 CHAPTER XIX In the Valley of the Keapaha, the Rivals, the Vigilance. Nothing is more essential to the upbuilding of the small western town than a good agricultural territory, and this was where Calus found its first handicap. When it had moved to its new location, scores of investors had flocked to the town, paying the highest prices that had ever been paid for lots in a new country town of its kind in the Central West. Twenty-five miles south of the two towns, where a sand stream known as the Keapaha wends its way, is a fertile valley. It had been settled thirty years before by eastern people, who hauled their hogs and drove their cattle and sheep fifty miles in a southerly direction to a railroad. Although the valley could not be surpassed in the production of corn, wheat, oats, and alfalfa, the highlands on either side are great mountains of sand, which produce nothing but a long reddish grass that stock will not eat after it reaches maturity, and which stands in bunches with the sand blown from around its roots to such an extent that riding or driving over it is very difficult. These hills rise to heights until they resemble the Sierras, and near the top, on the northwest slope of each, are cave-like holes where the strong winds have blown a squeegee. The wagon-road to the railway on the south was sandy, and made traveling over it slow and hazardous by the many pits and dunes. Therefore it is to be seen, when the CNRW pushed its line through Magory County, everything that had been going to the road on the south began immediately to come to the road on the north, where good hard roads made the traveling much easier, and furthermore it was only half the distance. Kia Pahok County was about as lonely a place as I had ever seen. After the sun went down, the coyotes from the adjacent sand-hills, in a series of mournful howls, filled the air with a noise which echoed and re-echoed throughout the valley, like the music of so many faraway steam-coliopies, and filled me with a cold, creepy feeling. For thirty years these people had heard no other sound save the same monotonous howls, and saw only each other. The men went to Omaha occasionally with cattle, but the women and children knew little else but Kia Pahok County. During a trip into this valley the first winter I spent on the homestead in quest of seed-wheat, I met and talked with families who had children, in some instances twenty years of age, who had never seen a colored man. Sometimes the little tads would run from me, screaming as though they had met a lion or some other wild beast of the forest. At one place where I stopped overnight, a little girl, about nine years of age, looked at me with so much curiosity that I became amused, finally coaxing her onto my knee. She continued to look hard at me, and meekly reached up and touched my chin, looked into my eyes, and said, Why don't you wash your face? When supper was ready, I went to the sink and washed my face and hands. She watched me closely in the meanwhile, and when I was through appeared to be vexed, and with an expression, as if to say, He has cleaned it thoroughly, but it is dirty still. About twenty years previous to this time, or about ten years after settlement in this valley, the pioneers were continually robbed of much of their young stock. Thieving outlaws kept up a continuous raid on the young cattle and colts, driving them onto the reservation where they disappeared. This continued for years, and it was said many of the county officials encouraged it, in a way, by delaying a trial, and in as much as the law and its procedure was very inadequate, on account of the county's remote location, the criminals were rarely punished. After submitting to such until all reasonable patients had been exhausted, the settlers formed a vigilant committee, and meted out punishment to the evil doers who had become overbold and were well known. After hanging a few, as well as whipping many, the vigilanters ridded the county of rustlers and lived in peace thereafter. At the time the railroad was built to Magory there was little activity other than the common routine attending their existence, but with Magory twenty-five miles to the north, and many of her former active and prosperous citizens living there, and while boardwalks and shack buildings still represented the main street, Magory was considered by the people of the valley very much of a city, and a great place to pay a visit. Many had never seen or ridden on a railroad train, so Magory sounded in Kiyapah County as Chicago does to the downstate people of Illinois. The people of Kiyapah County had grown prosperous, however, and the stock shipments comprised many trainloads during an active market. Practically all this was coming to Magory when callous began to loom prominent as a model little city. I could see two distinct classes, or personages, in the leaders of the two towns. Beginning with Ernest Nicholson, the head of the firm of Nicholson Brothers and called by Magoryite's chief, High Mogul, the big it, and I am, in absolute control of callous affairs, and the former Kiyapah County sand rats, as they are sometimes called, running Magory. The two contesting parties presented a contrast which interested me. The Nicholson Brothers were all college bread boys, with a higher conception of things in general, were modern, free, and up to date. While Magory's leaders were as modern as could be expected, but were simply outclassed in the style and perfection that the callous bunch presented. Besides, the merchants and businessmen, in the stockyards west of Magory, as callous was cartooned