, the community, men, women and children, thoroughly alarmed, marshaled themselves to fight, and if pos- sible repel the rapacious foe. While some went through the fields, kill- ing the crickets, and at the same time, alas! crushing much of the tender grain, others dug ditches around the farms, turned water into the trenches, and drove and drowned therein myriads of the black devour- ers. Others beat them back with clubs and brooms or burned them in fires set in the fields. Still they could not prevail. Too much headway had been gained by the crickets before the gravity of the situation had been discovered, and in spite of all the settlers could do, their hopes of a harvest were fast vanishing, and with those hopes the very hope of life. They were saved, they believed, by a miracle, — just such a miracle as, according to classic tradition, saved ancient Rome, when the cackling of geese roused the slumbering city in time to beat back the invading Gauls. In the midst of the work of destruction, when it seemed as if

nothing could stay the devastation, great flocks of gulls appeared, filling the air with their white wings and plaintive cries, and settled down upon the half ruined fields. At first it seemed as if they came but to destroy what the crickets had left. But their real purpose was soon apparent. They came to prey upon the destroyers. All day long they gorged themselves, and when full disgorged and feasted again, the white gulls upon the black crickets, like hosts of heaven and hell contending, until the pests were vanquished, and the people were saved. The heaven-sent

100 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

birds then returned to the lake islands whence they came, leaving the grateful people to shed tears of joy at the wonderful and timely deliver- ance wrought out for them.*

It will be observed that both the eminent authorities whose graphic accounts of the insect plague have been quoted, specify as the agents of destruction, crickets, not grasshoppers, nor lo- custs. To make this distinction clear is in part the purpose of this writing. Much of the popular literature of the day bearing on this subject ascribes the destructive visitation referred to above to locusts and grasshoppers. It is true that in subsequent years, many parts of Utah were subjected to the devastating visits of Rocky Mountain Locusts; and notably was this the case in 1854, '55, '67, '68 and '69; but no one who remembers the cricket plague

of pioneer days confuses the two insects. The Rocky Mountain Locust, also, though incorrectly, called the Western Grasshopper, is a winged insect belonging to the order of orthoptera, and known by the technical name Caloptenus spretus. This insect is fully as voracious and as much to be dreaded as is the cricket, but it belongs to an entirely different genus, and should not be confused with the cricket as the destroyer of the pioneer crops in Utah. The locust named is spoken of in the west as the ironclad grasshopper. The insect is shown in the accom- panying plates, which are made from photographs of specimens captured near Salt Lake City during the last summer. Plate 1 shows the locust as seen from above (dorsal view) in a resting posi- tion; and Plate 2 shows the creature with wings expanded. Both male and female specimens are shown, and each picture is of life- size.

Compare this insect with the cricket shown on Plate 3, which is made from photographs of specimens taken near Eureka, Utah, in July last. This, the Rocky Mountain Cricket, is known among entomologists as Anabrus simplex, and is designated by several pop- ular names, among which "Western Cricket" and "Mormon 1

Cricket are common. ' This is undoubtedly the insect of the plague incident to pioneer days. As shown in the photographs, it is practically wingless, and is, therefore, incapable of true flight.

Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. I, pp. 377-378.

T)

W

It progresses by crawling and jumping, and is able to cover but a few feet at a single leap. Its voracious nature as an insatiate feeder is fully attested, and is in accord with the accounts of its devas-

tating descent on the fields of Utah at the time of the plague. It is not a member of the locust family, nor, as a matter of strict fact, is it a true cricket; but as a cricket it is known, and by that name is generally designated. To be technically exact as to classifica- tion, we should describe it as a wingless katydid.

&

a

P^

-2

M

Plate 3; Rocky Mountain Cricket, (Anabrus simplex); M, male; F, Female; natural size; dorsal view.

Our present purpose, however, is not that of detailed descrip- tion of either crickets or locusts; our inquiry has to do with the identity of the insect concerned in the early plague visitation. It

may appear from the agreement of the authorities quoted on this point that there is no question to be settled. However, there is confusion in the literature of the subject, as the following will demonstrate. A communication recently addressed to the writer

104 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

by a distinguished member* of the State Audubon Society of Ohio, specified a number of conflicting statements culled from different publications, as to the insect of the early Utah plague, and asked for definite information in the matter. In Whitney's History of Utah (vol. I, p. 377) appears the fol- lowing description of the insect causing the destruction, as given by an eye-witness of the invasion:

Says Anson Call: "The Rocky Mountain cricket, as now remem- bered,when full grown, is about one and a half inches in length, heavy and clumsy in its movements, with no better power of locomotion than hopping a foot or two at the time. It has an eagle-eyed, staring appearance, and suggests the idea that it may be the habitation of a vindictive little demon."

