WASHINGTON, July 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
INSECT ASIDES
Profile America — Wednesday, July 20th. Beginning on this date in 1874, the largest swarm of Rocky Mountain Locusts ever recorded blackened the skies from the Dakotas to Texas, and began to feast on America's farms. Like something out of the Old Testament, the moving swarm was estimated to cover almost 200,000 square miles. The 12.5 trillion locusts ate not only crops, but also leather, paint, clothing, and the wool off of living sheep. They even halted locomotive traffic. The plague ended on July 30th, and subsequent swarms were much smaller. In fact, the last living Rocky Mountain locust was noted in 1902. Such a phenomenon today would still be overwhelming, but some 100,000 Americans work in over 13,000 extermination and pest control establishments to combat smaller infestations. Profile America is in its 20th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources
Launch and duration of infestation/accessed 5/11/2016: http://nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/excerpts-4-08.htm
Extent of devastation and extinction/accessed 5/11/2016: http://www.historynet.com/1874-the-year-of-the-locust.htm
Number of insects/accessed 5/11/2016: http://wildwesthistory.blogspot.com/2011/06/rocky-mountain-locust.html
Extermination and pest control services/NAICS 56171: http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2014/00A1//naics~56171
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).
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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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