The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-07-22

when he reached the British lines tie off,
rers refused 10 allow him ~ pass. He re-
turned for the purpose Of gathering to-
g"rher a sufficient sum To satisfy their de-
mands: for. having been the original owner
Of property in Yaukton that l. now worth
more than !No.c1 Jim" Witherspoon is nut
wholly without means. He is the only liV-
ing white man who had been on the present
site Of YaHktpn previous tn lSSS. and his
;ram" house is the first one ever erected il,
Il am rather an old man "a start FOR the
kl"ndike,' said the old man. before taking
The train. hut his Is a familiar business
{" me. They tell me that IN never get
hack. but I've been told that so many
times. as have started on other journey :.
That IL has been AN old story 10 ma for
years. They tTiei tn scare me In that way
when | took III. Kansas fortuns-seelSing
fever in thu fiftir-, they told me the same
thing when ! came w here I'm 1908 among
Tire savage Sioux. and ihey repeated il
when | crossed the plains and the Rockies
in the seventies 30 seek my fortune In Cali
fcfnfa. ! went over the divide three times.
and heard the same story every time.
When / started for the Klondike last year
every one said the same thing. But ] dill.
and here | am ready 80 start again. Com
ing back? uf course. I'm coming back. and
I'm going TO bring enough gold with me- Ia
surprise the people OF this lifeless old town.
People talk as III | were Old. but feel
as young as / did when | came to this
place nearir half century ago. I, hardly
seems possible that all these states many
Of them with popuious cities. have all
of 'he Dakotas. | am the .s~~ly living
white man who had been oi! the present
site Of this prosy old town previous "a 1S5S.
| can hardly realize that the three white
men that found here then have. long since
passed away | found them living in a
tent on yondeT bluff waiting for the Fed-
eral Government 90 move the swlrms II
Sioux Indians onto the YsGkton reeergs-
rion. They were waiting there so they
could nile on the land as soon as the In
dams left. but / got the start cf Them
DO you notice the lay OF this lauG WHERE.
lankton is located? Well furtN-eight Years
ago all This land was alive with more than
500 Sioux Indians. and the spot whore W..
now stand WAS occupied by the vigwam
of the head chief of the Sioux old fighting
Strike Rec. He was "A mighty chief in his
day. He cam. hy his nam. In a bloody war
the Sioux had recently had with the R-eS.
I'm which he had slaughtered p large mum
Der OF the latter IN "A hand-t"-hand contest
with his tuma hawk
You see. had lust come from Kansas.
where hal sunk a small fortune. l wanted
TO See something Of the world. 81 in the
early HftieS. | cDuycrts.i my property into
money and started overland for Kansas.
The Kansas fever was then ON. Every
body was rushing 10 Kansas Ia make for
tune. purchased a large tract of land
and cast my tot with the rest The bottom
soon fell nut of the boom. and that was
followed by floods that carried away my
buildings and crops | had a chance To sell
my land saving ab,u: , per cent Of my
investment. So ! sold on; and. with many
others. came into the land Of the Dakotas.
Sioux City'S real estate kings. in our
party. We started on foot up the Missouri
River, looking fer a good place to i"cate.
We found Sioux city the head of naViGa-
ton and a village Of scattered shantles
containing about SD Eabitants.
That place did not suit me. So after
making several trips on foot and alone M
the river / looked over this bottom land
back by ycnder rise Of ground and l said.
This Is the place for town on making
the acquaintance of the Indians | found
tina: all the Sioux chiefs had gone 10 W ash
ington to arrange for the Cedin2 ~ he
Nankton reservation TO them. ! remain ID
on the spot. and soon the Indians from all
the country around gathered here Urdrs-
StTik. Rec TO DE ready to move on tn.
reservation on she i1ta Of July.
The next day | filed tract Of land
lying just west Of what Is nov Broadway
As the settlers came pouring in and taxing
up village lots ! found myself man of
considerable means. but IL has all long
since gone and here | am about to start out
for the third time To seek fortune. I
have done some travelling in my time. and
previous To 1859 did most OF il on foo.
When proving UP on my town site claim ir
lsJ, had some difficulty In getting :be
patent and walked all th- way 10 Washing
ton and back to settle the matter"