Certainly this is not a description of the locust; but it fits very well the Rocky Mountain Cricket. In the italicized part of the quo- tation from Bancroft it is seen that the author named distinguishes between the cricket invasion and the later visitations of grass- hoppers, — more properly, locusts.

Now let us inquire as to the date of the cricket plague in Utah. The year 1848 is the time specified in practically all pub- lished histories of early pioneer experiences in Utah, and it will be noted that both Bancroft and Whitney, hereinbefore cited, accept that date as correct. The same is true of Tullidget and others. This uniformity may be explained by the fact that later authors have followed the earlier chronicles. As evidence of the fact that a cricket invasion occurred in 1849 the following extract from the Deseret Evening News of July 20, 1907, is of value. Aside from

• The gentleman referred to is Mr. William Hubbell Fisher, of Cin. cinnati, He was preparing an address on the usefulness of birds, and 0.

had secured a number of pictures illustrative of the habits of the gulls in Utah. As these pages go to press, the writer is grieved by the announcement of Mr. Fisher's death. He has gone hence leaving his pleasant and self- assumed task unfinished.

t Edward W. Tullidge, History of Salt Lake City, (1886) p. 52. + See Jenson's Historical Record, vol. V, No. 1 p. 12; also Juvenile Instructor, vol. IX, No. 2, p. 22.

WERE THEY CRICKETS OR LOCUSTS? 105

it? definite specification of 1849 as a year marked by cricket depre- dations, the excerpt is interesting as further proof that the destroy- ing insects were crickets, and not grasshoppers nor locusts:

President Joseph F. Smith is among those who vividly remembers the coming of the gulls and their work in ridding the fields of crickets. "I drove an ox team into Salt Lake valley," he says, in an interview, "on September 23, 1848, and we made our winter camp on Mill creek, half a mile west of Neff's mill. After remaining there during the winter, we moved in the spring of 1849 farther down into the valley, and com- menced plowing. We planted thirty acres of grain, the field consisting of barley, oats and wheat, and it began to come up very nicely. Then the crickets came. They were not the grasshoppers with which you are familiar, but big, black crickets, much more ugly and repulsive. They came sweeping from the bench lands down upon our crops in great hordes, and we almost despaired of being able to raise anything. We were living at that time in our wagons, the boxes having been lifted down from the gears in order to make our homes. A day or two after the cricket army came, the air became filled with an innumerable number of gulls. They came from the lake to the west, and after they had alighted on the grain, what before had been a swarming expanse of black, became now a field of snowy white, so crowded were the birds together."

President Smith has graciously complied with a request for a further statement of his personal experiences in connection with the cricket plague; and his courteous response is given below in full. It will be seen that the President speaks specifically of sep- arate visitations of the insect pests in 1849 and 1850.

Salt Lake City, Utah, October 28th, 1909. Dr. J. E. Talma ge, City: — Dear Brother: In reply to yours of 22nd inst., I wish to say: I came into the Salt Lake Valley on Sept. 23rd, 1848, having driven my ox team from the Missouri River to the fort on what is now Pioneer Square. We remained in the fort for several weeks and then removed to Mill Creek, near where John Neff's mill was subsequently built. I remember

distinctly eating parched corn and roasting ears from the corn grown during that season. The planting of 1848 must have been extremely limited. In the early spring of 1849 we removed from Mill Creek and pitched our tents just below what is now known as the old County Road, not far above Wandamere Park, and began to plow and plant, and sow our grain. Later, when the grain sprang up, the fields were besieged

106 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

by vast hordes of black crickets, which seemed to devour everything be- fore them. Our grain fields were hidden from view, when, suddenly, the gulls, in numberless flocks, descended upon the fields and devoured the crickets. These birds would gorge themselves with crickets to the ut- most, and would then line up on the water ditches and disgorge; only to begin their work of devouring the crickets again. This process contin- ued until the fields were entirely cleared of the terrible pests; we then succeeded in raising a fair crop. We were literally preserved from starvation by the welcome visits and persistent efforts in the destruction of the devouring hordes by these beautiful winged saviors, which we esteemed as the providence of God. The following year we were again threatened with the destruction of our crops by the terrible crickets, but were again delivered in the same manner as the year before, and from year to year for many sea- sons, we were visited by flocks of gulls, in search of crickets, until the latter seemed to have been almost, if not entirely, extinguished. My recollections of these events are extremely vivid, as I learned to look upon our deliverance wrought by the gulls as a most merciful prov- idence in our behalf. There are those who claim to remember that the valley was also visited in 1848 by the cricket scourge, but for some rea- son I do not remember of having heard of it until within recent years.

