During On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura describes a glittering cloud that arrives suddenly, only a week before the family’s wheat was to be harvested, which devoured everything in sight. This event was devastating for the Ingalls and eventually led to Charles leaving to find work where the grasshoppers hadn’t touched, and eventually to leave Walnut Grove, Minnesota all together.
The grasshopper plague was a real event and it was just as much of a hardship as Laura describes in both Pioneer Girl and On the Banks of Plum Creek.
The grasshopper plague was actually a series of outbreaks of grasshoppers that occurred in the American Midwest during the late 19th century, when Laura and her family were living in the frontier of Minnesota. These outbreaks were caused by the Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus), a species of grasshopper that was once found in large numbers in the Great Plains region of the United States and into Canada. The grasshoppers would swarm in huge numbers and devour everything in their path, including crops, gardens, and even tree bark.
The plagues caused widespread famine, as crops were destroyed by the ever-hungry grasshoppers and food prices skyrocketed. This event was particularly devastating for the pioneers and settlers as it was a crucial period of their survival and development. The plagues lasted for several years, causing significant economic and social disruption, and making it even harder for the pioneers to make a living.
One of the swarms of grasshoppers in 1875 was reported to be almost 200,000 square miles in size with 12.5 trillion grasshoppers in numbers.
Despite their massive numbers during the late 1800s, less than 30 years later, the Rocky Mountain locust was extinct. The last confirmed sighting was in 1902, but it wasn’t until 2014 that it was declared officially extinct.
