Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-08-13
ALONG the RIVER.

James somsn has . wood yard q few
miles above Bsuls City.
The Wasp il the name Of the new steam
ferry boat at Niobrara.
There is but company of soldiers at
Fort sully, and the only officers there are
Col. La.ells and Capt. Tolman.
Some Of the Indians ON the Yankton res
ervatiou moved their wheat with . scythe,
and piled 1t up in . heap like hay.
Bray & Fletcher, Of Yankton, have the
contract to furnish the military with fresh
meat at Cheyenne agency and Fort Randall.
10. Lawrence is engaged At Fort sully
filing his government hay contract. He
found good grass within three miles Of the
post.
The site for the supply depot for the Spot
ted Tail Indians is opposite Bijou hills,
about 80 miles below the mouth Of White
river.
Joseph LaRoche has a wood yard, . good
farm, and . large herd Of cattle about six
miles below Bijeu hills. Joe's many, friends
will be glad to hear that he is doing we'll.
Brule City, opposite the mouth Of White
river. which at n time, in the mind of its
projectors, had large expectations, has a
inihsed look. D. w. Spaulding is the only
resident.
George Mead, Of Springfield. has been
awarded the contract for the transportation
Of Indian rations from Spotted Tail landing
to the Indian camp. His bid was $3.50 per
100 pounds per 100 miles.
N. B. Reynolds is located eighteen miles
above White Swan. He has q foe farm, .
large herd of cattle, and-a good store build
ing, filled with = stock Of general merchan-
disc. He is doing . large business.
The Indians along the river spend q con.
siderable portion of their time bathing in
the Missouri. Bucks. equavs and pappooses
60 in swimming together, but all the dis
robing they do is to throw off their blank
els. When they get through bathing they
stand in the sun until their clothing dries.
When a buck throws off his blanket there is
very little on him but dirt.
The government is endeavoring to prevail
upon the Santee Indians 10 abandon their
Nebraska reservation and locate at old
Ponca. The Santees object to this change.
as most Of them have fine farms on their
present reservation and good buildings.
The Indian department is persisting in ad-
vocating the removal and unless it yields a
repetition of the Modoc- and Nee Perces ex-
perier ces may be the result. The santees
are the Indians who gave Minnesota its "a
nous 1862 massacre and they have not yet
forgotten how to turn their plowshares into
tomahawks. 81.
Along the river travellers cannot fail to be
attracted by the fine appearance of the fields
of the Yankton Indians. From Choteau
creek up to the agency buildings, about
fifteen miles, the slope from the blsff sum-
nit to the river is covered with fields Of
wheat, corn and vegetables. The neat huts
of the Indian asriculturalists are inter
spersed throughout this extent of titled land,
presenting an appearance of thrift and pros.
perity not surpassed in the white settle
ments Of the new west. Back from the
bluff range are other extensive fields, not
visible from the river, and sheep and cattle
herds which count their numbers by thou.
sands. All this is the result of . few years
effective management OF these Indians by
Maj. J. G. Gasmann, the best Indian agent
in the Sioux country, who was crowded out
by Gen. Hammond because he was an Epis-
copal clergyman.
The Spotted Tail Indians, who have
reached . point seventy-ive miles from the
Missouri river, on their march to the Rose
bud, have there halted, and will remain in
camp about a month. They are becoming
very much dissatisfied. and many of them
are seriously considering the propriety Of
returning to the river. 1t is q we'll known
fact that at least two-thirds of these Indians
were opposed to the move now in progress.
They were perfectly satis6ed to remain at
old Ponca agency, which furnishes all the
requirements Of a permanent home for these
Indians. The move was arranged through
the influence of a few leading chiefs, headed
by Spotted Tail, and that influence was pur-
by the traders and freighters for a
few pal.ry hundred dollars, which went to
those chiefs. Spotted Tail il one of the
most avaricious red men on the list, and is
governed entirely in his actions by the price
paid for his influence with his followers. A
prominent missionary in the Indian country
assures us that with Eve hundred dollars he
could have purchased the consent of the ru.
ling chiefs to remain upon the river, and
that all their people would have cheerfully
acquiesced in the arrangement. As the
move will cost the government a thousand
times that sum, it seems u though this
would have been the sensible thing 70 have
done. 1t is reported by runner from Spot
ted Tails camp that about . thousand Of
these Indians have already cut loose from
khe main hodv and uone m excnr,;ona of