The Locust Plagues of the Great Plains

04/11/24 • 11 min

In the 1870s locust swarms of biblical proportions descended onto the Great Plains, devouring everything in their path. Billions of locust blocked out the sun and devastated America’s agriculture, creating a national emergency unlike any other.
Sources include:

The book Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier by Jeffrey Lockwood

The Biogeosciences article “A probe into the different fates of locust

swarms in the plains of North America and East Asia” by G. Yu, D. Johnson, X Ki and Y. Li

The Kansas Historical Society article “Grasshopper Plague of 1874”

The BBC web article “Why Do Locusts Swarm?”

The book Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier by Jeffrey Lockwood

The Biogeosciences article “A probe into the different fates of locust

swarms in the plains of North America and East Asia” by G. Yu, D. Johnson, X Ki and Y. Li

The Kansas Historical Society article “Grasshopper Plague of 1874”

The BBC web article “Why Do Locusts Swarm?”

Previous Episode

The Irish Hearts of Steel Rebellion

The poor Irish farmers of Northern Ireland rose in armed rebellion in 1770 after their British landlords evicted thousands of them from their homes.
Sources:
A History of Ireland by Jonathan Barden
Lord Donegall and the Hearts of Steel by W.A. Maguire from Cambridge's Irish Historical Studies

The Battle of Gilford by D E McElroy from the Craigavon Historical Society

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