by a Magory editor, were much of the same ilk. In referring to the cartoon, it pictured the editor of the callous news as a braying jackass and a stock pem, which brought a great laugh from Magoryite's, but who got it back, however, the next week by being pictured as a stagnant pond, with two Magory editors as a couple of big bullfrogs. This had the effect of causing the town to begin grating the streets, putting in cement walks and gutters, for Magory had located in the beginning in an extremely bad place. The town was located in a low place, full of alkali spots, buffalo wallows underlaid with hard-pam, which caused the surface to hold water to such an extent that, when rain continued to fall any length of time, the cellars and streets stood in water. But Magory had the start, with the largest and best territory, which had by this time been developed into improved farms. The real farmer was fast replacing the homesteader. It had the biggest and best banks. Because of all the efficiency of callus, it appeared weak in its banking. Now, a farmer could go to Nicholson Brothers and get the largest farm loan because the boy's father was president of an insurance company that made the loan. But the banks there were short in the supply of time loans on stock security, but callus's greatest disadvantage was, that directly west, in Tip County, the Indians had taken their allotments within seven or eight miles of the town, and there was hardly a quarter section to be homesteaded. Now there was no doubt, but that in the course of time the Indian allotments would be bought, whenever the government felt disposed to grant the Indian a patent, which under the laws is not supposed to be issued, until the expiration of twenty-five years. People, however, would probably lease the land, break it up, and farm it. But that would not occur until some future date, and callus needed it at the present time. A western town, in most instances, gets its boom in the beginning. For later a dry rot seems an inevitable condition, and is likely to overtake it after the first excitement wears away. Resurrection is rare. These were the conditions that faced the town on the little crow, at the beginning of the third year of settlement. CHAPTER XIX After the vigilantes had frightened the outlaws into abandoning their operations in the valley, the thieves sculled across the reservation to a strip of country some twenty-five miles northeast of where McGregor now stands. Here on the east the murky waters of the Missouri seek their level. To the north the white river runs like a cow path through the foothills, twisting and turning into innumerable bends. With its lime-like waters lapping the sides, bringing tons of shale from the gorgeous dark banks into its current, while on the south runs the whetstone, enclosed by many rough ragged brown hills. To the west are the breaks of Landing Creek. In an angle between these creeks and rivers lies a perfect table land known as Uly Flats, which is the most perfectly laying land and has the richest soil of any spot on the little crow. It took its name from the famous outlaw and squaw man by the name of Jack Uly. With him the thieves from Kayapua Valley found cooperation, and together they had a few years previously operated as the most notorious band of cattle rustlers the state had known. For a hundred miles in every direction this band plundered, stole, and ran the cattle and horses into the flats, where they were protected by the breaks of the creeks and rivers referred to. Mixed with half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth breeds, they knew every nook and crook of the country. These operations had lasted until the year of the little crow opening, and it was there that Jack Uly made his last stand. Although the valley could not be surpassed in the production of grain and alfalfa, the highlands on either side were great mountains of sand. He had for many years defied the laws of the country and state, and had built a magnificent residence near a spring that pours its sparkling waters into a small lake, where now stands a sanitarium. Uly had been chief overseer, dictator, and arbitrator of the combined forces of little crow, and Kayapua County outlaws and mixed bloods. The end came when on a bright day in June a posse led by the United States Marshal sneaked across the wet stone and secreted themselves in a cache between Uly's corral and the house. Uly was seen to enter the corral and having laid a trap. A part of the men came in from another direction and made it as if it was in advance when Uly made a run for his house, which took him alongside the men hidden. Before he could change his course, he was halted and asked to surrender. He answered by dropping to the opposite side of the house and began firing. In a skirmish that followed the horse was shot and fell on Uly, but in the shot's exchange two of the posse and Uly were killed. End of Chapter 20 Chapter 21 of the Conquest This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli. The Conquest by Oscar Michaud. Chapter 21 The Boom This valuable tract of land, comprising about fifty thousand acres, had been entered after the opening by settlers and lay about as near to Kirk as it did to Magory, hence its trade was sought by both towns, but with Kirk getting the larger part until Magory established a mill which paid two cents more for wheat, and the farmers took advantage by hauling most of their produce to the former town. This included another strip of rich territory to the north of Magory and west of Landing Creek, where the soil is a rich gumbo, and the