The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1905-09-29
FIRST ROSEBUD WINTER
SETTLERS ARE GETTING READY
FOR COLD DAYS.
INDIANS NOW USE AUTOMOBILES
Every Settler-Many Of Them Young
Women-owns a Shotgun and Bird
Dog-Wth Which the Prairie Chick.
ems are Hunted-No Cows There.

Dog-With Which the Prairie Chick
ems are Hunted-No Cows There.
Settlers on the Rosebud reservation
are settling down into the beginning
of their first winter in sod homes
And with their abundant crops for
their first year on sod fields, they are
a happy lot of homesteaders
Every claim on the Rosebud reser-
vation with the exception of a patch
forty little, has been taken up either
by the legitimate lucky lottery win.
ners, or by squatters. And every claim
holder lives in a little house-most of
the 1900 of them are made of sod and
are but tiny dots on the unending pic
ture of prairie grass spread out be-
fore you. 1t is a nightly changed
scene from that of year ago, when
the virgin plain stretched out for miles
and miles and miles with no sign Of
the white mans plow to rufIle it's
smoothness and no smoke issuing from
chimneys here and there and every
where-for then there were no chin
neys.
There are girls-dozens and dozens
of girls, on the Rosebud. Some Of
them used to be school teachers back
in Chicago and in the east But they
chose breathing the fresh air of a new
land, breaking the untouched prairie
for the first time and riding Indian
ponies to chalking arithmetical figures
on city school blackboards and putting
overshoes on little boys and girls when
the closing gong sounded at night.
And so. being lucky and having drawn
claims from their Uncle Samuel, these
feminine creatures-all ages-have
gone out from Bonesteel and settled
down on the reservation land
And there is a shotgun in every
home-be it the dwelling Of man or
woman. There is a shot gun in the
corner there, and a red Irish setter
pup or a spotted pointer, and every
night this man or woman homesteader
shoulders yonder weapon and follows
the bird dog pup out through the
draws" bringing down grey feath-
cred fowl with puffs of smoke. Next
day same man or woman claimholder
enjoys rich, rare mouthful of game
that savors of the wild west.
No Cows on the Rosebud.
Not many weeks ago a Chicago yel-
low journal contained a full PACED il
lustration of Rosebud girls and their
avocations on the reservation. Some
of them, garbed in blue overalls, were
busy milking sleek looking bossy cows
just as the sun went down All the
more quaint was the suggestion of the
picture when the real truth were
known. for as a matter of fact the
Rosebud reservation is a cowless tract
"a tract which you can rove from end
to end without hearing the lowing of
the herd and without finding the mark
of cloven hoof in the prairie.
And so the Rosebudders buy little
tin cans at Bonesteel or Fairfax-lit-
tie tin cans which, when opened, show
a mass of semi-sOlid creamy white
ness, and which, with little encour-
agement, pOurs out in tiny stream
into your coffee and makes you think
YOU are camping. Condensed milk is
the salvation of the ROsebudder.
One House of Building Blocks.
There is one house on the reserva.
ton that makes you think you are
walking up Michigan avenue in Chi
cago. Though it lacks the shrubbery
and trees, perhaps, of richly built
dwelling house, yet it puts up a good
front. 1t is made of the new building
blocks, and the best of it is that the
building blocks were manufactured
right there on that prairie land. Mike
Golden, travelling passenger agent for
the Milwaukee railroad, is the owner
of this house. He found a little gravel
on his claim, hauled out little cement
from Bonestcel and, with a machine,
manufactured the blocks for his ce-
ment home.
Indians Ride in Autos.
The old methods of getting across
country do not hold on the Rosebud
lands. The ponies are not fast enough
for the fastest, and bicycles are barred
out. Automobiles, however, are strict
ly in the game-even some of the red |
skins acting as their own chauffeurs. |
Ben Two Johns, a we'll known Sioux, |
delighted with the big new machine
which the Jackson boys are running,
went to the city and bought a pair of |
autos, just to show that he was game,
and now, like a bloated bond holder,
he uses one while the other is laid up
in the shed for repairs.
Excellent Crops.
The first years crops on the Rose
bud are prize winners-and they have
sprung from the mere sod. Large |
quantities of hay have been grown
and much flax, corn, potatoes, melons,
strawberries and other similar vegeta-
bles.
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