The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1906-03-09
A TRUE ACCOUNT OF
EARLY PIONEER DAYS
Craig S. Thomas Writes Inter
estingIy of Frontier Life
In South Dakota.
THE MANY HARDsHIPs
He Tells of the Privations of Thos.
Days Thirty Years Ago, and Com
pares with Them the Wonder
full Prosperity Now.

full Prosperity Now.
vermilion, S. D., March 5.-Craig S
Thomas, president of the board OF
trustees of Sioux Falls college, has
prepared history of the early days
Of South Dakota, a part Of which fol-
lows:
The fact above all others which the
Atlantic states are slow to understand
is the marvelously rapid growth of thu
west. This is especially true Of THAI
part of the west through which runs
the treacherous Missouri. Storms
floods, billiards., cyclones, Indians
prairie fires, sod houses, wolves bears
| tracklesS prairies, deer and game of an
kinds in abundance-such are the ideas
| which many ,easterns have of this por-
| ton of the west, where not few large
cities are located and bumper crop.
are raised.
| Such lack of knowledge Of presem
| western conditions is doubtless due tt
two facts. First, to the hardships o.
| early western life, which. by letters te
friends, and newspaper records. were
thoroughly advertised in the east; and
second. to the provincialism Of many
eastern people who travel little, regard
| the place where they live as the cen
| ter of civilization, and forget that those
who have built up western cities anc
| towns are people from the most lmbi.
| tious and enterprlsing classes of tn.
east.
AS matter of fact, not one 1.-THE OF
the early hardshiTs in the west has
ever been told.
Water Scarce Article.
In many places water had to be
hauled in barrels for miles, and even
then was sometimes taken from
dammed-up draws in which cattle wad-
ed and drank.
For several years in succession, be-
cause of drought, hot winds, or grass
hoppers, crops failed. At such times
many families had neither means With
which to live nor cash to leave the
| country, and farms had to be mort
gagged. Children sometimes went bare
footed in winter. and with nothing COW
ering their bodies but thin calico
| dresses.
Prairie fires, set by sparks from en-
gines and by careless smokers or
campers, swept the prairies like de-
mons All the available inhabitants OF
a town went out by wagon loads, often
two or three times week, to fight the
flames. Naluables. piled In trunks OF
boxes, were buried in gardens to save
them from destruction. Household
goods We're carried to the middle OF
plowed fields, only to be set on fire
by tumbling, flaming Russian thistles.
and, Notwithstanding all efforts to pre-
vent it, whole towns were often de-
stroyed by the flames.
Winters Billiards. .
Winter billiards, with snow as fine
as sifted flour, a 60-mile wind, a cruel
temperature, and the atmosphere SC:
laden with electricity that one could
not come near a stove without receiv-
ing a severe shock, blinded both men
and cattle, and wrought destruction
upon every living thing out of doors.
Buying coal for fuel was like pur-
chasing diamonds, and could be in
dulged in only by people of means. For
many even wood was out OF the Ques-
ton because Of the long distance to 1t.
Hay was twisted into large doughnut-
like whisps and burned in stoves.
straw was tranped into sheet iron
boiler-lke holders, the covers OF the
stove removed, and the filled holders
placed over the fire upside down SO
that the flames might eat slowly from
bottom to top; COW chips (dried dung)
made hot fires, and We're preferred to
either hay or stray.
The Summers Fevers.
Many were Frustrated by fever and
ague; and the few well women of a
neighborhood went from house to
house to bake and do housework for
those who were sick; While occasional
visits from Indians kept Whole neigh
borhood afraid.
pointing. An old pioneer once told me
that land, like a colt, had to be sub
dued and that many, not understand
ing this. became discouraged and left
| before the land had lost it's widness.
| Floods occasionally damaged the
property Of those who had farms in the
river bottoms, keeping the land too wet
| to cultivate, submerging early crops.
and sometimes sweeping away build
ings and drowning stock.
| But into these hard conditions came
a hardy people.
Hardy Early Settlers.
The early settlers from this part OF
the west were largely from the ol6
world. often from conditions OF poverty
and sometimes of oppression. A single
room shack or dug-out on the wide
spreading prairies of free land, and
upon acres that We're their own, was o
home Of which the owners We're justly
| proud. Although not tree was in
sight, and the boundless green expanse
Of spring was often soon withered by
| furnace winds and the merciless sum!
mer sun: although clouds of grass.
| ing crops, or flaming tongues licked w
the meager harvests which tho newly
broken sod yielded, yet these Ieople
were Injured to hardships; these con-
ditions were bad enough, but they had
no better to which to turn. Homes they
must make for their families, and they
1 stuck to the task with grim determine
| ton.
| AS a reward of such perseverance,
conditions have entirely changed
| Farms that 80 years ago discouraged
American owners sold for 81 per acre,
that they might have enough to leave
the country. are now worth from s55 ia
SIS per acre. Grasshoppers are Of the
past; the breaking upeef the sod has
eliminated prairie fires; thorough culti-
walton has brought the land up to its
highest efficiency; 80 years growth Of
trees has modified the winds and molli-
| fed the storms.
Standing on top of Spirit Mound in
South Dakota, where a hundred years
ago. Lewis and Clark stood and looked
upon treeless prairies. one now sees a
land Of splendid homes, each home nes-
tied in the. shelter of an ample grove Of
cottonwoods. box elders, silver NAPLES.
elms and walnuts. and many Of them
boasting good orchards Of apples and
plums. The greater part of this mar
Vicious transformation has hean