The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1904-09-02

Map of South Dakota showing location
OF Rosebud Indian reservation.
reservation is purely stoc.-n sing
country. The lands have been allotted
20 the Indians as grazing land and the
number of alloitmouts SOD far is 5iNJ
The attempt to raise crops has been
made but has proved practically % iail-
ure and has for this reason been almost
entirely abandoned The soil is of an
alkaH nature. and me frequent and
long droughts make it almost Imp0-si-
Bile to bring any kind of "a crop to ma-
turity. A few Indians plant small gar
den patches in the damp ground alja-
cent 10 the streams. but the only thing
that proves profitable is st0ekrlIsilc
The Indians possess about 10000
head Of cattle They supply the lOy-
ernment with quantity of fresh beef
IN one year 10 amounting tO l3,l.0U0
pounds. valued at Sii.0u0 lu addition
they ship an average of about 1000
head OF cattle 90 the eastern markets
each year This brings in about $780,
00O more. and the other sources of
earnings of the Indians are from wood
contracts about $4,000. hay $1,000 and
freIehtlng supplies more than $4,000.
The reservation has been more OF
less troubled by the trespassIue 0l
stock of the ranchmen in the country
adjacent TO the reservation. lu 1899
a special effort was made to sid Tho
Indians land of these dcprelulne
herds. and about 5000 head of live
stock was driven ont. but it is probable
that since that year it has all and
more, driftod back
There is a general tendency among
the Indians of the reservation t0 tu-
berculosis. but aside from this their
health Is good In view of the great
extent Of the reservation and the large
population, the force of physicians is
small. The deaths outnumber The
births. in one year the former being
l5i and the latter l2i
The effort 10 educate the Indians is
Indicated by the number of schools on
the reservation. there being 10 day
schools and three boarding schools.
one Of which f. maintained by the
government and the other two being
undor control of missionary societies.
The boarding schools report an average
attendance Of lSi at the government
school. and 20G and 90 at the other
two schools. The average attendance
upon the day schools is a. and SJ3
scholars have attended the schools thus
far. All these schools are doing good
work and greatly assisting in the prog
ress OF the people to civilization.
In tho presidents proclamation
throwing open these lands for settle
ment, the provision IS made that The
lands shall be entered under the gene
eral provisions Of the homestead and
t0wnslte laws, and all the entries un
der the homestead law are 90 De made
in person. except ln the case of eX-s0i.
dlors and ox-sailors. who may employ
an agent The entries under the home
stead law Will be permitted at The rate
of 100 per day from the day of open
ing. August s. Persons desiring TO es-
tablish townsites on the reservation
will be permitted 10 make application
al any time before the opening. and
their applications will be passed upon
by the commissioner of the general
land Office II is hardly 10 be expect
ed that there will be the rush for tno
lands Of the Rosebud reservation as
there has been when other reservations |
which were more valuable as agricul- |
tural lands have been opened for set |
but that hundreds viii avail |
themselves Of the opportunity offered |
by the opening Of this reservation TO |
obtain free land is certain