History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 13

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

The old Indian church in Stockholm Township, Grant County, was still stand- ing in 1905. It was then planned to destroy it, but finally a subscription was taken up, the building was purchased and finally deeded to the State Historical Association. This church was constructed of logs in 1876, was used as a mission and was devoted to the Indians until a better one was constructed near the agency north of Milbank. In 1905 a picnic and memorial services were held in this structure and among the speakers were Rev. Daniel Renville, the first Indian preacher and the first and only preacher the mission ever had, and Rev. John P. Williamson, a missionary among the Indians of South Dakota. Mr. Williamson's father, Dr. T. S. Williamson, was one of the first missionaries among the Sioux, starting a mission at the trading post of old Dan Renville, an Indian, at Lac Qui Parle, Minn., in 1835.

The right of the Indian agent to place all money belonging to Indians from the sale of their inherited lands in a United States depository and allow the money to be paid out only on an order from the Indian agent was a question of much importance on the reservations. A short time before this A. J. Mckeever, of Sisseton, obtained a judgment against Titus White, an Indian who had money due him as an heir to some inherited Indian lands. An execution was issued and the sheriff levied upon such money which was in a United States depository. The bank refused to turn the money over to the sheriff except on an order from the Indian agent. The sheriff thereupon went before Judge McCoy in Aberdeen and asked for an order requiring the bank to turn the money over to him to be applied on the execution. The United States district attorney objected and the court decided that the proper manner would be for Mckeever to bring suit through the sheriff for the money in the hands of the bank, which course would enable the court to handle the subject.

In the summer of 1905 it was ascertained by Doane Robinson that tuberculosis was one of the prevailing diseases among the South Dakota Indians. Fifty years before it was unknown to the tribe. The reports from the Sisseton Indians showed that nearly all of that tribe were infected with the virus of this disease to a greater or less extent. On the Rosebud Agency 68 out of 130 deaths in 1901 were caused by tuberculosis. In 1905, 80% of the deaths were from the same cause. Tuberculosis prevailed on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations, the greatest number of deaths thereon being from that disease. At the Cheyenne Agency the disease was prevalent and caused a greater number of deaths than any other. On Standing Rock Reservation 64% of the deaths were due to this disease in 1904 and 75% in 1905. On the Yankton Agency tuberculosis and old age were the chief causes of death.

In the spring of 1906 Allotting Agent Gunderson of the Grass Agency gave the head of every Indian family 640 acres, each single person under eighteen years of age 320 acres, and each child 160 acres. In addition he gave each head of a family a team of mares, a wagon and harness, cow, farming implements and $50 cash. Besides this the Indians there had about two hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars in the treasury. There was very little good land left at that agency after the Indians had received their allotments. All valuable lands fronting on water courses had been taken up some time before, and prior to the spring of 1906 nearly all of the level flats had likewise been allotted.

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

It was quite clear by this time that the Indians, if properly taught the princi- ples of economy and industry, would soon become, in the main, industrious and thrifty citizens. This was particularly emphasized by the progress of the past three or four years at the Crow Creek Agency under the able administration of Major H. D. Chamberlain, agent. His report showed that the Indians at this agency had made almost phenomenal progress for four years ending with the close of 1905. They were almost wholly independent of the Government so far as rations and money considerations were concerned.

In the summer of 1905 an investigation into the practical working of the Indian leasing system for grazing purposes was conducted at the Cheyenne Agency under the direction of the Interior Department and an attorney repre- senting the Indian Rights Association. The big cattle raisers who for many years had enjoyed a free range and had made millions of dollars out of the business, now complained that the leasing system was not working to the satis- faction and advantage of the Indians. This investigation resulted from their complaint. Previous to three years earlier, a few big stockmen and cattle syndi- cates in Sioux City, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City and elsewhere, grazed thou- sands of head of horses and cattle on the Indian lands within the Cheyenne Reservation absolutely free except for small sums paid to squaw men and half breeds who possessed enough influence over the other Indians to secure this immunity. In 1901 Major Ira Hatch, the agent of the reservation, took steps to clear the Indian lands of the trespassing stock. It was at this time estimated that 90,000 head of cattle were grazing upon the lands owned by the Indians, for which the latter received nothing. The total value of this number of cattle at $30 a head was $2,700,000. As a result of the leasing system the Indians had already received in rentals $298,000, or nearly twenty-five dollars for every man, woman and child on the reservation, the total population being about twenty-five hundred. As the time now approached when the leases would expire and as the citizens were aware of all the circumstances, the cattle barons sought to retain the hold on the reservation which they formerly possessed and tried to achieve their object through the Indian Rights Association.

