History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

THE CRICKET PLAGUE. 281
greedy gulls.
be gracious!
Verily, the Lord had not forgotten to
To escape the birds, the 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. 19
Later grasshoppers
seem to have taken the place of crickets. They were
of a kind popularly called iron-clad, and did much
mischief. 20
Though the crops of this year of 1848 were thus
saved from total destruction, fears were entertained
that there would not be food enough for those already
in the valley, and the expected arrival of large
additional numbers was looked upon as a calamity. 21
The stock of provisions was therefore husbanded
with care, many living principally on roots and
19 Kane says that the gulls soon grew to be as tame as poultry, and that the
children called them their pigeons. They had clear, dark eyes, small feet,
and large wings that arched in flight. The Mormons, 67. ' No one is allowed
to kill a gull in Utah, and they are consequently very tame.' Jenning's Ma-
terial Progress, MS., 7. 'I am sure that the wheat was in head, and that it
averaged two or three crickets on every head, bending them down. One
couldn't step without crushing under foot as many as the foot could cover.'
Mrs Clara Young's Experiences of a Pioneer, MS., 9. 'Channels were dug
and filled with water to prevent their travel, but they would throw themselves
across; it was impossible to fight them back.' Nebeker's Early Justice,
MS., 2. 'In the spring, when thousands of young trees had been started and
were several inches in height, came the crickets. The wheat, too, was well
in head.' Home's Migrations, MS., p. 28.
20 Says Mr Jennings: 'They would devastate hundreds of acres, and as
they would rise and fly high in the air, the air would be darkened with them.
They seemed to be massed together, and to take but one direction, flying eight
or ten miles perhaps, then settling upon another field... The only exterminator
seems to be the sea-gulls. They gorge themselves on this rich diet;
they suddenly appear in the wake of the grasshoppers, and will swallow them,
throw them up, and swallow them again. . .Sometimes the grasshoppers come
like a cloud, and apparently alighting not knowing where; on one occasion a
quarter of their number perhaps dropped into the lake, and were blown on
shore by the wind, in rows of sometimes two feet deep for a distance of two
miles.' Material Progress, MS., G-7.
21 ' Word was sent back that probably no crops could be raised that year,
and advising that no further emigrations should come in that season.' Mrs
Clara Young's Experiences ofa Pioneer, MS. , 9. John Young wished to send an
express to his brother, the president, advising him not to bring any more peo-
ple to the valley, as there was danger of starvation. Utah Early Records, MS.
30-2. Parley P. Pratt writes: 'I had a good harvest of wheat and rye without
irrigation, but those who irrigated had double the quantity. Wheat
harvest commenced early in July . . . Oats do extremely well, yielding sixty
bushels for one.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1S4S, 54.
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