Among the great crops of 1877 in Daviess Co, the rat crop was the most remarkable. The rodents, in fact, became so numerous and destructive that the County Court was prevailed upon to offer a premium of 5 cents on each rat scalp furnished. It was about that time that the rat harvest commenced in dead earnest. Boys began to have bright visions of going to shows and circuses and places of amusement generally, and so harvest hands were plenty, and the crop outlook decidedly promising...........court paid out for rat scalps was $1,515, which at 5 cents per head, amounted to 28,280 rats harvested. Just at this time it came to the ears of he court that a Gentry county man had actually got a drove of 700 rodents together, driven them across the line, killed nad acalped them, and got his $35 out of the county by his stroke of enterprise,, and that he had gone back for another drove. Also information arrived.......citizens of Harrison were busily corraling the animals and would soon come over the north line of Daviess like an avalanche, and take charge of any spare funds that the treasurer might have on hand.. these alarming rumors decided the court, and they repealed the "rat bounty" order, thereby shutting down on the enterprising citizens of Gentry and Harrison as well as on their untamed resources.