Have any of your ancestors earned money by
killing gophers for gopher bounty?
Have you ever gotten paid gopher bounty?
I found these articles while perusing old newspapers of my hometown regarding the vote of the county commissioners to adopt a resolution to pay gopher bounty.
1/15/1904 Wishek News
“Official Proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners of McIntosh County, ND
Ashley, ND 1/5/1904
Ordered, that a bounty for the extinction of gophers be offered as follows, to-wit:
Two cents for each gopher killed within this county during the following spring of which proof shall be made on or before noon of Mary 16th, 1904, as hereinafter provided.
One cent for each gopher killed within this county, of which proof shall be made a hereinafter provided on or before noon of June 15, 1904.
Ordered further, that parties claiming such bounty produce before the County Auditor within the time above limited the tail of each gopher for which bounty is claimed and make proof before said Auditor by affidavit of the killing within this county as aforesaid, and that upon such proof the Auditor issue to each party entitled thereto a certificate of the number of gophers killed and the amount due therefore as bounty under the provision of this order, which certificate shall be to this board at a regular meeting for allowance out of the gopher destruction fund, as provided by law.”
You might wonder what would incite the Board of Commissioners to act in such a manner. Gophers caused lots of damage. They live in underground burrows. The subterranean tunnels they dig, referred to as gopher towns, kill grass and prevent cattle from grazing on the land.
May 20, 1904 Wishek News
“The County commissioners had the unenvied pleasure of counting thousands of gopher tails the early part of the week, and there were about 25,000 of them. It is estimated that each gopher destroys about five bushels of grain during a season, so this will be a saving of 125,000 bushels or around $93,750 in money.”
I got a picture in my head of the county commissioners counting 193,538 gopher tails. What a project that must have been! I bet they loved going to work.
6/3/1904 Wishek News
“According to the county commissioner’s proceedings, there were 193,538 gophers killed in the county up to May 16th and the bounty paid amounted to $3,870.76 Warrants were issued upon the gopher fund for each of the following persons:”
Included were these names:
Gottl. Sayler 3.46 (this may have been my grandfather’s brother, Gottlieb)
Joh. Forderer 2.70 (this may have been my grandfather’s brother-in-law, Johann)
J. Sayler 13.88 (this may have been my grandfather’s brother, John)
F. Sayler 4.70 (this may have been my grandfather)
It intrigued me. First, I don’t know if my grandfather went gopher hunting. There were multiple F. Sayler’s in the area at the time. But I do know that he was a go-getter and hard worker. If the others are three brothers and a brother-in-law, maybe it is more likely. But in 1904, it might have been a solid way to earn money for young enterprising men. Women were involved too.
J. Sayler would have had to catch 694 gophers and F. Sayler 235 gophers (4.70/.02). That’s a lot of gophers. My grandfather would have been 18 years old at the time.
I tried to find a conversion and found that $1 in 1904 was worth $28.21 in 2018. There was a whole bunch of stuff also about inflation, but let’s keep it easy. If my math is right, 28.21 x 4.7 = $132.59. That was probably a significant amount of money. Or 28.21 x 13.88 = $391.55. Wow.
I’m sure that bounty helped out a lot of people. According to the story, Lawrence Welk, famous bandleader from Strasburg, North Dakota, bought his first accordion with gopher bounty money.
Lawrence Welk, famous bandleader from Strasburg, North Dakota, bought his first accordion with gopher bounty money.
Gopher bounty is still party of county business today. Canyon County, ID pays $1 per tail. In 2016, they paid out $28,000. In 2015, they paid $40,000. You have to imagine the incentive for small counties to pay out that kind of money for bounty.
It’s clear that gophers remain pesky. Did your ancestors hunt gophers for bounty? Do you have stories of hunting gophers for bounty? How much were you able to earn?
