U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for July 25: Insect Asides

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

INSECT ASIDES

Profile America —Tuesday, July 25th. This month 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. The moving swarm was estimated to cover almost 200,000 square miles. Like something out of the Old Testament, 12.5 trillion locusts ate not only crops, but also leather, paint, clothing and the wool off of living sheep. 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 nearly 14,000 extermination and pest control establishments to combat smaller infestations. Profile America is in its 21st year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.  

Sources:
Launch and duration of infestation/accessed 4/21/2017: http://nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/excerpts-4-08.htm 
Extent of devastation and extinction/accessed 4/21/2017: www.historynet.com/1874-the-year-of-the-locust.htm 
Number of insects/accessed 4/21/2017: http://wildwesthistory.blogspot.com/2011/06/rocky-mountain-locust.html 
Extermination and pest control services/County Business Patterns/NAICS 56171: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//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). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov

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