The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-02-21
RESERVATION HURRAH
SCENES AND INCIDENTS NEAR THE
BORDER OF promise.

When it became known in Pierre that
the proclamation opening the great Siou1
reservation had been issued q mighty chez,
went forth and the scene of excitement al
most beggared description. The crowd
made q rush for the river bank and par
ticipated in a grand rush for the other side,
When the news was made known in the
state house by the firing of q cannon, the
members arose from their seats and gave
three long cheers, aud q motion to adjourn
went through as soon as it could be heard,
Flags floated from every building and
bands played. Those who dill not &c
across in tho rush kept up the general
hurrah in the city until nightfall. The
greatest interest seemed to center on the
river and the other side, where the
mile square, dotted with houses
was plainly visible. Teams hitched to
wagons had been stationed all along the
river bank on this side all day, and count.
less boomers remained by, ready to make q
start for the promised land. When the
word was received, each team, with the
wagon filled with men, started, and many
races were had to see which would gain the
other side and be first to get ON the choice
quarter sections of the famous mile square.
They found no hindrance in crossing the
river, the ice being perfectly sound, but
when the first loads reached the other bank
they found an unlocked for obstacle in
their way. The troops which had been
stationed there for some weeks were drawn
up in line along the bank aud the first ex-
cited boomers were stopped by the stern
command to halt. They did not want to,
but when confronted by bayonets in the
hands of the soldiers sufficient in numbers
to keep them back they did.
They fell back on TO the river and while
they could not proceed their numbers we're
being constantly sweiled by others who
were arriving until the crowd easily num-
bered 1000 excited men. The military had
received no orders from headquarters to
allow boomers to go on, and SO they re-
sisted the crazy throng with their fullest
power. The boomers. organized with re-
AAAOASrA iiNiAUcbo, lJLoCecAcu up tuc river
bank again until they faced the line of
troops. Every man was armed, but no
guns We're drawn. They were ready to
break through the line of troops ut the first
chance presented.
Col. Tassin, in command of the soldiers,
cains forward and talked with the boomers.
Mounting a stump where he could be seen
and heard he explained that he had no
orders to let them in and firmly told them
they must go back. At first the boomers
insisted that they would proceed, hut
finally recrossed the river to this side a
disappointed crowd. Down the river two
miles below East Pierre the situation was
different. Another boomers camp was
located and when the cannon announced
the news they made q start to the
number of several hundred. 1t
Was unfortunate just Mt this time
that the guard that Lad been thrown
along the river was being changed and the
troops were rot prepared to hold them in
check Consequently the boomers had
crossed and werc scattering up over the
hills back on the reservation before the
troops could be ready to hold them in
check. The latter, however. Immediately
commenced a hot pursuit and finally over
o and captured all but a few. No orders
were received by evening to let them go on,
so the troops built fires along the
reservation bank of the river Mt intervals
frout,upt ornt,r1, "a IicnaV,ov m, ,,l,a .,~,-
try to sneak by the guards. Some of the
boomers are iii organized bands ard have
county records and officers elected so that
they can organize rs soon us they reach
counties they have selected, and in several
cases several organizations are ready for
each county, which will make trouble when
they come together on the ground. AS it
is. the military has guarded 80 we'll the
bank that it is impossible to get over, rot
withstanding the presidents proclamation
says they can. Tho Indian police patrol
the reservation further back from the
line of troops and word has come
that they have arrested a number of
stray boomers that got through the guard.
The people at Fort Pierre, though allowed
to live there, are not allowed to leave the
mile square except to come to Pierre by a
permit from the officer in charge, but they
are holding a big jubilee there and bonfres
and guns can be seen and heard. A mum.
Der Of them tried to erade the guard and
get into the reservation when the news first
came, but We're corralled by the Indian
police. Fred W. Pettigrew, o brother of
United States Senator Pcttigrew, is one
of the leading boomers and is OF the head
of one OF the strongest organized bands
who will occupy the land there. Capt. w.
j. Shannan, ex. member of the Ohio legis-
lature, is another prominent leader. Sew
oral large bands of boomers have gone up
and down the river fur enough in hopes to
get around the line of guards strung along,
and there is no doubt but that many will
succeed in crossing and getting o foothold,
though the troops will scour the lands with
tho help of the Indian police and take
them back until they rece;ve orders to the
contrary.
Men who were through the Oklahoma
boom say this excitement fully equals
what was experienced there. Each train
that came in brought numbers who swell
the excited crowd. Some three miles
above Pierre a crowd of boomers to the
number Of ten succeeded in getting by the