Grasshopper plagues devastated pioneer farms within a single day.

Evidence

The farmers seem much depressed by the magnitude and persistency of the grasshopper pest which finds their fields in the morning “as the garden of Eden,” and leaves them at night “a desolate wilderness.” — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 168

Categorization

• FICTION: The biblical Eden-to-wilderness imagery in one day is a striking sensory register for a novel of plains hardship.