At the hearing of the conference over the complaints many significant facts concerning the unusual conditions came to light. One change made at once by the conference was an order requiring the government agents to accompany the round-up outfits to the leased pastures to oversee the proper branding of the Indian cattle. Nearly every Indian announced a considerable decrease in his herd since the leasing propositions had been in force. Among the reasons they gave was that the large herds of the leaseholders kept the Indian cattle from the water and likewise destroyed their hay lands. On the other hand the lessors alleged that the Indians were fencing larger tracts than they were entitled to under their allotments and keeping their cattle in the pastures away from the water-holes. Black Body was almost the only Indian called upon who expressed himself satisfied with the existing conditions. While he admitted that his herd had decreased since the pastures were re-leased, he said he had about seven hundred dollars in an Everett bank and was doing well.

In August, 1905, a census of the Indians on the Cheyenne River Reservation showed a total of 2,526. This was an increase of fifty-three over the census of the previous year; forty-nine of the increase were Indians transferred here from

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

Pine Ridge, they rightfully belonging to the Cheyenne Reservation. They had been at Pine Ridge since the Indian war of 1889-90.

By the close of the year Allotting Agent Carl Gunderson had completed the field work of allotting their lands to the Cheyenne River Reservation Indians and had gone to Standing Rock Reservation with the same object in view. All the Indians on the Cheyenne River Reservation had been thus located, but there was likely to be some conflict or change, and matters were not wholly settled. Mr. Gunderson reported that the allotments absorbed about 30% of the reservation and that the remainder would some time in the future be opened to settlement. The land taken by the Indians was mainly in the vicinity of their old home camps and did not comprise, by any means, all the best farming lands in the reservation. When the remainder is thrown open, thousands of excellent acres will be offered to settlers.

By 1905 the Indians at the Faulkton and Crow Creek agencies were exceed- ingly prosperous and contented. They had adopted in many particulars the ways of the whites, were generally industrious and law abiding and were fast becoming independent of the Government and largely self supporting. Since 1900 they had prospered more than ever before, as had their institutions.

To meet the United States Supreme Court decision that the allotment of lands to the Indians was sufficient to constitute them citizens with the incidental right to buy liquor whenever they chose the same as white citizens, Congressman Burke, at the congressional session of 1905-06, introduced a bill postponing the right of citizenship upon the Indians until the formality of the transfer had been fully complied with after May 8, 1906, and providing that the allottees should be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States until they should acquire full citizenship under the law. It was really a trust period designed to fit the Indians for sober and sane citizenship. In May, 1906, Crow Dog and Red Cloud finally though unwillingly accepted their allotments in severalty and were given the rights of citizens subject to the above trust period and provisions.

Previous to the time when the Lone Wolf decision of the Supreme Court of the United States was rendered in 1903, it was generally assumed and supposed by the whites that the Indians possessed an inalienable right to the lands which had been granted them by the treaty of the Government. In this case, however, it was held that the Indians occupied the same position that minor children did among the whites and that Congress could dispose of their lands as it saw fit. All congressional acts thereafter and all governmental dealings were in accordance with this decision. Thus it came to pass that within six years thereafter move- ments to open every foot of the reservation lands west of the Missouri River were taken. This settled the fate of the Indians and placed them on the path of civilization, law and order. It really forced them to become farmers and good citizens. The action also meant that thousands of acres of excellent land would at last be thrown open to homesteaders. The bill making provision for opening all Indian lands not allotted became a law in January, 1910. Already all of this land was surrounded with white settlements. On the Standing Rock and Chey- enne reservations were about six thousand Indians all of whom were thus required to take allotments and to become self sustaining. Many of the old Indians who could not easily surrender their former fixed and loved habits and customs were intensely grieved at this outcome. On the other hand the younger Indians, with

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

scarcely an exception, were delighted with the change and cheered with the alluring prospects of becoming civilized like the white people.

