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Offbeat History: The American Hippo Ranch Plan, Part 1

2020-03-19 | 🔗

An offbeat episode from 2015: In 1910, the U.S. a meat shortage, and a water hyacinth overgrowth problem. The obvious solution to the dilemma: Import hippos from Africa.

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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maybe a little bit of extra entertainment options available to you, particularly if you are self quarantined or sheltering welcome to stuff you missed in history class abroad, of Iheart Radio, till. I would welcome to the broadcast I'm handling fry and I'm Tracy Wilson. The U S as well as many other parts of the world, but we're talking about the S today has a well established farming, tradition and livestock is a huge part of them. So when you think about american farming, you may envision herds of cattle were pig, farms or even free range chickens. When you think about what the livestock landscape looks like, but there was a time when a very different animal was being considered
as a potential source of meat. This is one of those episodes that turned into two, because there is so much wild and really enjoyable stuff here and even so two of the main character. Can easily Phil episodes on their own outside of what we include in this episode and there's even the story than we can include into episodes, but today we're gonna about those two men in their early wives and what led them to a really wild partnership. Where they were working to try to convince the? U S, Congress, the press and wealthy investors that Hippo Bacon was the food that should be on american plates. I really did you say, Bake in a bad idea. This is such a wild story, because that in and of itself is kind of like a what I have told people that this is what I was researching to talk about, that sends them into peals of laughter and like they are very excited to talk about it. But then there's much more, because this is a story with spies in it Swamp Land Congress WAR
yours as well as of course hippos. So in nineteen ten, the United States was really facing a big meet shortage. Emigration had caused a huge surge and population, and the meat industry really couldn't keep up. Its attempts to keep up had led to some pretty dicey and disgusting practice. Fears, and additionally, overgrazing of food animals had caused really serious damage to the land where cattle were normally raised, things becoming coming Dyer enough. That people were considering using dogs as food, which is a normal part of cuisine and other parts of the world, but is definitely taboo in the United States ye. Basically, there were a lot of people brainstorming, a lot of different ways that we could supplement the meat supply here in the: U S, as things were, getting really really quite dire for a lot of people, but the grazing land
still did work, there were still viable were already occupied by cattle and a lot of them, as we said, were in terrible shape. Even for that, however, one thing that is very prevalent particularly in the South EAST are swamps and by use, and they were not being used for farming. They were largely regarded at this point as wasteland and, moreover, the floating water hyacinth there was found in the Swamp lance was growing out of control. Water hyacinth had originated in the Amazon Basin and its considered an invasive nuisance plant because it can show up natural waterways and its extremely heavy, an acre, which is a little less than half a hectare of these plants good way as much as two hundred tonnes, which is more than a hundred and eighty one thou.
And kilograms, and the water hyacinth was introduced to the U S in eighteen, eighty, four at the New Orleans Exposition- and it was a gift from the japanese delegation, but once it was accepted as a gift and moved into the area spread at a downright alarming rates. Water hyacinth actually grows more quickly than any other tested plants. Within seventy years of reaching Florida, this plant had covered an estimated two hundred and twenty six thousand acres, that's fifty hectares of waterways and it made them very difficult to traverse by boat. It was really clogging up the existing system. I imagine crowding out other
other plant and animal life- correct- to fight the over growing plant species in to try to provide a new answer to what the media was calling the meat question- Robert Broussard, he was a congressman from Louisiana- has to plan, they would import hippos, the hippos would be erratically, eat all the hyacinth and then they would be used for their meat, but Broussard couldn't convince the rest of Congress that his idea would without help from some experts, in addition to a researcher named William Newton Erwin who actually specialised in fruit trees but was very interested in the viability of this no idea Bruce are brought to men together for his team of experts named Frederick Russell Burnham and Fritz Duquesne. Frederick Russell Burnham was an explorer and a really intense man he's rumoured to be one of the potential inspirations for Indiana Jones. He thought that
civilising Africa with an important effort, ear. That's kind of just a quick we're gonna talk about we're about him in a minute, but that sort of gives you an idea of kind of who he was in terms of being an explorer Anna, a conqueror ports. On the other hand, Fritz Duquesne was a chameleon. He was- and this is one of those words they were gonna- get a million pronunciation corrections on, because there are many different ways to say it: the Dutch or afrikaans version. My understanding is boor, but Bauer is very common in the when you you're a native english speaker yet realised just or even bore There are a lot of ways. People say the word so his family word, descendants Dutch settlers who had moved to Africa and Duquesne really has a Stating lay story he's numerous aliases throughout his life
in many ways was considered a great a con man, both Burnham end Duquesne, had fought in the second bore war on opposite sides. The second bore war also call. The south african war or the Anglo Boer WAR went on from October 11th, one thousand eight hundred and ninety nine to May 31st. One thousand nine hundred and two great Britain went to war against two Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange free state. This is an expensive war for Britain, though their troops really far outnumber the border troops, five hundred, and british troops to the Boers eighty eight thousand year. You would think they were they. They had the enemy so out, gun that it would be a quick in and out, but it really costs on a lot both to send the people there in the first place and to maintain it. So in this war, Burnham worked as a spy for the british and Duquesne as a spy for them.
