SOUTH I)AKnT\. 



801 



tenance of State Hooae, $6,140 ; trustees of c -duca- 

 tional institutions. $;UMM); commi-~i..h 

 Soldiers' Home,$l,500; engineer of i rr Ration, $;{,- 

 <HM; derk> at land office, il,900; total, * 7>':t,!M J. 



Prohibition. A hill was introduced inti. the 

 Legi-lal urc early in tin- session to rcsubmit the 

 i|iii-!i"ii of prohibition ID the |>eo|>le, and was 

 I. -I mi the la-t day in the Senate, \>\ a \n|,- ..f 

 18 to 20, 7 mrmlirr.s bcmg absent. Actions 

 urn- brought in Lawn-nee County in July, to 

 test tht' validity of the law. The demurrers 

 were sustained in ail the four cases, the judge 

 holding that the law is unconstitutional, on the 

 ground that the title to the law does not ful- 

 1111 the requirements of the; Constitution winch 

 nays, section 21, Article III, " No law shall em- 

 liracc more than one subject, which shall ho 

 expressed in its title." The matter remains to 

 lie settled by the Supreme Court. 



The World's Fair. Attempts were made to 

 secure mi appropriation for aState exhibit at the 

 World's Fair, but the Legislature adjourned 

 without any such action. A convention, there- 

 fore, met at Vankton in May for the purpose of 

 devising some method for meeting the expense 

 of an exhibit. A commission of 18 members 

 was selected to represent the State at the fair 

 and have charge of its exhibit, and it was re- 

 solved to ask the Governor to call a special 

 session of the Legislature to make an appropria- 

 tion, in case a majority of the members would 

 pledge t hemsel ves to vote for such appropriation, 

 and that no other business be introduced. 



The commission issued an address in Septetn- 

 l>er, in which it said that it was convinced, after 

 proper effort, that no aid conld be secured from 

 the State treasury, and called for voluntary sub- 

 scriptions to the amount of $80,000. The project 

 of an extra session was afterward revived, and 

 the Governor promised to call one in case the 

 commission would pledge itself that the extra 

 session should cause no expense to the State. 



Indian Lnnds. The Indian title has been 

 extinguished to all reservations east of the 

 Missouri except the Yankton, and efforts are in 

 progress to induce the Yanktons to sell, reserv- 

 ing only enough to give each member of the 

 tribe a farm. A petition signed by 792 of the 

 Sioux, was sent to Washington, asking for $10.- 

 000.000 for the loss of game and other things. 

 It says : 



SIR: Wo Indiana wants to get paid for all tin-so 

 wild animals, once we live upon for our food, 

 only those thiiiLrs. also there arc nil kinds of iron was 

 found here, and I should mention some of nann > "t 

 these things. Buffalo, oik, Mack-tail deer, lorur-tail 

 deer, big wolf, all other kind* of deer and wolf; 

 also i. r "ld, silver ; also ull other kinds of iron. 



The Sisseton and Wahpeton reservation will 

 he thrown Open to settlers in April, 1892. This 

 consists of about 600,000 acres. It is a tri- 

 angle about 70 miles long, decked with lakes 

 and surrounded by a thrifty and well-settled 

 country. The reservation has about a million 

 acres, but the 300or400 adult Indians take their 

 allotments first, and sections are set apart for 

 schi.nl and other purposes. The landsare among 

 the best for wheat and general agricultural uses 

 in South Dakota. 



State Lands. A question has been before 

 the General Land Office as to whether the cora- 

 VOL. xxxi. 51 A 



cr of school and put. lie land* onuld 

 led lands upon the great Sioux reservation re- 

 cently thrown O|N n t<> -.-iili-in. i.i. The decWon 

 is that the land can not lie selected u|>n them- 

 reservation*. If ih<- d.ciMon i-, uphi-ld it will 

 compel the M-lcctinii of about 7liii.iH,o a-r, - of 

 indemnity lands from a small area in the Him k 

 Hills. A n-|M>rt in Novcmlwr of the m-; 

 of the vacant land.-, for the purimx- of N-leclmg 

 the 750,000 acres appropriated >.h<>ws that the 

 land commissioner has selected 5<O,OOO acre* and 

 ha- already Hied U|M)II 400.000 a< -i 

 900,000 MIM WM select,-,! in the Hlni-k Hill* 

 country, and the other JWO.OOO acres in tin- 

 tics of Hand, Hyde. Codington. Day, 1'ntU-r, 

 Kdmmids, MoPberMD, \Val worth, mid ('amp- 

 hell, these being all the counties cast of the 

 river when- vacant lands can be found. The re- 

 maining 250,000 acres which are due the State 

 the commissioner is in no hurry to -elect. 



At the sale of school lands in the spring the 

 average price reali/i d uns $14.('5J un ut-ie. and 

 the entire amount )K:,i..V,v-Ji ; of which the 

 amount paid down was $164,271.50. 



The Northern Boundary. At the s. 

 of Congress of lfcUO-'91 an appropriation - f 

 25,000 was made for marking the boundary be- 

 tween the Dakotas. The line is 361 4 miles long. 

 The 157 miles that have already been surveyed 

 are to be reviewed and the survey completed; it 

 is expected that the work will be finished in 

 1692. The line will be marked with 725 granite 

 pedestals from the Sioux Falls quarries. 



Irrigation. The experiment of irrigating 

 land from artesian wells has been largely tried, 

 and has proved successful. The water can be 

 first used for domestic and manufacturing pur- 

 poses. A report in June says: "The artesian 

 belt of James river valley is I he largest body of 

 water of its character known to the world, con- 

 taining about 7,000,000 acres, of which 98 per 

 cent, conld be made available for tillage. There 

 are in all nearly or quite 100 flowing wells in 

 Dakota. The flow of water ranges per minute 

 from 4,000 gallons at Columbia, :i.5<jO at Aber- 

 deen, and 1,500 at Yankton. The depth of 

 these wells is from 1.576 feet at Jamestown to 

 600 at Yankton and Frankfort." 



The only fear has been that the source of wa- 

 ter supply might prove inadequate when great 

 numbers of wells were sunk, but Government 

 experts who have made careful survey of the 

 country say that no fear need be entertained on 

 that sc-.re.* In one locality two of these wells 

 stand 700 feet apart and pour forth powerful 

 streams constantly. 



Missouri River Improvement. ('has. F. 

 Powell, engineer in charge, reports almost n 

 complete survey of the river from Mciiton to 

 Mismarck. He a^ks for an appropriation of 

 $ir>l),<MH> for tl.e rectification of the river at im- 

 portant commercial points in order to reclaim 

 the -toamboat landings, which have been in- 

 jured by a shifting of the channel to the oppo- 

 site vide. 



A pontoon bridge has been built across tho 

 river at Yankton, having a roadway 850 feet in 

 length supported by 'M |x>nto<>ns. 



Railroads. So large was tho crop this year 

 that means of transportation were procure*! 

 difficulty. Several now lines ro under discua- 



