The National tribune., 1909-10-14
DON'T GO.

| Quite n number OF our readers are
deeply interested in the opening of the
Cheyenne and Standing Rock Reserva-
tions. and are writing to us for informa-
tio:, as to those lands. 1t seems to be
| plainly cur duty to advise all veterans,
and widows of veterans especially. not
| to go to that country. While very young
men and women may find there an op-
portunity to build up comfortable homes
and profitable farms, this can only be
at the expense of unusual hardships
and privations for number of years.
1t Is not right for men and women who
have passed the meridian of life to take
upon themselves to undergo such trials
for the years that remain to them, nor
is it at all likely that they can transfer
themselves to that severe climate With
out great danger.
The lands to be opened are IN the
lap over into North Dakota, with their
northern boundary the Cannonball Riv-
er They are bounded on the west by
the 102d meridian, with the Missouri
River forming their eastern boundary.
The tract is about 80 miles long. and
varies in width from east to west from
80 TO "a miles. There are about 2.019,-
| 500 acres of land in South Dakota and
about 2I7,360 acres in North Dakota,
making total of about 2,237, ,040 acres
Deducting the reservations 70. the In
dams, churches, schools, ETC., tnt are
about !, 800, 600 acres to be entered TIL
nearest important town IS Aberdeen, s..
D., which is from 80 to ITO miles north
east and is a railroad center The Com
r1issioners from the Land Office have
been at work classifying the lands INTO
agricultural of the first class, agricul-
tural of the second class, timber lands
mineral lands and grazing lands. 1t
will be seen that the lands are lutte a
distance from civilization and markets,
and altho there is one line Of railroad
constructed thru .he northern part ant:
two other lines are projected, tina dis
tance from market is very great, and
the cost of the necessarias OF TfG will
be much greater for years than the
settlers have been accustomed to. There
will be also difficulty and expense in
getting products to market. We are
not informed how much building ma
terial can be procured on the reserva-
ton, but probably this is limited and
costly. The lands are on the high pla-
teau in the interior of the continent,
and consequently must be subjected to
violent winds and severe temperature.
which will be entirely too rude for vet
Grams and their wives to safely encoun-
ter. The weather record at White
Horse. S. D., which is near the Chey-
enne Reservation, shows that the tenn
perature in January, 1907, fell to 20
degrees below zero. In February, 1905.
it fell to A degrees below zero, and in
the same month of 1906 to 35 degrees
below zero. In August, 1905, the ther-
mometer rose to 101, with temperatures
Of 94 in July and 80 In September. 1t
will be seen that the extremes are very
great, and the weather must be exceed
lngly trying. The rainfall seems very
scanty, but the records are not COM
plete. The precipitation is less than
half that customary in Eastern States.
At the time of the Shoshone and uin-
tab opening we strongly discounte-
nanced the idea of veterans anu their
widows going to those lands to build
ip homes. and we repeat this discour-
agement with even more feryor. The
conditions of life there must be ineom-
oarably harder for the pioneers than