township thickly settled so it is readily seen that Magory was advantageously situated to draw from all directions. This soon brought such a volume of business into the town as to make the most fastidious envy it, and the Magoryites were well aware of their enviable position. The town continued to grow in a sound, substantial way. Nicholson Brothers began leading booster trade excursions to the north, south, and east, with earnest at the head in a big packard, making clever speeches and inviting all the farmers to come to Callis, where a meal at the best hotel was given free. A good, live, and effective commercial club was organized, which guaranteed to pay all a hog, cow, or calf would bring on the Omaha market minus the freight and expenses. Ernest would explain with deep sincerity which impressed the farmers of the valley as well as the settlers on the Little Crow that Callis wanted a share of their business, and was willing to sacrifice profit for two years in order to have the farmers come to the town and get acquainted to see what the merchants, bankers, and real estate dealers had to offer. In making this offer the people of Callis had the advantage over Magory, and that it derived profits from other sources, chiefly from great numbers of transients who were beginning to fill the hotels, restaurants, saloons, and boarding houses of the town. Being the end of the road and the place where practically every settler coming to Tip County must stay at least one night, it stood to reason they could make such an inducement and stick to it. However, this was countered immediately by Magoryites, who promptly organized a commercial club and began the same kind of bid for trade. Thus the small ranchmen of the valley found themselves an object of much importance and began to awaken a little. Now the land of the reservation had taken on a boom such as had never been realized or dreamed of. Land in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Nebraska had doubled in valuation in the previous ten years and was still on the increase in value. Crops had been good and money was plentiful, with a number of years of unbroken prosperity the farmers had paid off mortgages and had a good surplus in the bank. Their sons and daughters were looking for newer fields. Retired farmers with their land to rent now instead of the customary one-third delivered demanded and received from two-fifths to one-half or cash from three to five and six dollars per acre. And with the prices in these states ranging from ninety to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, which meant from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars to buy a quarter section, which the renters felt was too high to ever be paid for by farming it. Therefore Western lands held an attraction where with a few thousand dollars, some stock and machinery, a man could establish a good home. As this land in southern South Dakota is in the corn belt, the erstwhile investor and home-seeker found a haven. There is always more or less gossip as regards insufficient moisture in a new country. The only thing to kill this bogey is to have plenty of rain, and plenty of rain had fallen on the little crow too much at times. Large crops of everything had been harvested, but if the first three years had been wet, this fourth was one of almost continual rainfall. In the eastern states the corn crop had been badly drowned out on the lowlands, and rust had cut the yield of small grain considerably. While on the rolling land of the little crow the season was just right, and everything grew so rank, thick and green, that it gave the country, a raw prairie until less than four years before, the appearance of an old settled country. It looked good to the buyers, and they bought. Farms were sold as soon as they were listed. The price at the beginning of the year had been from twenty-five to forty dollars per acre, some places more, but after the first six months of the year it began to climb to forty-five, and then to fifty dollars per acre. Those who owned little crow farms became objects of much importance. If they desired to sell, they had only to let it be known, and a buyer was soon on hand. The atmosphere seemed charged with drunken enthusiasm. Everybody had it. There was nothing to fear. Little Crow land was the best property to be had. Better they would declare than government bonds, for its value was increasing in leaps and bounds. These farms close to town, if bought at fifty dollars per acre, could be sold at a good profit in a short time. This was done, and good old eastern capital continued to be paid for the land. The spirit of unrest that seemed to pervade the atmosphere of the community was not altogether the desire to have and to hold, but more to buy and to sell. Homesteads were sold in Maghuri County, and the proceeds were immediately reinvested in tip, where considerable dead Indian land could be purchased at half the price. At about that time the auto-fever began to infect the restless and over-prosperous settlers and businessmen alike. That was the day of the many two-cylinder cars. They made a dreadful noise, but they moved and moved faster than horses. They sailed over the country, the exhaust of the engine making a cracking noise. The motion, added to the speed, seemed to thrill and enthuse the investor until he bought whether he cared to or not. In previous years when capital was not so plentiful, and when land was much cheaper and slower to sell, the agent drove the buyer over the land from corner to corner, cross-wise and angling, and the buyer would get out here and there