Abel Larkin was unable to raise a yoke of oxen before that
time without at least one of them dying with murrain.
It is said that Daniel Rathburn lost eighteen head of cattle
in one season with murrain.
William Parker came to Rutland in 1804, and built a cabin,
and in 1805 moved his family from Marietta, bringing with him
three yoke of oxen, and the nigh ox out of each yoke,
died of murrain. Good steers were the only property com-
manding cash in those days. Drovers would buy them at a
low rate and drive them on foot to the eastern markets. They
were not bought by weight, but by the head, according to
terms agreed upon by the parties.
Another singular and disagreeable disease, though not fatal,
was that of slabbers in horses. They would stand, while a copi-
ous flow of saliva would issue from the mouth until puddles of
water would collect at their feet. The horse would become thin
in flesh, and his strength be greatly diminished. The disorder
came immediately after the introduction of the white clover,
and the cultivation of the grape. Many causes were assigned by
different persons as the cause of the disorder, but it is uncer-
tain if any one discovered the real source of the trouble. It
continued many years and affected other kinds of stock, but
gradually disappeared from the country.
HISTORY OF THE CICADA, OR SEVENTEEN-YEAR
LOCUST.
After the first settlement on Leading creek, in the year 1812,
the cicada made their appearance and periodically in seven-
teen years subsequently, as in 1812, 1829, 1846 and 1880. There
seemed to be districts or locations where the locusts were seen
in great numbers in these seventeen-year dates. The east and
west lines between these two districts crossed the Ohio river
near the mouth of Old Town creek, thence back into West
Virginia at or near Racine, Ohio, and back into Ohio at Silver
