Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-06-15
SIOUX RESERVATION
The Sioux Lands Will Soon
Be Opened.
1t Comprises II, 900 Acres of
h Finest Land I'm Dakota and
L. Many Times Larger
Than Oklahoma.

PIERRE, 8. D., June 4. Not many months
hence q part Of the great Sioux reservation
VIII be opened for settlement. When this
period arrives something akin to the unprece-
dented Oklahoma boom is anticipated. The
people who have settled on the borders Of the
reservation are already rubbing their hands
together In great glee. They see In the fu-
ture an era more prosperous than the bud
ding states, the Dakotas, have ever been
favored with In the past. The twin states
VIII be benefited about equally by the open
Ing OF these II 600 900 acres OF land, rich in
everything that will foster agriculture and
stock raising. The admission Of the Dakotas
as states and the opening OF this fer,i.e terri
tory, which promises so much, are likely to
occur about the same time.
The rush toward the '~promised land'' has
not yet begun, ss the public may have been
led to suppose from the somewhat sensa-
tional dispatches sent out from Pierre and
other points on the reservation. No emil
grants have as yet arrived at any point on
the reservation, and none are expected until
the reservation is legally opened. No ''squat-
ters," except those termed ''squaw mem by
the people living on the border Of the reser-
walton, have been added to the number that
have been on the land for months past.
NO T~REsPAssISG ALLOWED.
There Is no chance for them TO get upon
the reservation; there Is q perfect system Of
Indian police at every point where q crossing
could be made, to prevent anything of this
kind. And these copper-colored guards are
backed up by Uncle Sans boys In blue, who
have strict orders from Washington TO pre-
| wont traEnase Thnra lie nynry raapr 70 10
lieve that the Indians will assent to the
Dawes bill opening the reservation, which
the last congress made a law, but there Is, OF
course, q possibility that they may refuse 10
sign.
1t is possible that the reservation will be
thrown open for settlement as early as two
months hence, but this Is not probable.
II the Sioux commission is successful In Sc
curing the signatures OF sufficient Indians by
thst time, the gateway OF the much talked OF
Dakota garden spot will swing outward.
The commission has already begun It's
work among the Indians. At each agency
there must oe, necessarily. q lengthy "pow
real estate boomer on the borders of the res
e~rvation admits that IT will take the commits
sion fully sixty days 10 complete It's tour
among the Indians.
Reports from missionaries and SCENTS at
the different agencies received al Pierre,
Chamberlain ana Bismarck are to the fleet
that the Indians have expressed an iuclina-
tion to sign. They thoroughly understand
the provisions OF the law, and VIII lie not en-
tirely satisfied with 1t in is entirety, they
will assent, fearing that a failure 10 DO so
will precipitate action By the government
which will be not nearly SO favorable to
them. Strong opposition is feared from the
Indians at the Standing Rock agency, al
though, John Grass, considered the most In
a~uential and brightest Indian IN the Sioux
tribe, Is advocating the signing Of the agree
ment.
RED CLOUD HAPPY.
Several concessions were made to the H.
dams in the new bill. Red Cloud, the big
chief who stirred up the antsgcniem at that
time. because the government would not pay
him for ponies taken from him In 1856, is al
lowed $2S, coo for his loss by the bill just
passed. Red Cloud winks, grfns cunningIy,
and Is as happy as a tame Indian we'll can be.
No opposition is anticipated from the slu TALLER
agencies, Brule and Crow Creek.
Although the reservation opening has been
pretty generally discussed for two or three
years, but few people living anywhere except
on the border OF the land have any idea as to
the extent Of the tract TO be opened for set
Element or the amount retained for the
indians. The land comprising the entire
Sioux reservation stretches from the Missouri
river on the east to the Black Hills on the
west, from the northern Nebraska line on the
south almost to the town Of Bismarck In
North Dakota. 1t contains % ,0l0,0+3 acres.
OF this amount II 1000, 600 are to be opened
for settlement. The different reservations
now have an Indian population as follows:
Male. Female. Total.
Cheyenne River agency. 1887 1923 1906
Crow Creek and Lower
Brule. ............ 1,121 1,153 2,274
Pine Ridge agency. 1876 2,497 4,S73
Rosebud ............. 3,725 1866 1921
Standing Rock......... 2,l90 $500 1890
Total. ..10,749 1891 23,093
The resume Of the population shows that
there are about ii 600 males In the six agen-