The Bounty on Eastern Washington's Rodents
Farmers in Lincoln County are turning pest control into a steady side-income by cashing in squirrel scalps at the local mercantile.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The business of taking squirrel scalps on the prairie lands of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho, is very considerable. A representative of the Washington Farmer was in the store of the Wilbur Mercantile Company, situated in Wilbur, a town of 500 people, in Lincoln county, and found several thousand scalps on hand, each lot strung together and wrapped with the affidavit of the party that brought them in. Each scalp must contain both ears. It is reckoned that the firm named has paid out this year $1,000 for squirrel scalps. They furnish the affidavit and ship the scalps to the county auditor free of expense to the farmer. They advance the farmer cash for the scalps. The price varies according to the season, the little rodents being more troublesome in the early part of the season than in the latter part. In February the bounty paid is 5 cents, in March 4 cents, in April 3 cents, in May 2 cents. In June the squirrels hole up and hibernate until spring. To kill one in February or March is equivalent to killing ten or twelve later, for after they commence to breed they have litters of ten or twelve. The only way to entirely dispose of the squirrels is to plow up all of the prairie land. When the squirrels find the land is all being cultivated they emigrate.
“To kill one in February or March is equivalent to killing ten or twelve later, for after they commence to breed they have litters of ten or twelve.”
Bounty systems for agricultural pests were common in the late 19th century as settlers sought to 'tame' the landscape for wheat and grazing. Today, the scale of agriculture has shifted, but the fundamental struggle of the farmer against the encroaching wild remains a defining feature of life in rural Eastern Washington.
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