The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-17
DISGUISED LAND. SEEKERS
Many Returning from the Sisseton Res
eryation in a Bedraggled Condition.
Women Given Choice Claims on the Edge of
Town Site-0k!ahoma Boomers Prepar-
ing for a Race OIL Tuesday.
WEARY BOOMERS.

Squads of worn-Out Home-Seckers Return
After Viewing the Land of rhe sissetons
Browns VALLEY. Mimi, April 16.-The
situation here to-day presented nothing to
Justify the slightest apprehension of
trouble from claim-jumplng or any of the
causes which usually make mischief in
similar occurrences. The Sisseton reserva-
ton. SO far as heard from, has been thrown
open without the firing of O shot or a squat
ter's row or anything of a serious charac-
ter. A few minutes before / o'clock the
leaders in the town-site race arrived on the
chosen ground. Half an hour afterward
two hundred men and a few women were
on the spot. Then ensued a discussion
as TO the exact locality of the
section line. The first care of the
lOcaters was to settle the women. Miss
Burnett, of Minneapolis, Miss Sharpe. Mrs.
Osborne. Mrs. De Hart and other venture
some squatters of the fair sex were prompt
ly installed on good lands close to the town.
site. The site of the town is On an eleva-
ton. Half al hour later a restaurant and
grocery store were running full blast,
while a dozen frame shanties wereln course
of construction. Inspector Callahan, of
the quartermaster's department of the
ARMY stationed at st. Paul, rode q fast
horse and was on the ground early.
The outlook for water and other neces-
sarles of the reserve is good. There will
be no suffering. Excellent water flows
from numerous springs. The new town is
q few miles nearer TO Wheaton than to
Browns Valley. The distance west from
that point Is fifteen miles. The sitei close
to the intersection of three proposed lines
of raIlway-the great Northern extension
from Morris north, the Milwaukee,, from
Wilmot, now IN course of construction,
and the Duluth extension north from Wa
tertOwn. All the cavalry and infantry
under Colonel Bernard and Captain Will
hanson are lying quietly In camp. The
troops Will not move until Instructions i'll
writing are received from the Secretary of
the Interior.
The crowd Is increasing at the town site.
but all is quiet. Officials who have inst
returned from the reservation say the
crowd at this point is slightly increasing,
and there Is liable to be trouble there.
though not of a serious character. They
have found stragglers in every direction.
In the last two hours they passed fifty peo-
pie on their way back here. discouraged,
bedraggled and exhausted. A few are now
arriving. and have not q word to say. They
became lost on the prairie and thereby lost
their claims. The number Will steadily in
crease. The Indiaps have picked up quite
a number and guided them back to town.
Soldiers have run across others ndbrOught
them here.
Another dispatch says the boomers are
returning in squads OF five. ten and fifteen.
They all tell the same story of getting on
Indian land and being warned OIL. One
Indian was knocked down and badly hurt
by a settler yesterday in a dispute over the
land. His squaw was struck in the face
with n buggy whip. 1t is reported to-day
that the Indian may die. The ludicrous
side of the rush begins to show up in in
stances of ragged drivers. broken wagons.
balkv horses and articles lost by the way
side.