Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1910-07-21
4 TALE or THE BROKEN KETTLE
An Indian Love Story Of Local Interest
by Will Chamberlain.

| A threader OF a billy net,
A c~teper when low fallen.
The Broken Kettle, round about
Old Indi'n lore is clinging
Tho here the crows and bObwhiteI
shout
And OFT the larks are singing.
What tales from out The mystic past
These bluffy knobs have peopled;
What legends has tradition cast
Along this valley, s,eepled
BY rises which some ancient hand
In frOfic strangely moulded,
As boys with spades and heaps Of sand
Have fashioned, carved and folded!
He!e, cen where white men held the
soil,
The. deer stole soft 10 rescue;
And cen today the beavers roll
Dlsturbs the darkened bayou.
Rhine OF the Broken Kettle.
A tiny stream of northwestern Iowa
it lice, snug amidst peculiar and some
what forbic ding bluffs, which are Curl
ously carven by the slow processes of
time. This is the Broken Kettle. the
Cega Ksawahe Of the Dakota tongue.
1t is tributary of the Big Sioux, hut
only ia times OF phenomenal freshet
does 1t throw off its sleepy and uuim-
portant proport Ons and occupy it's
crazy course with any considerable 1e.
gree OF vigor. Along the Broken Ket.
tie the student of archaeological learn.
ing may trace, with more or less salts.
faction to himself, the outlines of forti-
locations reared by ancient human be-
tngs: or perhaps discover on soma
erodin9 crest the remains OF what once
resplendently uprose as temple to a
god which has departed Ia name and
memory along with those who adored
It,
hut, says the wise and provtdent
farmer, concerned with cattle REPORTS
rather than it'll BITS of broken ana
discolored pottery gathered from the
Kettle spurs, have I not warned YOU
against such summer day trif1lne? or
what earthly use are nicked arrow
heads turned up by plow, when com q.
pared with the crop of corn to be har-
vested from this same soil! Have a
care, pray you, and waste no more
time over lazy ssvagts. who once
might have built villages of forts here,
for upon my word, which Is good al
Sioux City banks, they 1.-THE savages, J
would have scalped you on minutes
notice had you lived Ia their day and
been so tndscreet as to have gone
poking about with a spade in their
dominlons, as you do now In mine.
HowsOever this may be, an unmis-
taxable spell of interesting autioaity
seems, at times, TO hovrr over this Sc
cluded and narrow valley, as if a
charm out OF the past clung about it
some ghostly presence which found in
this sequestered spot a rep s. so in
harmony with its grisls natur., or
rather lack OF nature, that it found
great difficulty in Withdrawing there
from.
Be this as 1t may. these oddly as
sembled hills, protruding 10 some
cases, or anon seeming to retreat,
cherish many a tradit on OF India
dramas OF which they we're the scene
of mossy romsnces of courageous
warrior and beautiful, dusky damsels,
OF rude but brave kuigbthood, DOW
much more out of MUD than remem-
bered In detail.
At period we'll separated from
Isantaukahca (Yaukee) arrival, a vii
lage of Dakotas nestled within one of
the wooded recesses a short distance
above the union of The Broken Kettle
with the CankasdatatB Big Sioux r,ver)
The falling OF the leaves had come, and
he bison hunt. 10 provide ich flesh
for the snow, moons soon to fol Ow
was somewh-r5 on 10 the distant Mini.
snse Missouri river grounds. Led by
K ksuia, the mindful, who was untir-
lug In pursuit and unerriDg in the de-
livery of arrow or spear, the squaws
an +" d lodge men left 10 charge OF the
C ms. c"mputed, as they gathered the
wild kantapi (plums)or secured the still
waters where sIuggishly lay the cat
tish, the fruits OF one fall hunt with
lavish expressions, for was Kiksuya in
command-Kiksuya, the thoughtful
and the brave, whose CULVER always
carried tie trimmest shafts and whose
heart did not weary at sunset.
There was one who sat apart, al
though Observation-Disclosures, the cho.
sen Of Kiksuya. When the infant Ma
tusks entered the camp OF her kindred
as new born babes her father hap
pened to be amusing some of The pap
ooses with the whimsical antics 81
a crawish, whereupon, 10 accordance