and with a spade dig into the ground and be convinced as to the quality of the soil. He then pondered the matter over for days, weeks, and sometimes months. Then maybe he would go back and bring the woman. The land-dealers seriously object to buyers bringing the woman along, especially if the farm he has to sell has any serious drawbacks, such, for instance, as a lack of water. There were numerous farms on the highlands of the Little Crow where water could not be found, but they were invariably perfect in every other respect. The perfection in the laying of the land and quality of the soil was severely offset by the inability to get water. While on the rougher and less desirable farms water can be easily obtained in the draws and the hills. But the highlands were the more attractive and were sold at higher prices and much quicker, regardless of the obvious defects. Now, if the woman was brought to look it over one of the first inquiries she made would be, now is there plenty of water. Furthermore, she was liable to steal a march on the dealer by having her husband hire a livery team, and with the eastern farmer and his wife drive out to the place and look the farm over without the agent to steer them clear of the bad places. They not only looked it over, but made inquiries of the neighbors as to its merits. Now country people have the unpardonable habit of gossip, and have complicated many deals of the real estate men by this weakness, even caused many to fall through, until the land sharks are usually careful to prevent a buyer from having a conversation with Psy. In my case however, this was quite different. I was known as a booster, and since my land was located between the Monca and Magore, this was considered the cream of the county as to location, soil, and other advantages. Instead of being nervous over meeting me, the dealers would drive into the yard or into the fields and, as I like to talk, introduce the prospective buyers to me, and we would engage in a long conversation at times. I might add that exaggerated tales were current, which related how I had run as P. N. Porter, saved my money, come to the little crow, bought a half section, and was getting rich. The most of the buyers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska were unused to seeing colored farmers, and my presence all alone on the former reserve added to their interest. And my favor was the fact that my service in the employ of the P. N. Company had taken me through nearly every county in the Central States, and therefore, always given to observation, I could talk with them concerning the counties they had come from. Land prices continued to soar. Higher and higher they went, and to boost them still higher, as well as to substantiate the values, the bogey concerning insufficient moisture was drowned in the excessive rainfall. From April until August it poured, and the effect on the growing crops in the East became greater still in the way of drowned out cornfields, and overranked stems of small grain that grew to abnormal heights, and with the least winds lodged and then fell to the ground. The crops on the reservation could not have been better, and prices were high. Chapter 22. The President's Proclamation. Coincident with the expectation came the President's proclamation throwing 4,000 claims in Tip County open to settlement under the lottery system at $6 per acre. Among the towns designated in the proclamation where the people could make application for a claim, Magory and Callis were nearest to the land. These were the places where the largest crowds were expected. Therefore, the citizens of these two vigorous municipalities began extensive preparations to entertain the crowds. Magory, being more on the country order, made more home-like preparations. Among the many conveniences prepared were a lady's restroom and information bureau, which were located in a large barn previously used for storing hay. Callis, under the criticism that as soon as the road extended farther west it would be as dead as Orest town, now all but forgotten, prepared to get theirs while the crowds were in town, and they did. But that's the head of the story. The time for the opening approached. People seemingly from every part of the universe and from every vocation in life drifted into towns. Among these were included the investors, who stated that in the event of a failure to draw they would buy deeded land. Next in order were the gamblers, from the tinhorn and piker-class, to the fat professionals. Although every precaution was taken to keep out the characters of the city's underworld, who had characterized former openings, both towns were fully represented with a large share of pickpockets, con men, lewd women, and their consorts. The many vacant lots on Main Street of both the towns were decorated with the typical scene at land openings. There were little tents with notaries assisted by many beautiful girls to prepare your application. There were many hotels with three and four beds to a room, as well as rooms to let over all the places of business containing two stories or more. There were tents with five hundred cots, and lest we forget, there were the numerous drinking fountains, with bars the length of the building, behind which were scores of bartenders to serve the how dry I am on one side. On the other, intense back rooms and overhead could be heard the brrrr of the little ivory marble as it spun a circuit over the roulette wheel, and the luck cages, where the idle sports turned them over for their own amusement, to pass away the time. The farrow bank and numerous wheels of fortune also had a place. From the rear came the strains of ragtime music. These were some of the many attractions that met the trains carrying the first arrivals on the night of October 5th. End of Chapter 22 Chapter 23 of the Conquest. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli. The Conquest by Oscar Michaud. Chapter 23. Where the Negro Fails. Long before I came west and during the years I had spent on the homestead, my closest companion was the magazines. From the time Thomas W. Lawson's frenzied finance had run as a serial article and a leading periodical, to Ida M. Tarbell's The History of the Standard Oil Company, I fairly devoured special articles on the subjects of timely interest. I enjoyed reading anything that would give me a more complete knowledge of what made up this great country in which we live, and which all Americans are given to boasting of as the greatest country in the world. And this brings to my mind certain conditions which exist concerning the ten odd millions of the black grace in America, and more this in itself had a tendency to open wider the gap between a certain class of the race and myself. There are two very distinct types or classes among the American Negroes. I am inclined to feel that this is more prominent than most people are aware. I have met and known those who are quick to think, practical, conservative, as well as progressive, while there are those who are narrow in their sympathies and short-sighted in their views. Now as a matter of argument my experience has taught me there are more of this class than most colored people have any idea. The worst feature of this situation, however, is that a large number of the latter class have commingled with the former in such a way as to easily assume all the worthy proportions. They are a sort of dog in the manger, and are not in accord with any principle that is practical and essential to the elimination of friction and strife between the races. Among the many faults of this class is that they do not realize what it takes to succeed, nor do they care, but spend their efforts loudly claiming credit for the success of those who are honest in their convictions and try to prove themselves indispensable citizens. Nothing is more obvious and proves this more conclusively than to take notice, as I have, of their own selection of reading matter. Now for instance, a few years ago a series of articles under the title of following the color line appeared in a certain periodical, the work of a very well-known writer whose specialty is writing on social conditions, strikes, etc. In justice to all concerned, the writer described the conditions which his articles covered, just as he found them, and in this, in my opinion, he differed largely from many of the southern authors whose articles are still inclined to treat the Ethiopians as a whole, as the old time-worn aunt and uncle. Not intending to digress, I want to put down here that negroes as a whole are changing to some extent, the same as the whites and no liberty-loving colored man appreciates being regarded as aunt or uncle, even though some of these people were as honorable as could be. This is a modern age. Now getting back to the discussion that I seem to have for the moment forgotten and as regards the article, while worthy in every respect it was no different in its way from any number of other articles published at that time, as well as now, that deal on great and complex questions of the day. Yet this article caused thousands of colored people who never before bought a magazine or book to subscribe for that magazine. It was later published in book form and is conspicuous in the libraries of many thousands of colored families. What I have intended to put down in this lengthy discourse regarding my race is, if they see or hear of an article concerning the race, they will buy that magazine to read the article spoken of and nothing more. Since living in the state, as a recreation, I was in the habit of taking trips to Chicago once or twice a year, and as might be expected, I would talk of South Dakota. In the course of a conversation I have related a story of someone's success there and would be listened to with unusual attention. As I had found in them many who were poor listeners, at these times when I found myself the object of so much undivided attention, I would warm up to the subject until it had evolved into a sort of lecture and remarks of my, you don't say so and just think of it would interrupt me. And a colored man. No, I would correct the least bit hesitant. A white man. Then, just like the sun disappearing behind a cloud, all interest would vanish. Furthermore, I have on occasions of this kind had attention of a few minutes before turned to remarks of criticism for taking up the time relating the success of a white man. The idea is prevalent among this class that all white people should be rich. And regardless of how ideal the success has been, I learned that no white person could be accepted as an example for this class to follow. By reading nothing but discussions concerning the race, by all but refusing to accept the success of the white race as an example and by welcoming any racial disturbance as a conclusion that the entire white race is bent in one great effort to hold him, the Negro, down, he cannot very well feel the thrill of modern progress and is ignorant as to public opinion. Therefore, he is unable to cope with the trend of conditions and has become so condensed in the idea that he has no opportunity that he is disinteresting to the public. One of the greatest