In January, 1908, the Sisseton and Wahpeton Indians began action against the United States under the treaty of 1851 to secure the remainder of the annui- ties which had not been paid them since the Civil war. Under the treaty of 1851 these annuities had been promptly paid until the time of the Sioux outbreak in Minnesota in 1862 when the payments were suspended by the Government. The suit amounted to a total of $788,971, of which $305,000 was cash. Senator Gamble this year introduced in Congress a bill for the payment of these annuities to the claimants. The bill became a law. The total claim of both the South Dakota and the Minnesota Indians at this time was in round numbers $1,500,000.

In March, 1908, under a recent decision of the Interior Department and in accordance with the Indian treaty of 1889, each married Indian west of the Missouri River, especially those located on the Cheyenne and the Standing Rock reservations, was given the right to take 320 acres in addition to the allotted 640 acres which had been given previously to each head of a family. It was provided that this land should not be disposed of for twenty-five years except with the definite and special permission of the Government. This made the head of a family the owner of 960 acres. It was estimated that the land in twenty-five years would be worth at least $50 an acre, in which case each Indian family would possess property worth at least $48,000. At this time there were about three thousand of these native families that were affected by these provisions.

It should be noted as a conspicuous fact that on the soil of South Dakota, the North American Indian finally accepted his destiny, namely, to live at peace with the whites and to assimilate domestic rules and civilized customs. It was at this time that the demand arose generally over the state that in the new capitol building at Pierre the mural decorations should represent local historic scenes in which the Indians should be fittingly represented. The mural ornamentation was designed to be historical rather than allegorical.

By January, 1911, the Indians of the Sisseton Reservation in the northwestern part of South Dakota had made rapid progress toward civilization. Maj. S. A. Allen, the agent, said that 75% were full bloods and of that number 65% were agriculturists, were thrifty and had proved themselves fairly successful as farmers. The reservation was eighty miles long and forty miles wide and con- tained about two thousand Indians.

In the spring of 1911 another meeting of the Sioux Indians at Cherry Creek was held for the purpose of perfecting an organization to secure from the gen- eral Government payment for the Black Hills territory which was opened to settlement in 1876. The Sioux still claimed that the right to go into the Black Hills was never granted by their nation and that the whites were wrongfully allowed to go into the territory under a false treaty which was signed by only a few of the chiefs. At this time they had no idea whatever that the territory would be restored to them, but they believed they should be paid cash for the land. Another meeting of similar purport was held at Lower Brule Reservation in November, to which all the bands of the Sioux were asked to send representatives to further complete the organization with the object of pushing the claims. The Government contended that even if the whites were admitted into that country without the consent of a majority of the Sioux, that defect was corrected in the

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

treaty of 1889 by which the territory between the Missouri River and the Black Hills was open to settlement, and in the same treaty the opening of the Black Hills section was ratified. However, the Sioux were determined to test their rights in the courts.

The annual report of the commissioner of Indian affairs for 1914 gave the following facts concerning the Indians of the Cheyenne Reservation: On the reservation were 2,691 Indians; of these 1,293 spoke English and 1,174 could read and write the English language; $33,050 was received from crops raised and sold by the Indians; $30,000 was received from the sale of live stock; $49,55I was received from leases; $120,480 was received from the sale of lands ; $47,188 was derived from the proceeds of Indian labor ; 800 Indians were reported as self supporting.

