The "The Story Behind Grasshopper Level" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Taking a ride with my wife through the Strasburg area of Lancaster County when we came upon a neat sign that had a grasshopper on it and read "Misty Meadows" and below the grasshopper read "Grasshopper Level."  My Uncle Bob lived in Strasburg for as long as I knew him until he sadly passed away many years ago.  I often traveled the same road to his house, but since he passed away I haven't been traveling on that stretch of road for many years.  A few weeks ago I noticed an article in the Lancaster Newspaper that carried the heading, "How did 'Grasshopper Level' get its colorful name?"  The article was written by Jack Brubaker, aka "The Scribbler."  Perhaps you have read one of his articles in the Sunday News.  Cindy Stauffer from Lititz had sent a question to "The Scribbler" that read: I was driving along Route 896 and saw that several houses south of Strasburg have proud signs noting they are located on "Grasshopper Level."  I was wondering where that name came from.  Jack did some research and was able to give Cindy, as well as me and now all of you reading this story, an answer to her question.  The area in question is known as Gobbler's Knob and is a hill just past the interseion of Georgetown and Belmont roads.  Turkeys apparently gobbled incessantly up there at one time.  A couple known as the Gridleys lived in the Georgetown Road house with the first "Grasshopper Level" sign out of Strasburg.  Until recently they operated a bed and breakfast called Misty Meadows.  A woman by the name of Beverly Lewis stayed at the bed and breakfast and mentioned Grasshopper Level in "The Covenant," one of her tales about the Old Order Amish.  Beverly never mentioned anything about the origin of the name Grasshopper Level in her tales.  Jack went on to write that one might think that the Georgetown Road ridge, from which one can see for several miles across largely Amish farmland to the north, was named for the long back of a grasshopper.  But, that's not what the newspaper record suggests.  Multiple stories suggests that the area took its name from an unusual infestation of grasshoppers that were found along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks that run about three miles north of the ridge.  The most complete newspaper version is from the Col. Edwin Jeffries obituary in the March 29, 1899 edition of the Lancaster New Era.  Jeffries claimed that one season the grasshoppers were so numerous that their hind legs wore fence rails smooth as the insects crossed from one side to the other searching for greener pastures.  When crushed on metal rails, the bugs made a slippery mess.  During the season the pests were so thick on the rails in the vicinity mentioned that the engines with their trains were stalled so that to make any progress it became necessary to have men precede the trains and pour sand upon the tracks.  The local newspaper reprinted this story several times with a 1924 version suggesting that the Pennsylvania Railroad workers "sanded" the slimy rails as early as 1834.  Perhaps this is the explanation as to why the area is known as Grasshopper Level!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.