Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1905 — HISTORIC GROUND. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HISTORIC GROUND.

THE CROW INDIAN RESERVATION IN MONTANA. I ' ! Great Tract Which Is to Be Thrown Open to Settlement by the Whites, Contains the Battlefield Upon Which —Custer Kell - A Rich Region. Notwithstanding the fact that there are 473,000,000 acres of vacant unappropriated land, excluding Alaska, open for settlement, pressure is constantly being brought to bear upon Congress for the opening of lands hitherto set aside for the Indians. Oue reservation after another is being thrown up to settlement, the aboriginal occupants being giverr farms in severalty if they desire to live the lives of white meq, or being compelled to take circumscribed quarters if they wish to live tbe tribal or blanket life. Last year the greatest resorvatiou opening was that of the Rosebud, In South Dakota. This summer two reservations will be thrown open to a certainty—the Crow, in Southern Mon-' tana, and the Uintah, in Eastern Utah. To. these will probably be added the Wind River or Sboshon.fe reservation, in Wyoming. All these reservations* offer.vast opportunities to the' white man. The Uintah and Wind River reservations are filch in minerals, but to

lhe gen nine ho mes oe !•: e r—tli e man who wishes to carve his fortune with no other instrument than the plow—the Crow reservation will make the most effective appeal. A Rich Region. The Crow reservation is just over the northern boundary of Wyoming, in Montana. It is one of the greatest reservations in the country, and has long been coveted by the white man. The Brush-Alliance branch of the Burlington Railroad, connecting with the Northern Pacific, extends entirely through the reservation. ere is a southward branch of the Arlington, at Toluca, extending to Cody, from which one can make a delightful journey through the reservation by the new “side door route” to Yellowstone Park. Travelers who journey through the reservation by trail a at the fertility of the scene tftrPljipets their eyes. Under the magic touch of irrigation, rich farms dot the landscape of bare, brown hills. But for the tepees that raise their smoke-browned tops on either side of the,track, and the Indians who are seen riding or

driving along the roads, one might imagine he was pursuing Ills way through a peaceful and prosperous Western agricultural community. Most of'the farms are leased by white men, as the Indian owners are not yet sufficiently skilled in the white man’s methods to tie a success ns agriculturists. But these farms in the valley of the Big Horn show that the Crow reservation can be made to blossom as the rose when once it is dominated by the white man's touch. Uor over a year the government has had surveyors at work in the northern hulf of the Crow reservation, making surveys. Not all of the reservation will he thrown open. The Crows have ceded 1,150,000 acres to the government, and this is the portion to be taken up by thV white men. The hind lies along the valley of the Big Horn, and It is estimated that about 300,000 acres can be cultivated. The remainder will be used for grazing purposes. Thus the individual who draws a homestead will be doubly lucky, for not only will he have 1(50 acres of ns fine agricultural laud as there is In the West, but ho will also-have the privilege of using a vast acreage of grazing ground which cannot l»e Irrigated, but which. Is rich In succulent grassejs and which lias been used ns a pony range by the Crows for generations. The main canal to Irrigate the homesteads will he taken from the Big Horn, and the supply of water is Inexhaustible. The proceeds of the sale of the land

will be used by the Crows to benefit their own lands and'berds. On Historic Ground-. The homesteader who settles in the Crow reservation will find himself in historic ground. The chief place of interest on the reservation is Custer battlefield, at Crow Agency. Tbe Custer monument can be seen from the railroad trains, on top of a knoll, about six miles from the station. It was befe that the redoubtable Raln-in-tbe* Face and other Sioux ehieftnlus overwhelmed Custer's detachment of 270 brave men, leaving not one to tell tbe story. White headstones are scattered about the monument on both slopes of the hill, showing exactly where the men lay when their bodies were found. Near at hand are many other headstones, ns Custer field has been turned into a national cemetery, and here are buried the victims of the Fetterman massacre and many others who lost their lives on the plains fighting for the flag. The field will always remain one of the most interesting spots in America. Only four miles away la Reno’s battlefield, where one may yet see the bones of the horses used as breastworks by the troopers' who, according to many military critics, should have come to Custer’s aid. For generations the Crows clung to the lands on which they are now located. Occasionally they were* driven off by the warlike Sioux or Cheyennes, but always they came back. In the days of the fur traders

they were friendly to the white men, and have been so in the years that have followed, In fact, there lias been no Indian tribe so consistently at friendship with the white people as the Crows. They might have progressed more had they not' been so friendly, for it is a lamentable fact that the white men who have come most in ■contact with tbe Indian have not always been the ones fitted to do the red man the most good. To-day there are only about 1,500 members this once mighty tribe. They are struggling to learn the white man’s ways as best they can. Earnest, sincere white men are working among them, and good results will certainly follow.

BATTLEFIELD OF THE LITTLE BIG HORN.

MASSACRE MONUMENT.