In the spring of 1915 an old time roundup of cattle was had on the Rosebud Indian Reservation adjacent to the Town of White River. Between twenty-five and thirty expert riders were engaged in this roundup and were provided with about two hundred and fifty saddle horses. It required two weeks to complete the roundup. The cattle were found in unusually good condition after their winter's grazing on the open range. Most of the cattle belonged to the Indians. In June, 1915, Frank E. Brandon, superintendent of the Indian Department in South Dakota, was authorized by Cato Cells, commissioner of Indian affairs, to put on an exhibit of Indian agricultural practice at the state fair. All of the Indian agencies of the state, eight in number, and the Indian schools at Flan- dreau, Pierre and Rapid City, besides many native rural schools, prepared exhibits. A boys' Indian band was one of the attractions of the display. Space was reserved by the Federal Government in the west end of the horticultural building. The Government at this time disapproved of Indian villages and wild West shows at agricultural fairs. It was expected that the Indians would make exhibits at state fairs thereafter on the same basis as white men. Valuable medals, silver cups, etc., were offered them by the state fair authorities.

INDIAN LANDS

In opening the reservation in 1890, the first act was to survey the land. This was necessary before the settlers could establish the boundaries of their claims. George W. McLean, special allotting agent of the Government, maintained that the Indians should have the first claims on the reservation lands. He thereupon permitted them to select the tracts they desired and they in consequence chose those which had been occupied by the squatters. More than twenty surveyors, many of whom lived in this state, were soon at work laying out the lines. H. J. Austin of Vermillion secured a contract from Surveyor General Sullivan to run a base line from the Missouri River westward to the state line and then to run guide lines north and south twenty-four miles apart for the use of the section surveyors. The east part of the reservation was surveyed first in order that the land there might be thrown earliest into market. On February 10, 1890, President Harrison issued a proclamation opening the reservation to settlement. At the same time there were opened two new land districts, one at Pierre and one at Chamberlain. The commissioner of the general land office approved the con- tracts submitted by Surveyor General Sullivan for the official survey of the

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

Great Sioux Reservation. This was a big task, but was accomplished on time. There had been appropriated $100,000 by the Government to cover the costs of this great survey. At this time the commissioner granted the first installment of $65,650, under the appropriation toward this expense. At Chamberlain in April, 1890, during the first three days, there were filed eighty homestead, twenty-five pre-emption and ten timber claims on the Crow Creek lands.

In March, 1891, it was announced that settlers on the recently ceded Sioux Reservation land would be allowed to perfect title after fourteen months' resi- dence upon payment of $1.25 per acre, or after five years' residence without being required to make any cash payment. When these lands were first thrown into the market, the law required residence of five years and cash payment of $1.25 per acre before patent could be secured, while homesteaders in all other portions of the country could secure patent after residence of five years or commute at the end of six months' residence and perfect title upon payment of $1.25 per acre. This discrimination against Sioux lands had a tendency to discourage settlement and served to turn the tide of immigration into other sections of the United States, and accordingly there was much complaint from the citizens and authori- ties of South Dakota. This equalization of the conditions of settlement, it was afterwards found, had a strong tendency to stimulate and encourage immigration into this state.

Stanley, the county made famous by containing the "mile square," is possessed of other interesting items of history. Here on the hill at Fort Pierre was planted the famous Verendrye leaden plate in 1743. It was in this country that the Ree and Sioux nations of Indians struggled for final supremacy. A short distance to the north of Fort Pierre is the scene of the first important battle of the tribes, the trenches still remaining to mark the battleground. A little further to the north and west, on one of the bluffs, is the memorable spot where the last stand of the ill-fated Rees was made. Here they were finally defeated and almost exterminated and the Sioux became the possessors of the "Land of the Dakotas." Thus the Sioux could rightly claim the land only by conquest.

The act of February 10, 1889, which provided for the opening to settlers of the Great Sioux Reservation west of the Missouri River, also specified that after the lapse of five years all that remained unsettled should be sold at 50 cents per acre. As this law expired on February 10, 1895, many settlers immediately there- after entered and laid claims to extensive tracts of the best that remained.

