Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-06-19

mind one incident in particular when
a party Of young people were coming
home from Lennon they came upon
a man sitting serenely in his wagon
where the road makes an abrupt de-
scent into small stream known as
Flat Creek He must have had all
the patience of a saint, for he seemed
young people stopped long enough to
hear him drawl out very slowly with
a nasal twang that was amusing:
"Well- t-do-you-think 'o-that?
Baking & Ding gdown-hill.' y
lie then informed the people that
he had purchased the team that day
and wondered what they would do
when they got to Grand river. 1T is
needless to say it was a team wearing
long ears.
Here we find emigrants Of all ages
coming to Butte county to make
their homes. Old people who have
perhaps endured hardships of pioneer
ing when the accommodations were
vastly more trying than at this late
day; some with families; some that
may be termed newly-weds and are
coming here to begin life; and lastly,
a great many bachelor" ladies and
gentlemen.
Everybody seems to be busy, but
none more so than is Mr.. TillOtSOn.
Besides attending to work at home
and locating homesteaders, he has
done great deal to assist his Canton
friends in the way of attending to
matters and hauling provisions and
materials that would otherwise have
necessitated a trip to town.
Mrs. F. L. Keep arrived from Can
ton a short time ago to visit with her
daughters and son.
John Keep has been somewhat sick
since coming west, but we are pleased
to note that he is now improving.
Norman Rogers, son of DR.. Rogers,
is here, having come out with Floyd
Milliman. He may decide to take a
claim and remain here.
Joe Olson, of the firm of Olson
Bros. & TObiasen, accompanied by
his brother Ben, were here last week,
and made me a visit on their way
back to Lennon from looking up
claims.
Miss Goldy Shedd, who graduated
from the Canton High School this
year, arrived last week and will spend
the summer with her grandpa }. B.
!Shedd and brother Claude.
Clyde HodSon, former CantOnite,
is in Lennon, having proved up on
his claim recently.
We have had an abundance of rain
and everywhere the grass is as green
as fields Of grain, and is especially
more noticeable where hay has been
cut the year before or a prairie fire
has passed through.
Norman Rogers and the writer
we're over in the Bad Lands Thurs
day of last week after load of wood.
While engaged in making up our load
Norman heard a faint mewing and
thought it was that of a cat-bird.
Upon nearing the place from whence
the cat-like sound came, he was very
much surprised to discover that it
was real kitten-a young bob-cat
about two weeks old. Norman
promptly took it up and brought it
home. He will have fine pet when
full grown. We did not find the old
er members of the bOb-cat family, in
fact we were not very anxious to make
their acquaintance, as we were not
armed for such a meeting. These
cats attain an enormous size and a
rancher informed us that they kill
calves and sheep. This young animal
must have fallen from it's nest and
rolled off the high Cliff.
Considering ourselves very fortu-
nate in not encountering the old cats,
we were preparing to have lunch,
when serpent Of the "blue-racer"
family put in an appearance. A snake
of any kind is not very pleasant to
} meet, but one of these "speedy' kind
!, is very annoying, especially when a
person has not a bit. of snake bite
J remedy" along. A rattlesnake usu-
: ally sounds a warming when person
gets too uncomfortably close, but the
, first knowledge person has of the
/ presence of one these long, fat blue
devils is when they suddenly rise up
, on the end of their tail and make a
lunge in your direction. This was
our first experience with blue racer
and we'll not hunt for another in ord.
! er to repeat it. When they travel,
and they do it mighty lively, they
, seemingly stand upon the end of theil
| tail, making long leaps in the air
} We don't know how far they are cap
l able Of jumping, but this one cleared
punches of sage brush easily, and as
= for speed, we doubt if Dan Bragstad
= could have kept up with his new foul
cylinder auto. One popularity about
, these snakes is, that if a person runs
f from them they will enter in the
! chase, but will run from person il
: pursued. Knowing this we both
! made dash after 1t, but it was toe
: swift for us. and it soon disappeared
While at Meadow Friday of last
5 week we met G. N. Collins, formerly
t engaged III tie dairy business at Can