The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-11-25
ing the trespassing of stock.

80 'N \opoSH'uS " SNpSN.
We cannot see any reason. stretch
our hearts and minds as we may. for
such a fence. 1t would cost many
thousands of dollars to construct
this fence and :he expense of main
tanning it would BE- only an ad,
dltiona' tax upon our resources,
which should be better employed in
sensible expenditure towards better
ing our condition. Many thousands.
in number, of cattle and horses
roam over the ceded lands north of
us. and, as far as | have been able
to learn and observed the men who
own these vast herds are men of
honor. great power. and. as IL mat
ter OF business and ~precautiOn, use
every means to keep their stock
from Slravlng off their own ranges.
Inese men have made many dollars
Tor us by taking up at the eastern
markets stray beef cattle bclonyiuv
TO the Indians Of this reservation.
selling them anI forwarding the
proceeds to the owners. Probably
1T has been represented to o thai
these men permit their stock tOdr,it
over our reservation for the purpose
OF securing better p%asturaye, but
TINS theory Will nOt hO d good. a.
ont y about $50 head of cattle and
lOl head of horses were impound
last summer after the most search
my efforts were made in a round. y
especially arranged az an opportune
time for gathering all non-reserva-
ton stock. The stock thus brought
to The agency were found in the Bad
lands, near the line of the pro>pos-
Ell fence, where hardly suffice Mt
vegeta ion grows to keep the grass
hoppers from dying. Only a few
head of this stock were found in the
interior of the reservation. We
think it very reasonable to suppose
that as onl about 900 head of cat
tie and horses could be found on our
reservation bel, ngin" to a country
adjacent to us which contains 600
600 head, that the ranchmpn north
OF us are careful and capable stock
growers, law abiding citizens aud
are doing much towards observing
the, United States statutes regarding
treaspassing stock on Indian reser-
vations. We fail to see where we
have suffered from the presence of
about 900 head of cattle and horses
eating a few blades OF. grass, such
as the Bad Lands afford, to the ex-
tent of making it necessary for the
government to go into u pockets
to get enough money with which to
build and maintain a expensive
and useless fence. The Great Spirit
causes the poor supply of grass in
tue Bad Lands to grow and it does
not cost us anything to produce it,
but the funds to our credit in the
treasury OF the United States has
been dearly bought, and we do not
like to have it squandered to protect
a few individuals along the White
rive. who are able to take care of
themselves.
We believe the members of the
Western South Dakota Stock Grow
er's Association will gladly co-ope-
rate with US to the end that wi,lful
violations of the law above referred
to will not occur with thei know
ledge and consent. We believe it
will be time enough to consider the
project of fencing in this reservation,
or any part Of it, when the number
of trespassing stock from the north
ern herds justifies such a course.
We do not believe the conditions
requiring a fence about US will ever
exist. We are on good terms with
the people off the reservation around
us and do not wish to bear the evil
consequences arising from the re-
vengeful spirit of a band Of selfish
creatures within u borders who
are obviously behind this fence