The summer of 1876 was difficult for the expanding American nation.

The financial crisis that had gripped the country since 1873 continued to cripple the

economy.

President Grant battled a firestorm of corruption in his administration.

And in Montana territory, along the banks of a river whose name would soon become synonymous

with both victory and defeat, General George Armstrong Custer's detachment of the

Seventh Cavalry was wiped out by the Sue and Cheyenne.

Chiefs sitting bull and crazy horse became famous for all time, and so did Custer.

In Minnesota, farmers suffered through their fourth terrible summer in a row.

A biblical plague struck again, with the worst coming in July and August.

Locust descended on the farms by the millions.

They blocked out the sun and devoured everything in their path.

The farmers could do nothing.

They stood helplessly and watched their livelihoods dwindle away as grasshoppers annihilated corn,

wheat, barley, and oats alike.

One account talked of a cloud of the invaders that was 17 miles wide.

But in the midst of all the turmoil, there was a celebration.

It was 1876, the 100 year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding

of the country.

That summer, the party was in Philadelphia.

Visitors to the world's fair delighted at new sights and inventions.

The typewriter was unveiled in the telephone.

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