boundary lines, relegating the Indians to the unceded part of the land.
The great tracts thus acquired were then surveyed into quarter-sections
and thrown open to homesteading. In order to prevent the violence which
had attended the Oklahoma land opening, a new method was hit upon. A
proclamation was issued by President Theodore Roosevelt, announcing the
opening of land on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation.

As I had learned on that flying trip to Pierre, the operation of the
plan was very simple. Land-seekers were to register at the Land Office
in Pierre, making an affidavit showing their qualifications to enter, at
which time each would receive a number. On a given day, October 12,
1907, the numbered envelopes containing the affidavits, which had been
deposited in large containers, fastened and sealed so that they could
not be opened, were to be drawn by lot, after having been thoroughly
mixed--as many numbers drawn as there were quarter-sections to dispose
of. The first person whose number corresponded with the number drawn had
first choice of the land.

Government posters and advertisements for the land opening were
published in every section of the country. And along with the government
publicity appeared the advertisements of the railroads. For them
increased population in this area was a crying need. While we had
drowsed through the lazy autumn days, advertising campaigns were
shrieking to the people all over the country of the last frontier.

And that October day "it blowed wide open!"

* * * * *

Into the little town of Pierre they swarmed--by train, by stagecoach, by
automobile, by wagon, on foot--men and women from every part of the
country, from almost every state--people who had been crowded out of
cities, people who wanted to settle as real dirt farmers, people who
wanted cheap land, and the inevitable trailers who were come prepared to
profit by someone else's good luck.

Like a thundering herd they stampeded the United States Land Office at
Pierre. "The Strip! The Strip!" one heard on every side. It was called
the Strip because the tract was long and narrow. One day the little
frontier town of Pierre drowsed through a hot afternoon, and the broad
plains lay tenantless, devoid of any sign that men had passed that way.
The next day the region swarmed with strangers.

Sturdy, ruddy-faced farmers, pale-looking city boys, young girls alert,
laughing--all sons and daught