A Kansas Memory Podcast

Grasshoppers! Plague of the Prairie

The documents used in the grasshoppers podcast are available on

• Life Sketch of Mrs. Pauline (Floeder) Wickham
  Pauline Wickham wrote this reminiscence about her family's immigration to Nebraska and later Kansas from Germany. She writes that she was born in Frankfort, Nebraska. The Floeders moved from Nebraska to Leavenworth and later Wichita. Pauline describes the trip from Leavenworth to Wichita in approximately 1870. She includes a graphic description of the damage done by grasshoppers in 1873.
• John William Gardiner Diary
  John William Gardiner was born in or near Platte City, Missouri, in 1851. In March 1855, Gardiner and his family moved to the future site of Winchester, Jefferson County, in the newly opened Kansas Territory. Many of the diary entries describe his teaching, weather, the grasshopper plague, and extracurricular activities such as singing and visiting friends.