tasks of my life has been to convince a certain class of my racial acquaintances that a colored man can be anything. Now, on the entire Little Crow reservation, less than eight hundred miles from Chicago, I was the only colored man engaged in agriculture, and moreover, from Magoray to Omaha, a distance of three hundred miles. There was only one other Negro family engaged in the same industry. Having lived in the cities, I, therefore, was not a greenhorn, as some of them would try to have me feel when they referred to their clubs and social affairs. Among the many facts that confronted me as I meditated the situation, one dated back to the time I had run on the road. The trains I ran on carried thousands monthly into the interior of the northwest. Among these were a great number of immigrants fresh from the old countries, but there was seldom a colored person among them, and those few that I had seen, with few exceptions, went on through to the Pacific Coast cities and engaged in the same occupation they had followed in the east. During these trips, I learned the greatest of all the failings were not only among the ignorant class, but among the educated as well. Although more agreeable to talk to, they lacked that great and mighty principle which characterizes Americans called the initiative. Colored people are possible in every way that is akin to becoming good citizens, which has been thoroughly proven, and is an existing fact. Yet they seemed to lack the guts to get into the northwest and do things. In seven or eight of the great agricultural states there were not enough colored farmers to fill a township of thirty-six sections. Another predominating inconsistency is that there is that love of luxury. They want streetcars, cement walks, and electric lights to greet them when they arrive. I will remember it was something near two years before I saw a colored man on the reservation, until the road had been extended. They had never come west of Orestown, but as the time for the opening arrived, the kitchens and hotel dining rooms of Magoray and Callis were filled with waiters and cooks. During the preparation for the opening the commercial club of Magoray had lengthy circulars printed with photographs of the surrounding country, farms, homes, and the like to accompany. These circulars described briefly the progress the country had made in the four years it had been opened to settlement, and the opportunities waiting. By giving the name and address the club would send these to any address or person with the statement by the request of whoever gave the name. I gave the name of not less than one hundred persons, and sent them personally to many as well. I wrote articles and sent them to different newspapers edited by colored people in the east and other places. I was successful in getting one colored person to come and register, my oldest brother. Chapter 24 And the crowds did come, the prairie fire. The registration opened at 12 o'clock Monday morning, seven trains during the night before had brought something like 7,000 people. Of this number about 2,000 got off at Magoray, and the remainder went on through to Callis. The big opening was on and the bid for patronage made the relations between the towns more bitter than ever. After the first few days however, the crowds with the exception of a few hundred, daily went on through to Callis and did not heed the catcalls and uncomplementary remarks from the railway platform at Magoray. Among these remarks flung at the crowded trains were, go on to Callis and buy a drink of water. Go on to Callis and pay a dime for the water to wash your face. Water was one of Callis's scarcities, as we'll be seeing later. However, this failed to detract the crowd. The CNRW put on 15 regular trains daily, and a little single track, unballasted and squirmy, was very unsafe to ride over, and the crowded trains had to run very slowly on this account. Because of the fact that it was difficult to find adequate sidetracking, it took two full days to make the trip from Omaha to Callis in return. All the day and night the toot-toot of the locomotives could be heard, and the sounds seemed to make the country seem very old indeed. Magoray's brass band organized for the purpose, undaunted, continued to play frantically at the depot to try to induce the crowded trains to unload a greater share, but to no avail. Although the cars were stuff like sandwiches. Those times in Callis were long to be remembered. As the trains disgorged the thousands daily, it seemed impossible that the little city could care for such crowds. The sidewalks were crowded from morning till night. The registration booths and saloons never closed, and more automobiles than I had ever seen in a country town up to that time roared, and with their clattering noise took the people hurriedly across the reservation to the west. Along toward the close of the opening, a prairie fire, driven by a strong west wind, raced across Tip County in a straight line for Callias. Although fireguards 60 feet wide had been burned along the west side of the town, it soon became apparent that the fire would leap them and enter the town, unless some unusual effort on the part of the citizens was made to stop it. It was late in the afternoon, and as seems always the case, a fire will cause the wind to rise, and it rose until the blaze shut out the western horizon. It seemed the entire world to the west was a fire. Ten thousand people lost in sightseeing, gambling and revelry, all of a sudden became aware of the approaching danger, and began a rush for safety to the north, south and