Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1887 — THE BURNT DISTRICT. [ARTICLE]

THE BURNT DISTRICT.

Serious Effects of Drought iu the Northwest. Seventy-five Thousand Square Mlle* In a Lamentable Condition—E>its That Muat Be Endured. A Chicago paper, summing up the many reports received by it of drought, prairie fires, ruined crops, etc, says Monday morning: “Thereis an area of perhaps 75,000 square miles in the northwest where the dust lies heavily upon the earth. The district is bounded by Madison on the north, Bloomington on the south,,Lake Michigan on the east, and the Mississippi river on the. west. It is within the limits of these boundaries that vegetation has lost its i normal color and the earth its moisture. I Day after day the sun sends its burning rays upon the parched farms and fields. Leaves are falling from the trees, the grass in the meadows has grown yellow and white, and the streams in which the cattle used to slake their thirst are as dry as powder horns. It has been nearly ten weeks since a soaking rain fell in this district. The big bull thistle —the pest of nearly every farm —has at last succumbed to the fate o' all other vegetation. The big weed first wilted, then turned black and finally fell upon the earth. With not enough moisture in the ground to fetal a thistle the condition of corn and ffie tender grass in the meadow may be imagined. In southern Wisconsin there are thousands of acres where Corn will not yield a peck to the acre. The crop has been scorched and almost totailv destroyed. The leaves of the cereal are yellow and brittle and droop almost to the ground. The loss of the corn crop, serious as it is will not impoverish the farmers. They have lived in the country since the land was first tilled, and have, for the most part laid by enough money to carry them through a winter. But there are other dangers to be confronted. Wells have run dry, and in some towns water famine is imminent. The drinking water at hand is polluted and filled with poisonjs germ. Typhoid fevei is becoming more prevalent, and dysentery and other stomach disturbances are so common in some places as to be almost epidemic. “Unless rain falls before many days, the suffering will be greatly augmented. The intense heat has ' been a terrific strain upon man, but its effect upon cattle has been simply appalling. Without pasturage to brouse upon or pools in which to stand during the hot hours of the day the poor beasts have become so emaciated as to be Wholly unmarketable. The farmers in the dairy districts have, in some instances, been compelled to feed and water their cows from their own larders. In other places forest trees have been felled and dragged to the pastures and the cattle turned 1 oose to brouse upon the leaves. Hundreds of cows are beingddlled and shipped to market for a mere pittance. At Winslow, 111., one farmer bought ten head of cattle last January at S3O per head. When he offered to sell the entire herd last week for SIOO he could not find a purchaser. Farmers in this district have already turned the cattle loose to feed upon the crops. “Added to all the miseries attending the great drought is the constant fear of fires. The tall grass of the prairie is dead, the fields are ready to burst into flame and leaves lie in heaps in the forests. A spark starts a fire and the blistering, Sahara-like wind fans the flame into a conflagration. Already the land encompassed by the bounderies has been blackened by wildfires. In some towns the people are often called out three or four times a day to fight the flames. Destructive fires have been raging for many days at Kenosho and Walworth counties in Wisconsin. Thousands of acres have been swept by the fires, and the loss to farmers in hay, grain, fencing and buildings is very great. Above Madison the bogs are burning fiercely and pungent smoke hangs over the country for miles around. Should the drought remain unbroken, much longer, incalculable ruin will be wrought by these fires, which spring up in unexpected places and in the most mysterious manner.

“In some parts of the district the drought is so terrible that butternuts and walnuts have fallen from the trees. Potatoes, when taken from their bed of ashes, look like crab apples. They are wrinkled and spongy and unfit fox food. There is also a great scarcity of milk, owing to the inability of cows to find nutritious food.” A Hole in the Ground. Just prceding the earthquake, Monday night, a farm of three hundred acres in Trigg county, Ky., planted in corn and tobacco, sank from four to six feet, and the basin at once filled with water. The.e were two colored families living on the place who did riot feel the settling of the earth, but were awakened by water pouring in on the floors of their cabins. They reached high ground safely. . _ 7 A Ghost Laid Cp, Charles Hopkins played the ghost at Baltimore Monday night, ,and attempted to frighten a few laborers in a brick yard. William L. Goodwin refused to be scared and shot his ghostship through the mouth. The ghost is now in the hospital.