Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-02-07

aoraer,a, PROVIDED by the terms of said
Vs. e naaa ana such title and agreement
act of co gniaea Us vaild by section l6 of the
Nov congress approved March 8, 1879.
90 I'M Nv, TINS mile square Is situated onno-
sue me city OF Pierre on the M,ssapnr;
..vel' at the mouth of the Bad river. md 10
un.'iuea INTO two almost equal parts Inv Tho
:; oau river. On the north side of the r;var
IS IS located what is now known as the TOW,
OF fort Pierre. The population III esoae
un1ll last fall had been totally confn cd -
npo9t twenty families, whose occun ation
mas a: oeen trapping, bartering with the In
u N,.: ana raising few head of cattle and
s LUZ, an acre or two of corn. They
l nave sutered hardships untold, and have
rune existed than lived. They have SUI
Iered Indian depredations ard privations
which would have totally exterminated
people of ordinary physical onolitias
Durlng all this time they have been allowed
tc occupy this land by the grace of the
government and the Indians.
ABOUT the time the reservation was as
sured of being opened last fall large num-
Der OF spectators came from Fort Pierre.
ana located, and everything went we'll for
awhile, when number of half breed Sioux
realized that land at this point was worth
something, and they attempted to drive
the settlers of, but the latter held their
ground. -i0tA
That part of the mile square on the south
side OF Bad river has been occupied for
many years by half breed family by the
name of Traversy. About month ago a
band OF boomers on this side of the Mis-
sour conceived the idea that if that part of
the mile square on the north side of the
Bad river could be occupied by settlers that
part of the south side or the river was omen
to the same conditions, and therefore the
half breeds could not locate on the
south sido and take up the land in
severalty any more than they could on
the north Side. Accordingly one dark
night they organized band, and with
teams OF lumber and tools crossed
the Missouri and located on the south side
OF the Bad river On the mile square. Morn
ing found them with the slice of land
nearly all surveyed into town lots, pub
lie building partially erected thereon, and
a complete roster of city officers elected.
The half-breeds upon discovering the
| boomers, Immediately organized and as.
saulted them, the settlers being routed and
chased back across the river, several being
seriously injured in the fray. In this fight
the settlers we're backed by the Fort Pierre
settlers, who also informed the military
authorities Of the circumstances at Fort
Bennett. Immediately four companies of
regulars We're dispatched to the scene of
the conflict with orders to allow no one to
settle on the reservation or the mile square.
Conceiving the idea that, if the Traversy
half breeds could hold that part of the mile
square on the south side of the Bad river
as claim, according to the reservation
bill, he could do the same, Tomahawk, a
| full-blooded Sioux Indian, who had re-
sided at and around Fort Pierre for fifty
years, then laid claim to the land which he
had heretofore occupied. This strip ex.
tends right across the mile square from
| north to south and takes in the entire east
| half of the same, which includes Fort
Pierre, and the other half the east half of
the Traversy claim.
The situation is. therefore, complicated
in the extreme. The Fort Pierre settlers
| will not give up without struggle, and at
| the present time the settlers are carrying
on the traffic in town lots just as il then
titles were as good as any that could be
| had. Spectators are locating thereon, but
one thing is certain, that while there may
be chance for big speculations in the lots
at Fort Pierre it will be many years tc
come before the titles will be settled, and
from the present outlook there will be nc
end of controversy. While it appears that
the original squatters ought in equity te
have some rights to the land they have
lived on for SO many years, yet they have
located and lived thereon with the full
knowledge that they had no right to do so.
All parties interested are intensely des
perate, and there is certain to be more OF
less serious difficulty before the question
is settled.