With very kind regards, I am, Yours truly, Joseph F. Smith.

Among the colonists still living who arrived in the valley dur- ing the later months of 1848, is President Francis M. Lyman, who came as a boy not quite nine years old. The following letter from President Lyman is self-explanatory: Salt Lake City, Utah, October, 21st, 1909. Dr. J. E. Talmage, City: Dear Brother: — In reply to your inquiry as to the date of the cricket plague in Utah, I have pleasure in making the following state- ment: The cricket plague, which figures so conspicuously in Utah history — the plague that threatened the entire destruction of crop3, which calam- ity was averted by the interference of the gulls, was a feature of May and June, 1849, though an earlier visitation may have occurred in 1848. I arrived in Salt Lake valley in the fall of 18 48. I was then in the ninth year of my age. During the spring and early summer of the year following my arrival, crickets swarmed down upon the

WERE THEY CRICKETS OR LOCUSTS? 107

fields. With the rest of the population — men, women and children, — took part in the work of fighting the pests; and I well remember the general rejoicing incident to the onslaught of the gulls. The birds came from the west and north, in flocks so thick that when they alighted they seemed literally to cover the ground. They feasted on the black crickets from morning till evening. When filled to repletion, the birds would drink at the ditches, and then would disgorge and feed again. For sev- eral days the birds came with the rising sun; and about sunset each even- ing would go to their rest on the lake shore and islands. The people were saved from impending starvation by this miraculous interference; and the event, as witnessed by myself, occurred in the spring and early summer of 1849. Trusting that this will be a satisfactory reply, I am, Truly your brother, Francis M. Lyman.

Patriarch John Smith is numbered among the arrivals of 1848. To a specific inquiry presented by the writer, the venerable pa- triarch courteously replied as follows:

Salt Lake City, Utah, October 28th, 1909. Dr. J. E. Talmage, City: In regard to the date of the cricket plague in Utah I can say this: I arrived in this valley in the fall of 1848, and heard from the settlers who were already here that the crickets had destroyed part of the crops in the spring of that year, and that the gulls had come and destroyed the crickets. From my own knowledge I can say that the crickets came in great numbers in the spring of 1849, and that the gulls came and destroyed the crickets on the fields. In the spring of 1850 the crickets were even more numerous, and again the gulls came to the rescue. The years of the cricket plague in this valley were 1848, 1849, and 1850. Truly your brother, John Smith.

Another of the early colonists, who had personal experience in fighting crickets in this valley, is Bishop Joseph S. Tanner, at present a resident of Payson, Utah. In a letter dated October 23, 1909, Bishop Tanner states, in answer to the present writer's in- quiry, that he arrived in Salt Lake Valley, in September, 1848, and was at that time fifteen years old. He says he distinctly re- members that crickets threatened the crops in both 1849 and

108 IMPRO VEMENT ERA .

1850, and that in each of these years gulls devoured the insect in- vaders and thus saved a large part of the crops. Bishop Tanner states that as he was informed the suffering caused by the crickets was greater in 1848 than in either of the two years following, but this was due to the greater scarcity of food material. He believes that the crickets were more numerous in 1849 and 1850, than in 1848; but the greater supplies of foodstuffs during the later years made these less memorable as years of cricket The devastation. Bishop closes his "The gulls communication with these words: came back each year in the providence of God, or we would not have saved anything." Another witness qualified to give evidence based on personal knowledge is our aged brother,James Lawson, now living at 129 North Second West Street, Salt Lake City. He says he arrived in September, 1847, at which time he was twenty-seven years of age. He remembers the trouble caused by crickets in 1848, and regards this year as the worst in point of privation due to the insect plague. He states, however, that crickets invaded the fields in 1849 and 1850, and that in each of the three years the gulls saved the crops from what threatened to be total destruction. It would seem that the evidence presente d is sufficient to prove

that the cricket plague of pioneer days was not confined to a single season, but was a feature of the spring months of 1848, 1849, and 1850. In each of these years the gulls were the means by which the crops were spared in part.

SUMMARY. 1. The insect by which the early pioneer crops were threat- ened was the Rocky Mountain Cricket, not the locust. 2. Cricket visitations occurred in 1848, 1849, and 1850, during May and June of each year. 3. The plague was lessened and in part averted each year through the instrumentality of the gulls. Salt Lake City, Utah.