Where's the two men were actually given missions to kill one another during the conflict of though they probably never knew each other personally. So that brings up the question of how did they both end up working to bring hippos to Louise, either So we're gonna tell that story, starting with talking about Burnham and first, though, we're gonna have a brief word from a sponsor hello. This is wrong burgundy and you were listening to my voice, which commands trust and respect. Yes, what my broad gases back and that's a wind for everyone mainly for me because of the money, but also because I love to hear myself doc, and so do you and if you're thinking it's time for a change in your insurance plan b, it automobile or home insurance think no further than state farm. You know the one with the Gee Jangle leg, a good neighbour state farmers, stay farmers bid in the insurance gave me
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So during the Dakota WAR of eighteen, sixty two and even after that, the Barnum's often found themselves in danger being white settlers in this area and at Times Fredericks Father, who was actually a presbyterian minister, would arm himself to protect his wife and child against attacks that were sometimes made on white settlers, and there were several times they found themselves in danger of being attacked? When Frederick was too in his father? Edwin was away. His mother Rebecca saw a group of Lakota men emerging from the forest near their home. She knew that she could not run from them while also carrying a toddler, so she hid Frederick in a pile of corn and told him to stay still be quiet. She then ran six miles, which is,
less than ten kilometers. Meanwhile, the Lakota men she had seen burned the house down, but little Frederick stayed quiet and still, as he had been, instructed to do, and he was still waiting there silently in the corn pile the next morning when her his mother got back. Yet that's one of those incidents where and when he recounted it later. He would see that was like the beginning of his training as a scout and spy He states tough as nails throughout his childhood at the age of nine he actually punctured along when a log fell on em. But here covered and he continued to be very adventurous. He'd. His spirit did not seem dampened by this injury at all. The family moved briefly to California couple years later, although Edwin did not live much longer than that, and after his death Rebecca returned EAST
and Frederick, who was only thirteen at the time this. How did he was gonna, stay behind and get a job in part to pay off the money that Rebecca had to borrow to finance her travel back home? He asserted famed for often riding horse after horse to exhaustion, so he would basically just write a horse till it and go any more. He wouldn't take a break. He would just switch to a new mount when that previous one was exhausted and then he would continue to run messages and he worked from a base of operations in LOS Angeles and from there he ran roots out to Anaheim, Santa Monica and Pasadena. So he just was kind of this tireless hardworking super adventurous. Kid and again he was only thirteen when he was doing all of this when he was team. He briefly lived with relatives and went in Iowa, but he became board and restless pretty quickly, so he ran away a year later. He made his way down the Mississippi and stolen canoe, eventually ending up in Texas.
There. He met an old scout named homes who taught him all about how to make his way through burying types of terrain homes and other old timers, an area gave Burnham a whole education and the skills he would need in survival, and you know gave him the knowledge that he would need to prosper on his burn up also became a really expert shooter. During this time, he actually practice to shoot. Amber dexterously said that he would have equal skill in both hands and he really got to a point where he had great precision. He also trained himself to handle almost any hardship he might encounter on missions as a scout. Oh, he train himself to go without food, sleep and water to endure great pain and allegedly, he trained himself too slow. His own heart beat and he developed this unique food source that he would use throughout his life
the enabled him to travel fairly light and stealthily. Also, so he would not have to cook a he traveled, because if you are trying to travel on the download, you don't wanna, be starting a campfire. So did you this? He would pulverize dried venison into a powder, and then he would mix that powder with flour and bake this in the little loaves that he could put in his his little bag and he could eat a little bit of it each day and keep himself going. This sort of made me think of it. Being the wild West scout version of members. I always think that limbers is a vegetarian food, but you know fascist me, well, just that it's like this thing, that's very sustaining and that you can carry for long periods of time. Right re wasn't so much the content but now I think, of Lambeth, though you tried his hand at searching for gold and the American South West, but he only met with success. One time he used the money that he got from this one success to go back to Iowa,
where he returned to a young lady name: Blanche Blake, the tube. Got married and move to pass a dna to start a citrus grave? They weren't very successful. In doing this, though, his restlessness eventually led him to seek adventure again. This time he headed for Africa with his wife and there, infant Son Roderick. But three of them departed on New year's day, eighteen. Ninety three and eventually landed in South Africa So while he was not a particularly big man, his reputation was enormous and he first made an aim for himself as a freelance scout. So for a price, he would, for example, creep into enemy territory in search of river Asian, he would patrol for interlopers, he would perform discreet acts of sabotage and he big eventually got the nickname king of scouts for his skin
