Garrison Keillor reports that it was on this day in 1875 that the largest recorded swarm of locusts in American history descended upon the Great Plains. An estimated 3.5 trillion locusts made up the swarm. It was about 1800 miles long and 110 miles wide, ranging from Canadato Texas.
The locusts blanketed the ground, nearly a foot deep. They ate nearly every living piece of vegetation in their path. Similar locust swarms occurred in following years, but by the mid-1880s, the swarms died down. Within a few decades they were believed to be extinct.
Wow! This volume of locusts seems unimaginable to me. I seen swarms of bugs in IL and TN, but nothing of this magnitude. I wonder how a teacher can convey the this image and the destructive power of so many small bugs?
How can you convey it? Get yourself a box full of syrofoam peanuts one foot deep and ask for volunteers.