invasion.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., March 20, 1958, page 1

Butterflies Staged Mammoth Invasion Of Cedar Valley in '90s, Article Recalls

Millions of butterflies invaded Cedar valley in the 1890's. They came in dense clouds, like a blinding snowstorm, laying their eggs on yellow pine trees over an area of 250 square miles.
Usually considered dainty creatures, the mammoth invasion made monsters of the butterflies. The destruction was subject of a feature article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review magazine section January 24, 1954.
The copy, from the files of L.E. Layman, president of the Klickitat Pioneer Assn., was brought to The Sentinel office this week.
The insects, yellow pine butterflies, nested and laid eggs in the tree tops, defoliating the crowns, reports Carroll Blanchard, forester for Cascade Lumber Company.
This historic invasion, little known to contemporary residents, was one of the worst disasters this part of the country ever suffered. Butterflies had to be dug out of spring and creeks with shovels. Water holes had to be covered to keep out dead butterflies.
Before the Invasion, there was no finer yellow pine forest in the state, The Spokesman article commented. Mile after mile the towering tree crowns interlaced, covering the mountain valley from the Simcoe Hills to the Klickitat canyon, and forming an almost impenetrable screen over the park-like forest floor.

Deer Tracks Dim

An ancient Yakima tribesman recalled that the light was always dim under the leafy canopy, even when a glaring sun shone overhead in midsummer "No could see deer tracks," in was reported as saying by the article's author, Donald H. Clark.
Cedar valley is now uninhabited; its farms obliterated, its homes decayed, its irrigation ditches barely traceable in the growing, young forest. Lumber interests have bought much of the land, evidently planning future timber crops. In another few decades Cedar valley may awaken to the ring of axes and the voices of woodsmen, the account stated.
Layman, whose family originally settled in Cedar valley, also brought in a section of the Goldendale Independent of January 4, 1909. The newspaper, owned and edited by Oscar C. Nelson, was declared "independent in politics." We believe in he old adage: Every person and each political party is entitled to a hearing, the masthead proclaimed.