and his stealth, and he was described by the military. Many sometimes served as being half jack, rabbit and half wolf when he was also pretty disarming and social situations he loved cells stories. His adventures in Africa and in the american indian territories, one tale of his skill, entertaining a gathering goes that he was Minos. Spending a tale at one of his skirmishes that he'd been in Africa One point in the middle of a story: you said we'll kill, that's make when I finish this story, investors casually to a rattlesnake but had been heading toward the group and their outdoor gathering, but no one else had noticed it before that point. Yeah just cools a cucumber, I'm gonna get to that snake. Let me finish what I was saying, which then becomes a wonderful hilarious store
in and of itself. It's probably no surprise, then, that a man like Burnham who is full of swagger in this sort of old school machismo was friends with Theodore or Roosevelt's. I swear. I did not mean to make a Roosevelt series cause. I know we just talked about Alice, but In fact, Burnham made friends with a lot of people in high places, particularly if they were men. They were like him that were drawn to adventure. They t just kind of always connected with those kinds of people While he was traveling in Rhodesia, he became friends with Englishmen. Robert Baden Powell and eventually Baden Powell would found the boy scouts inspired in part by Barnum's, adventurous spirit and fortitude, and we're gonna continue to talk about Burnham Life and the time he spent in Africa as well as his activities once he returned to the. U S after we have a brief word from one of our sponsors.
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Now we talked about out. Burnham was eating these like bride venison cake things He continued throughout his life to eat other odd stuff in of not letting his stomach get in the way of what he needed to do. He would live off of milk and ox blood or stolen uncooked corn during his adventures in Africa. Even if these worth Miss, ready to eat you have you ever even uncooked corn like fresh, not even entirely ripe corn. That is not easy to eat. There also stories that he would sometimes eat rotten produce that had been discarded that he would kind of snatch so that he would stay on the deal keep himself fed, but not necessarily in the most delightful origami of ways, and while the Burnham were actually in Africa, they had a second.
While the daughter named Nada and the family was actually caught in the conflict to the second motto: Billy WAR, when they were living just outside the city of July YO, and this conflict combined with a whore The livestock virus actually resulted in a huge tragedy for Frederick. So while this colony that they were in was constantly under siege his two year old daughter, not a developed in intense fever and she eventually died and when Burnham identified the leader of the uprising that had been behind this attack on the colony he is said to have tracked him to a cave where he shot him and Burnham would later right that he the whole time this conflict was happening with this man where he was killing this man. He had these visions of his wife clutching their dying daughter and that sort of drove him to this murder, He left Africa the following year chasing rumours of gold once again, but then he abandoned that enterprise. He was called back to Africa to serve in the second bore war after
Where was over, he spoke with a great deal of respect about the Boers, an especially he was impressed with their lead scout and another man reporting to the lead scout. He went by the name black Panther of the veld. He would later say that the black Panther, who had actually spent the we're trying to kill, was the craftiest man he had ever met and in truth, that black Panther was Fritz Duquesne. As we said at the top of the episode, they had actually been assigned to kill each other so that they can eliminate these very stealthy scouts. The other side each had Burnham actually been captured during this conflict, but he managed to avoid being identified by showing how very smart and philosophical he was since he knew that the description the Boers had of him described him. And oh fish, american, and so he kind of lead. This brief double life but he eventually made an escape in the dark of night and he spent the next week's cutting the boat supply lines and blowing up their railways after dodging.
Reveal of fire. While he was hunkered down. The brush, Burnham was eventually retrieved by british forces and he was sent to England to be treated for his injuries. He actually met Winston Churchill on the ship to learn then soon Blanche and the couples third child Bruce joined him. Another tragedy struck, though, because young Bruce later drowned in the Thames, their eldest son Roderick at this point was nineteen and was in school in California. He'd actually had a premonition about breezes death, which he related to his grandmother before they got the news of the child's passing the burdens returned to pass once Frederick was recovered and they were still grieving, so they were morning and regrouping there, and it was during this time that the scout begin working on an article that he would eventually published in early one thousand nine hundred and ten, and that article was called transplanting african animals
and this article, whence it came out, immediately, got people talking and because of the meat shortage. All kinds of people wanted to speak with Frederick Burnham and that's where we're going to cliff heinous One and our next pursued. We are going to talk more about how Burnham and another wild character worked with Robert Broussard to try to bring hippos to the United States as livestock, which still is a terrible idea, but also terribly funny to think about. That's funny accepted hippos are actually really aggressive and territorial. Big will we get that murmured oval, arguing that gets left out of the lot of the discussion
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Transcript generated on 2020-03-29.