boys, clerks and stenographers, bookkeepers and mechanics, business men
and lawyers. Perhaps the most significant thing was the presence of
those business men, often coming in whole groups to study the country
and its possibilities, to be on hand when the town sites were opened, to
be the first to start businesses on the Rosebud.

On the Brule there had been nothing but the land. Here the plows, the
farm implements, salesmen of every conceivable commodity needed by
settlers, were on hand. These people were to start with supplies in
sight, with business organizing in advance to handle their problems,
with capital waiting for their needs.

And they came by the thousands. From Chicago alone there came one group
of 3000 seekers. "Move on," came the endless chant. "Move on!" It didn't
matter where, so long as they kept moving, making way for new mobs of
restless people. "Move on!"

Wires were clicking with news from the other registration points.
Presho, to its fury, couldn't compare with some of the other towns. The
little town of Dallas had gone stark mad. Thirty-four carloads of
seekers were due in these villages between midnight and morning. They
were coming from every direction, bringing, along with the individual
seekers, whole groups of New England farmers, Iowa business men, an
organization of clerks from Cleveland, and from everywhere the
ruddy-faced farmers.

Over the uproar of the crowd could be heard the sharp staccato click of
the telegraph wires. Special trains were coming from Omaha, came the
news. The police force had tried to keep the crowds from smothering each
other, but they had torn down the gate of the station and rushed
through, afraid to be left behind.

Runners came overland across the empty Rosebud to carry the news from
the little towns, riding hell-for-leather, their horses foaming although
the night was cold. "You ought to see Dallas, folks! People lighting
like grasshoppers.... You ought to see Gregory!" The rivalry was bitter
among the towns, each trying to corner as much of the crowd as possible.

Presho was sending out word vehemently denying the reports that an
epidemic of black smallpox had broken out there.

Men representing everything from flop tents to locating agents boarded
trains en route, trying to persuade the seekers to register at their
respective towns. And all of them were bitter against the railroads,
which were furnishing return accommodations every few hours, giving th