east of the town the lands were under cultivation, therefore a safe place from the fire that now threatened the town. All business was suspended, registration ceased, and the huge can't containing more than one hundred thousand applications for lands were loaded on trays and taken into the country and deposited in the center of a large, plowed field for safety. The gamblers put their gains into sacks and joined the surging masses, and with grips got from the numerous check rooms, all the people fled like stampeding cattle to a position to the north of town, which was protected by a cornfield on the west. Ernest Nicholson, leading the businessmen and property owners, bravely fought the oncoming disaster. The chemical engine and water hose were rushed forward, but were as pins under the drivers of a locomotive. The water from the hose ran weakly for a few minutes and then with a blowing as of an empty faucet peered it out from lack of water. The strong wind blew the chemical into the air and it proved as useless. The fire entered the city, one house of magnificent residents was soon enveloped in flames, which spread to another and still to another. The thousands of people huddled on a bare spot but safe, watched the miniature city of one year and the gateway to the homesteads of the next county disappear in flames. Meguriite, seeing the danger, threatened her hated rival five miles away, called for volunteers, who readily responded and formed bucket brigades, loaded barrels into wagons, filled them with water and burned the roads in the hurry-up call to the apparently doomed city. I could see the fire from where I was harvesting flags, ten miles away, in the cloud of smoke with a little city lying silent before it reminded me of the picture of Pompeii before Vesuvius. It looked as if Calius was lost, then like a miracle the wind quieted it down, changed in less than twenty minutes was blowing a gale from the east, starting the fire back over the ground over which it had burned. There it sputtered, flickered and with a few sparks went out, just as L.A. Bell pulled onto the scene with lathered and bloody-eyed mules drawing a tank of Meguri water. It was told by the Nicholson brothers, who were said to resemble Mississippi steamboat roustabouts on a hot day, that Calius didn't need their water. Following the day of the high wind which brought the prairie fire that so badly frightened the people of the town, the change of the wind to the east brought rain and about two hundred automobiles that had been carrying people over Tiff County into the town. I remember the crowds but have no idea now how many people there were, but that it looked more like the crowds on Broadway or State Street on a busy day than Main Street in a burg of the prairie. This was the afternoon of the drawing and a woman drew number one, while here and there in the crowd that filled the street before the registration, exclamations of surprise and delight went up from different fortune at hearing their names called drawing a lucky number. I felt rather bewildered by so much excitement and metropolitanism, where hardly two years before I had hauled one of the first loads of lumber on the ground to start the town. I could not help but feel that the world moves swiftly and that I was living not in a wilderness, as stated in some of the letters I had received from colored friends in reply to my letters that informed them of the opening, but in the midst of advancement and action. When the drawing was over and the crowds had gone it was found that the greatest crowds had registered, not at Calius, but at a town just south in Nebraska, which received 45,000 while Calius came second with 43,000 and Meghari only received 7,000, something like 115,000 and all having applied. The hotels in Calius had charged one dollar the person and some of the large ones had made small fortunes, while the saloons were said to have averaged over one thousand dollars a day. After the opening land sold like hot hamburger sandwiches had a few weeks before. End of Chapter 24 Chapter 25 of the Conquest. This is a Liber Vox recording. All the Liber Vox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibreVox.org. Recording by Jeff Blanchard. The Conquest by Oscar Mejoe. Chapter 25 The Scotch Girl. It had been just four years since I bought The Rural Enquishment and seven since leaving southern Illinois. I had been very successful in farming, although I had made some very poor deals in the beginning and when my crops were sold that season I found that I had made $3,500. Furthermore, I had in the beginning sought to secure the best land in the best location and had succeeded. I had put 280 acres under cultivation with eight head of horses. I had done a little better in my later horse deals and had machinery, seed and feed sufficient to farm it. My efforts in the seven years had resulted in the ownership of land and stock to the value of $20,000 and was only $2,000 in debt and still under 25 years of age. During the years I had spent on the Little Crow I had kept batch all the while until that summer. A Scotch family had moved from Indiana that spring consisting of the father, a widower, two sons and two daughters. One of the boys worked for me and as it was much handier I boarded with them. The older of the two girls was a beautiful blonde maiden of 20 summers who attended to the household duties and considering the small opportunities she had to secure an education was an unusually intelligent girl. She had composed some verses and songs but not knowing where to send them had never submitted them to a