Three Crosses Against the Swarm | Jefferson, SD — Markers #400, #402, #403, #404

"Grasshoppers blacked out the sun over Jefferson, South Dakota in the 1870s, and Father Pierre Boucher of St. Peter's Church led a pilgrimage that raised three crosses. Four state markers tell the story: Marker #400, Marker #402, Marker #403, and Marker #404. But the markers, the parish records, and a 1938 federal guide book do not agree. The markers say May 1876 and eleven miles. The parish's National Register history says it began in 1874 and walked thirteen miles. The 1938 guide says 1877. We left that conflict open, because the disagreement is the story. Elk Point's Baptist pastor J. M. Shanafelt, writing from his own memory, said that in July 1876 another grasshopper scourge swept away the crops around Elk Point. That stands in the episode too, unmerged. Three crosses still stand today, all of them replacements. And Marker #403, on Highway 77 west of Jefferson, has no photograph on record anywhere we could find. Have fun. Go explore South Dakota."