Statewide County, SD History - Books .....Ant, Winged 1925
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm
************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 4, 2007, 12:54 am

Book Title: Doane Robinson's Encyclopedia Of South Dakota

  Ant, Winged. One of the annoyances of the early explorers and settlers of
South Dakota and adjacent regions was swarms of stinging, winged ants, which
appeared at times in the late harvest period and frequently made it impossible
to work in the open. They were large black creatures about one-half the size of
the honey bee and they would literally fill the air like a great cloud. They did
not travel rapidly and could be escaped by flight. In the grain stacking season
they would gather about a stacking place and drive off the workmen. Father Peter
J. DeSmet, in the "History of Western Missions and Missionaries," recites an
experience that he had with these pests when upon a trip to the Bad Lands of
South Dakota in August, 1845: "One day I found myself the object of attack of a
swarm of winged ants. They came upon me with such furious impetuosity that in a
few moments I was totally covered. I waved my handkerchief about my head and
soon got my horse to leave far behind us this phalanx of black insects which
filled a space of about a quarter of a mile." They have not been observed for
many years and seem to have entirely disappeared.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

DOANE ROBINSON'S
Encyclopedia of South Dakota
FIRST EDITION

Published by the Author
PIERRE
1925

COPYRIGHT BY DOANE ROBINSON. 1925

WILL A. BEACH PRINTING COMPANY
PRINTERS AND BINDERS
SIOUX FALLS


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sd/state/history/1925/doanerob/antwinge216gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/sdfiles/

File size: 2.0 Kb