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posts you couldn't put a finger on the post without touching a grasshopper. If a water jug with a cork in it was set out in the open the hoppers would chew the edges off the cork and in a few days you needed a new one. If pitchforks were outside the hoppers chewed the handles until they were rough and hurt the hands. Same with shovels.
1934 was in extra dry year too. The Government set up a cattle buying program . Feed was almost impossible to get for lots of farmers so they sold either all or part of their stock to the Government for $20 a head. I worked on this project in '34. When the cattle would come in to Onida they would be penned and then shipped in box cars. Sometimes a local buyer would get a nice fat animal for $21 but most of the farmers told the buyers to go to hell and sold to the Gov't. for $20.
One day Alex McGannon and I had charge of loading out a car of cattle from Onida to Pierre to unload them when the train got there. When we unloaded there was one with a broke leg. We
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