The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1910-05-05
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THEIR CLAIMS
FILING OPENS At ABERDEEN ON
MONDAY.
NEGRO HAS FIRST CHOICE
CARL THAYER GETS GOOD CLAIM
CLOSE TO TOWNSHIP.

The filing for the Cheyenne and
Standing Rock Indian opening began
at Aberdeen Monday morning. AT an
early hour a large crowd had gathered,
Bowdry, a negro, who drew No. / in
the lottery last fall, Bowdry located
his claim on a quarter section about
a mile south of the townsite of Tim
Der Lake. on the Cheyenne reservation.
Most of the selections were made ad-
joining townsites, on the several
branches of the Milwaukee road, run
ming through the reservations. Fifty
filings were made between the hours
Of eight in the morning and five in
the afternoon. All were so %advantag-
eously located 1t is estimated home
steads will be worth from 81 5000 to
10000 each, as soon as the final proof
is made.
Carl Thayer of Bookings, who drew
No. % last fall, located his claim south
of Timber Lake, securing the quarter
just east Of the colored gentleman
who drew No. 1. Carl says that while
his claim is a little farthel from the
town, he would not trade even with
Bowdry and thinks that in the long
run his land will be more valuable.
Carl's claim is a mile and three-fourths
from the town and a half a mile from
the Milwaukee railroad.
G. F. Thayer, Carl's father, who &C.
companied him to look over the coun-
try, gives the following account Of their
trip:
I'VE left Brookings on April %, go
ing to the reservation by the way of
Aberdeen, spending one day in that
hustling town. We went from there
to Mobridge, a booming little town, To-
Gated on the Missouri west of Aber-
deem. There we hired a team and a
driver to take us to the reservation.
A team there now costs ten dollars a
day for each one of the party, and we
were gone four days. We crossed the
Big Muddy in a ferry boat and drove
west. The reservation at that place
is a broken, rolling country, but is
well grassed and makes a fine pas
ture. The Indians rent this land to
the big stockmen and in one drove
we saw $4,000 cattle.
"Our driver was a cowboy who knew
every foot of the country and we got
along finely. We made the first stop
for dinner at the home of Henry Ouch
eneaux and wife, both quarter blood
Indians. They live in a log cabin 1Sx
So, with a hard pine floor and l never
saw a cleaner, neater place, or had a
better dinner served to me. We went
from there to c. A. Maupin's, also a
quarter blood Indian. His wife is also
part Indian, and is well educated, hav-
ing received her training at the Elan
dreau institute. They live four miles
south of Timber Lake, where we went
the next day. This is located about
forty-fve miles west of Mobridge.
-Four miles north Of there is the
division line between the Cheyenne
and Standing Rock reservations and
the government has constructed a
fence between the two for over eighty
miles.
From there we drove west to the
Fire Steel country, which Is a fine
looking section, nice land with run
ming water and a considerable deposit
of Ignite coal, some Of the veins be-
ing eight to ten feet thick.
"The soil Of that country is not as
good as here in Brookings county, but
is all right and raises good crops. 1t
is altogether different from Brookings
county soil. The top soil Is chocolate
clor. with more or less sand, and the
sub-soil is grayish, with no yellow
clay.
1.-THE first day we went through
Timber Lake there vas nothing doing
in the way of a town, but when we re-
turned the next day there was a large
eating house doing a lively business
and lumber was on the ground for a
bank and one or two other business
houses. The Milwaukee railroad has
its line all graded to that point and
Is o laying the steel.
"The lake from which the town
takes its name is located a short dis
lance to the north and covers about
a section of land. The water in the
lake contains alkalai and there are
no fish in 1t. The well water there
is fine and can be secured In sufi-
cient quantities at from twelve to
twenty feet.
South of Timber Like are a number
Of dog buttes,' something We don't see
around here. They are small promi-
tories rising to a height of from 100