The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-10-22

oHACh. SHE EAfEClo ~
WIN A FARM AND RIDE
STRAIGHT TO 1T.
Eastern Star lodge made dor
mitory out of the Masonic temple
Now they are all sorry. For,
though the streets in Aberdeen are
crowded all day, the scene is
made by an ever-shifting array
of strange faces. The next train
has beaten the cot mile.
In short, Aberdeen, which ex-
pected a big wave of prosperity
to follow the land hunters, is
"stung.'
But there is something doing
every minute here these days
There's excitement in the air
Even the stolid Sioux, whose old
hunting grounds are to be ripped
open soon by the settlers pillow
show it as they bunch themselves
along the streets, drawing their
blankets close about them as pro-
lection from the chilly winds.
They furnish the most pathetic
part of the big land show which
Uncle Sam is staging here and a
Mobridge, Pierre, lie Beau, Lem
mon and Bismarck.
For, with the passing of thu
standing Rock and Cheyenne riv
Ter lands goes the last. stand of thu
Indian in the great Northwest.
Where once the rifles of Rain
in-the-Face and Sitting Bull crack
ed, fields of waving grain soor
will grow on 10000 farms.
These red men show their ma
tive shrewdness in the selection
Of the land the government gives
them.
The Indian girl who weds 6
white man gets a full section
while the squaw bride of a red
skin gets only half section. Re
suit: White men of marriageablt
age are in great demand. It's the
chance of lifetime for the
bachelors.
Young men, sons Of eastern and
middle west farmers, are seer
everywhere. Other youths, too
are in the crowds which tramp VI
and down Main street and crowd
around the registry office at the
Dakota National bank. They come
from the cities and are going to
trade their salaried jobs for a big
piece of free land-if they are
lucky.
The chatter of horses hoofs
over brick streets is as likely to
be made by women riders as cow
boys. The women here are great
riders, and pretty Aberdeen
belle mounted astride at full tilt
is as common a sight on the
street as a rubber-tired buggy in
the cities farther east.
The first dodgers in the Mason
ic temples temporary hotel we're
three young girls: Esther Bah
cock, Maude Boelter and Bess
Richmond, all of Cedar Rapids, la.
"My! Isn't 1t lonely here?"
said Miss Babcock, as she found
the three the only guests at the
place. But I suppose we will
have to get used to being lonely,
If we're going to make good farm
ers."
She was right. For the women
will bump into new experiences as
land colonizers from the start.
They must live in sod shanties
through the storms, live on pam
cake diet and coax crops out OF
the soil for at least Ia months
before Uncle Sam will give them
a title to their farms.
! One of the pluckiest young
women is Miss Eleanor Brown, a
Texas schoolma'am. When she
registered here and was asked her
name, she told the clerk: Put
1t down just plain Nora. The
folks named me Eleanor. but II
I'm going to be a farmer | might
as we'll start farming now"
She bought fine saddle horse
and built shack at the border OF
the Cheyenne reservation.
7 II Just know can't lose," said
she. land so I'm going to be
ready to ride into the reservation
and pick out my farm as soon as
my name is called"
These land prizes are worth all
the trouble they cause. First
choice In the big drawing will be
worth at least 100000. No farm
OF 100 acres In the reservations
but what will be worth ct least
SIS an acre.
SO 1t means something to be 3
winner in the land lottery.
Friends long apart have been
reunited through the repatriation