The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-14
Bachelor Maids Step From
Decollete Gowns and Ball
Rooms to Prairie s Strife.
FINE MARRIAGE CHANCES
Two Hundred and Thirty One
in Number, Girs Are Rivals
in Wealth and Beauty,

ulWn the prairie al South nakota,
With pretty hands reddned and rough
| ened by toll. fair complications exposed
daily to the tanning winds. that num-
her of real society girls from nes
| Moines and other Iowa cities are lead
ing the strenuous life of the pioneer
upon what WAS formerly the Rosebud
Indian reservation.
Aomebuilders in reality, every one
OF these enterprisins girls secured II
quarter section when that TERRITORY
was opened to settlers two years ago
Now they have turned their hacks up
On the ballroom and theater. and are
herding cattle. 1illing the soil and liv-
ing the actual life ri the prairie
pioneer
While the majority are farming or
raising cattle. others devote them
selves 10 various enterprises. One is
making money and winning reputa-
ton drought the practice Of law: an
other has become a preacher: still
others ACT as guides.
Yet these girls. many of whom rep
resent families of wealth. seem greatly
pleased with their experience More
over. they are hesesed with proposals
OF marriage from the men on the
reservation.
Perhaps il was sudden freak Of
fancy that caused all these Iowa girls
TO apply for homes1eads when the
Rosebud reservation was thrown open
TO settlers.
They had read of the success of
women who had staked claims in other
sections. More than one poor girl
secured an excellent farm or grazing
acres when the government lands in
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory
were thrown open. 1t is true that
many OF the Iowa girls already had
comfor-able-in some case luxurious
homes. with fathers possessing bank
accounts amply sufficient to meet all
their needs
All -Held-Dewn- Claims.
The laws governing the taking up of
public lands provide that the claimant
must actually reside upon. or hold
down" as il is termed. for a certain
length of time the land thus obtained.
and this provision doubtless caused
many a pretty brow to pucker in per-
pleNity and the pursuing OF many pair
OF ruby lips.
Secure those homesteads. however.
they would When some of the holder
spirits announced. that they proposed
10 become actual settlers in the new
country-to be real farmers and
rarchers-a thrill of approval ran
through other breasts.
And that is why 125 of lowa's most
charming specimens of feminity are
now wearing short skirts. stout boots
and freckled faces as they hold
down the claims they were fortunate
enough TO secure in the distribution of
farms on the Rosebud.
1t is remarkable how these plucky
young women have adapted themselves
10 the rather rough life of the prairie
pioneer. Girls who in days gone by
were shocked il the sudden departure
of a servant made it necessary TO wash
the dishes or clean their rooms are
1illing the soil or herding cattle with
the nolchalance of an old-timer
By rare good fortune in most in
stances. and by clever trading in
others. nearly all these girls are in the
same neighborhood. Iowana. as the
colony is called. is near Phillips, S.
D., almost in the heart of the rich
Boaesteel L.ln tly.
Praise for the Maids.
Soon after these young women set
tiers made their homes On the Dakota
plains. United States Commissioner J.
Z. Kellar OF Bonesteel visited Sioux
City, Ia, and was reported as having
remarked:
The young man who wants wife
young. intelligent, clever and the
owner Of first-class farm-should
start for Bonesteel and the Rosebud
without delay. A third OF them, or
more, are college graduates; all have
more or less money; every one is per-
fectly capable of making good liv-
ing for herself; every one has good
farm In fact, they represent the finest
231 matrimonial opportunities l know
OIL"
Perhaps Mr.. Kellar's enthusiastic
praise was widely read. In any event,
the homestead girls on the Rosebud
have not been neglected in the way of
proffered natri'Gony, and most of
those in the Iowana colony can count
their proposals by scores.
Among their Observation-Disclosures
in this sense, meaning other settlers
within half hundred miles-are a
number Of single men who also seized
the opportunity to acquire good farms
at the hands of generous govern
ment.
About Some Of the Girls
Among the girls who have taken Up
claims in the new country, one of the
most popular is Miss Lottie Rogers,
formerly of Ames, la. She IL the only
daughter of wealthy retired farmer,
SO that, from the standpoint CT fin
ancial necessity, 1t was not incumbent
upon her to undergo the hardships of
the pioneer. Happening to draw
homestead in a community almost en-
tirely composed of bachelors, Miss
Rogers had not been in her new home
a month before she had received sew
eral proposals of marriage. Now, It is
said, her victims number more than
100.
Then, there is Miss Philippe Wat
rous, whose father owns a six-story
business block in Des Moines, and is
estimated to be worth million dol
lars. Miss Watrous became guide
shortly after she reached BOnesteel
and conducted prospecting parties
over the country that few years ago
was red with blood shed in battle with
warning Indian tribes Miss Watrous,
too, has had many opportunities to
marry, but has declined them all.
One Of the social leaders on the
plains, as she was in Iowa, is Mrs. L.
Drakely Rood, wife of a prominent
physician. She is living temporarily
In 10 by IL shanty on her claim,
while her husband is constructing
handsome $4,000 residence on Grand
avenue, the fashionable residence
street OF Des Moines.