Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1890 — A RUSH FOR HOMES. [ARTICLE]

A RUSH FOR HOMES.

Ope sing of tlto Bionx KaurrzUos sn< m Scramble to Got the Best. ' ——— ■■y-—T A Chamberlain, S. D., dispatch of th# 12th says: Every incoming train is heavily loaded with settlers bound for the reservation, and the stream of humanity crossing the river is almost continuous. Seven* thousand have already selected claims and began the erection of homes, the new arrivals being forced to go farther Into the interior. On the town site opposite this city the saw and hammer were plied diligently all night, and to-day several hundred buildings of a temporary nature dot the prairie. Stocks of lumber and provisions are being crossed over, and by tomorrow many business houses will be is running order. 8 One interesting event to-day was the arrival of a mixed train with a number es * flatcars absolutely packed with settlers,, there not being a sufficient number of' ooaohes available at this end of the line to’ accommodate the great crowd moving for: the reservation. A special train arrived this evening containing more than 500' persons, and reports are being received, from innumerable localities of the forming of colonies to start at once for, the reservation. People have been* disappointed so often regarding the* opening of the reservation, that they have< i been a little conservative, and the rush 1 a week hence promises to be greater evern than the rush at present.

The Indians at Lower Brule, whioh; agency contains about two thousand red’ men, are in the best of humor and- enjoy; hugely the Incessant strife between whites men for the possession of lands ceded by’ them. The agency is on the bottom where the great struggle is going on for ipossession to be used for town site purposes. The settlers thus far have been of a do-, sirable character, the tough element soj common on the border not having put ini an appearance as yet, but this crowd will* undoubtedly drift in as the opening ofj ;the reservation becomes generally known J The rush is on the increase to-night, and* interest is unabated. At the present rate< of settlement it would not take morei than three months to settle the entire. 10,000,000 aores acquired by the govern ment. A Pierre dispatch says: Another attempt to cross- was made by. the South Pierre boomers Tuesday night* about 11 o’clock. They had over twenty 1 'five teams with wagons loaded with lumber and supplies and managed with thei ’closest secrecy to cross the ice about one’ mile below the city and just above what is known as Farm Island. They were discovered by the sentry just as they were driving up a steep hill near the bank of the. river. The sentry attempted to raise the alarm but was seized from behind byai party that had been laying in ambush and was bound hand and foot and laid in thebushes. The boomers stealthily proceeded, over the bill to the number of about fivot hundred and had almost succeed in gettingbeyond tho lines when they were discover ed by a skirmishing party. To raise that alarm they fired over the heads of the boomers. Immediately a company of mounted infantry was dispatched from Ft. Pierre and was soon in hot pursuit. The boomers scattered in all directions, but were nearly all captured. V. E. Prentice, a great townsite boomer and partner of U. S. Senator Petti' grew, was shot in the leg. He was taken to the guard house at Fort Pierre, and the military authorities refuse to give him up to friends in this city. The boomers returned to this side of the river all worn out. and somewhat discouraged over the loss of ten teams and wagons loaded with supplies. West of the mile-square there are a large number of houses built by the Indians and. half breeds, who will claim all the land adjacent to the mile-square. Tuesday night several boomers built houses on the 'qfifet'tfi tKg aetghhorhood, and all were burned by the soldiers Wednesday morning. All night long boomers were sneaking over in ones and twos, and many escaped the guards. Wednesday morning the Indian police found a colony of boomers one mile west, whose houses and effects they burned and carried the boomers pris-' oners to Fort Sully. Tho boomers are becoming aqxious, but it is expeoted that! Thursday the order to allow them on the. reservation will be Received. U. S. Marshal l Fry arrived Wednesday night from Chamberlain with forty deputies, and a desperate effort will be made to keep the boomers off the reservation.