In 1897 the act of Congress gave South Dakota one year in which to select lands for the state from the abandoned Fort Randall Reservation. This year expired on August 29th. Accordingly, State Commissioner Lockhart made an examination of the land, but none of it seemed of sufficient value for state pur- poses. However, the school lands were taken at this time and all was later thrown into the market. The state had large demands against the Government. It claimed 5 per cent of the amounts paid to the general land office by settlers for land in the ceded portions of the Sioux, Sisseton, Wahpeton and Yankton reservations, amounting in all to about ten thousand dollars. It also claimed 5 per cent of the aggregate sum of $1.25 per acre of the lands in Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Lower Brule, Crow Creek, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reserva- tions in this state. The total amount thus claimed by South Dakota was about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The state likewise claimed a percentage

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

of the value of the lands alloted to the Indians on the Sisseton and Yankton reservations.

In August, 1898, the registrars of the various land offices in South Dakota reported to the commissioner of the general land office the following classifi- cation of state lands : (1) Unappropriated and unreserved; (2) surveyed and unsurveyed; (3) reserved; (4) appropriated and entered. In all there were within the state in round numbers 11,000,000 acres of Government land subject to entry. There were seven land districts at this time as follows: (1) Rapid City with a total of nearly 7,500,000 acres subject to entry ; (2) Pierre with over 1,700,000 acres subject to entry ; (3) Chamberlain with over 1,200,000 acres sub- ject to entry; (4) Aberdeen with nearly 300,000 acres subject to entry; (5) Huron with nearly 125,000 acres subject to entry; (6) Watertown with about 75,000 acres subject to entry; (7) Mitchell with about 50,000 acres subject to entry. Secretary Bliss of the land office approved for patent in South Dakota 3,961 acres in the Huron district for the school of mines; 2,953 in the Pierre district for educational and charitable institutions; and 1,121 acres in Aberdeen district for the agricultural college. In the spring of 1900, 10,000 acres of the Yankton Reservation were taken up under the new homestead bill. The land was located mainly in Charles Mix County. By June Ist only about 1,500 acres were left.

In 1901 there was constant friction between the state and federal authorities in regard to the jurisdiction over offenses committed on Indian reservations. Owing to this friction it not infrequently happened that offenders had gone unpunished. This year a bill was passed by the South Dakota Legislature, relinquishing to the United States the exclusive privilege of apprehending, con- victing and punishing such offenders and to pay the bills therefor.

In December, 1889, Registrar M. H. Harris ruled that the Omnibus Bill admitting South Dakota as a state did not repeal the Pre-emption Law and that entries could be made as before. It was claimed by the opposition that the Pre- emption Law of 1841 was repealed by this bill, but was admitted that those of 1836 and 1843, equally as good, were not. Many persons in South Dakota believed that the Pre-emption Law had served its purpose in this state and should be repealed, as it gave speculators a chance to take and keep all the best land. If it was repealed the Homestead Act for real settlers would prevail and thus benefit the whole state. It was declared at the time that 80 per cent of pre- emption land in South Dakota had been taken by speculators. The old law pro- vided that a settler should be permitted (1) to acquire a quarter section by living on it five years and paying the land office fees; (2) to acquire a second quarter section by growing a certain number of trees for five years and paying the land office fees ; (3) to acquire another quarter section by improving it and paying the Government price and the land office fees. The latter two provisions were in time repealed, because they gave speculators too great an advantage. It was argued in 1904 that if it was fair to give 480 acres as above in 1864, it was fair to give 640 acres west of the Missouri River in 1904. Congress finally came to recognize the obstacles when it became known that forest growing on the plains was very difficult and wholly unprofitable. Accordingly, that body repealed all except the 160-acre homestead clause. One class of people argued in 1904 that the 640-acre homestead would deprive the state of many settlers, because

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 13

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146