The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-10-20
METHODS or Cattle
Men BEING FELT
Investigation Under Way on
Cheyenne Reservation in
Leasing System.
~4s. ..e.---+
WILL BE NO.. SCANDAL
WILL BE NO. SCANDAL
The Cattle Men WhosHave Invaded the
Indian. Country With Their Herds
sHaYSyT rsstsdSA If ReSdsnenwish i
sFairness and Dispatch.

Aberdeen, S. D., Oct. 1i.--An inves-
LEGATION is under way at the Cheyenne
indian afecer3ation of the leasing sys-
item under Which cattle men are graz
lug their Stock nponi#t reservation
lands. sSIhe. investigation is being con-
Quoted by Il representative OF the inter-
lor'Hcpartment and a lawyer represent
ing the Indians Rights association. Up
to- 1901, when Major Ira Hatch, the
present agent. gas installed, the cattle
men were allowed to Craze their herds
upon the reservation lands without
paying the redskin owners a cent, e%-
cept hat was paid to squaW men and
half breeds who were, Possessed OF IN
fiuence with ~thcS1ndians.
Major Hatch ordered Il. these illegal
glazcrs TO leave the reservation, and
there, We're 100000 head of stock on
the reservation. These animals were
owned largely by big corporations in
Omaha, Kansas City, Chicago and else
where, and the total value of the cat
tie run up well oven $4,000, 900.
Under Major Hatch's regime, the res
ervation has been divided into eight
huge pastures, which have been fenced
by the cHttlcmen and leased to them
forp periods OF five years.
The renters are required to pasture
AT least one hundred head Of horses or
cattle for each head OF an Indian fam
lily on the reservations, free of cost.
The cattle are limited to one for
every thirty acres, making it impos-
sible to exhaust the rich grazing land,
which is in the South Dakota belt OF
which it has been said that IAN acre Il
year will keep a steer"
Major Hatch also caused a great
trail, six miles wide md eighty-four
miles long, to be fenced off, running
TIn ~ n hn - V1a.,i AT nf fJn r.,, 4 1 -, - To
Evarts, S. D., Where connection is made
with the Milwaukee road and the great
cattle markets of the country. 'rf1a
Indians receive 25 cents for every head
of cattle driven along the trail.
Since the system was i%naugurated,
$29s,000 has beer paid out to the In
dams or nearly $25 for every man,
the Indian population of which is about
2,500.
4 AS some OF the leases will expire
within a yes or two. the cattle barons,
looking back with longing memories
to the palmy days of the '90s, have
Undertaken to bring about q reversal
to the old. style Of things, and as the
best means of bringing this about, it
is charged they have wrought upon the
feelings of members Of the more
or less sentimental organization of
Bostoff resldentsI known astho Indians
Rights associations. which complained
to the interior department and secured
an Investigation.
The Indians OH the observation have
become c%ontented and prosperous UNI
der the lease system. Most of them
nave taken lands in severalty, and the
remainder Of the reservation, Which is
NEARLY l00s'milesS longssa IT'D eseventy-five
miles wide, will soon be thrown open to
settlement, IL the cattle harons do not
succeed in preventing such action on
the part of congress by working
through the Indians Rights association.
and otherwise.
The region is very fertile and farm
ing experiments have rover it to be
as rich an agricultural section as it is
a grazing region, and 1t Is conceded to
be the finest grazing ground in the
United States.