The Great Locust Apocalypse of 1874

About this episode

The episode explores the catastrophic Rocky Mountain locust plague of 1874–75 and its impact on agriculture and the environment.

In this Patreon-only episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the truly biblical 1874–75 Rocky Mountain locust plague that turned the Prairies and parts of the US Midwest into a “living eclipse of the sun.” They tell the story of swarms estimated in the hundreds of billions to trillions of insects eating everything from crops and trees to wool, leather harnesses, and even the paint off wagons. We hear how desperate farmers tried burning locusts in straw, how carcasses polluted water and ruined livestock and eggs, and how aggressive plowing and an early frost helped drive the Rocky Mountain locust to extinction by the early 1900s. For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail or message us go to canadaisboring.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Jesse Harley, Rhys Waters

Topics covered

• locust plague
• agriculture
• environment
• history
• desperation
• extinction

Keywords

• locusts
• plague
• agriculture
• extinction
• history
• farming
• environment

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Prairies, US Midwest, Rocky Mountain

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