PROGRESS ON] WEND CAVE SIN ADO INE 
PRESERVE. 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
BuREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY, 
WasHineron, D. C., May 7, 1913 
Pror. FRANKLIN W. HOOPER, 
President, American Bison Society, 
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 
Brooklyn, New York. 
Dear Professor Hooper: You may be interested to know what 
progress is being made in the acquisition of lands for the Wind Cave 
National Game Preserve. We have decided to purchase the follow- 
ing four tracts: 
1. The Ranklin place of 80 acres, inside the Park. 
2. The Ranklin homestead of 80 acres, adjoining the north 
boundary of the Park. 
3. The Paulsen place of 156 acres, at the northeast corner of 
the Park. 
4. The Prather place of 160 acres, between the Ranklin and 
Paulsen holdings on the north boundary of the Park. 
Up to date, we have secured satisfactory options on all these 
tracts except the Ranklin homestead, to which the owner is not 
yet prepared to transfer title, but hopes to secure his final papers 
within sixty days. We have secured a deed from Mr. Ranklin for 
the holding within the Park, and the papers are now in the hands 
of the solicitor for examination. We have secured a deed from Mr. 
Paulsen and the papers have been approved by the Department of 
Justice and have been sent back to South Dakota to be recorded. 
The Department of Justice is now examining the title to the Prather 
place, but we have not yet secured a deed. I am hoping that the 
purchase of tracts 1, 3 and 4 can be concluded within thirty or sixty 
days and we shall then be in a position to proceed with the fencing 
without waiting for the acquisition of the Ranklin homestead outside 
the Park boundary. 
Very truly yours, 
(Signed) T. S. PALMER, 
Assistant Chief, Biological Survey. 
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