publisher. I secured the name of a company that accepted some of her writings and paid her $50 for them. She was so anxious to improve her mind that I took an interest in her and I received much literature in the way of newspapers and magazines and read lots of copyright books. I gave them to her. She seemed delighted and appreciated the gifts. Before long however without any intention of being other than kind I found myself being drawn to her in a way that threatened to become serious. While custom frowned on even the discussion of the amalgamation of races it is only human to be kind and it was only my intention to encourage the desire to improve which I could see in her but I found myself on the verge of falling in love with her. To make matters more awkward that love was being returned by the object of my kindness. She however like myself had no thought of being other than kind and grateful. It placed me as well as her in an awkward position for before we realized it we had learned to understand each other to such an extent that it became visible in every look and action. It reached a stage of embarrassment one day when we were reading a volume of Shakespeare. She was sitting at the table and I was standing over her. The volume was Othello and when we came to the climax where Othello had murdered his wife driven to it by the evil machinations of Iago as if by instinct she looked up and caught my eyes and when I came to myself I had kissed her twice on the lips she held up. After that being near her caused me to feel awkwardly uncomfortable. We could not even look into each other's eyes without showing the feeling that existed in the heart. Now during the time I had lived among the white people I had kept my place as regards custom and had been treated with every care to see and respect had been referred to in the local papers in the most complimentary terms and was regarded as one of the little crow's best citizens. But when the reality of the situation dawned upon me I became in a way frightened for I did not by any means want to fall in love with a white girl. I had always disapproved of into marriage considering it as being above all things the very thing that a colored man could not even think of that we would become desperately in love however seemed inevitable. Lived a man the history of an American Negro shows who had been the foremost member of his race. He had acquitted himself of many honorable deeds for more than a score of years in the interests of his race. He had filled a federal office but at the zenith of his career had brought disappointment to his race and criticism from the white people who had honored him by marrying a white woman a stenographer in his office. They were no doubt in love with each other which in all likelihood overcame the fear of social ostracism they must have known would follow the marriage. I speak of love and presume that she loved him for in my opinion a white woman intelligent and respectable and knowing what it means who would marry a colored man must love him and love him dearly to make that love stronger is a feeling that haunts the mind the knowledge that custom tradition and the dignity of both races are against it like anything forbidden however it arouses the spirit of opposition causing the mind to battle with what is felt to be oppression the sole claim is the right to love these thoughts fell upon me like a clap of thunder and frightened me the more it was then too that I realized how pleasant the summer just passed had been and that I had not been in the least lonesome but perfectly content hey happy and that was the reason during the summer when I had read a good story or had on mind to discuss my hopes she had listened attentively and I had found companionship if I was melancholy I had been cheered in the same demure manner yet on the whole I had been unaware of the affection growing silently drawing two lonesome hats together with the reality of it upon us we were unable to extricate ourselves from our own weak predicament we tried avoiding each other tried everything to crush the weakness God has thus endowed we found it hard I have felt if a person could only order his mind as he does his limbs and have it respond or submit to the will how much easier life would be for it is that relentless thinking all the time until one's mind becomes a slave to its own imaginations that brings eternal misery where happiness might be had to love is life love lives to seek reply but I would contend with myself as to whether or not it was right to fall in love with this poor little white girl I contended with myself that there were good girls in my race and coincident with this I quit boarding with them and went to batch again to try to successfully combat my emotions I continued to send her papers and books to read I could hardly restrain the inclination to be kind then one day I went to the house to settle with their father for the boy's work and found her alone I could see she had been crying and her very expression was one of unhappiness well what is a fellow going to do what I did was take her into my arms and in spite of all the custom loyalty or the dignity of either Ethiopian or the Caucasian race loved her like a lover it was during a street carnival at Maghuri sometime before the tip county opening when one afternoon in company with three or four white men I saw a nice looking colored man coming along the street it was very seldom any colored people came to those parts and when they did it was with a show troupe or a concert of some kind whenever any colored people were in town I had usually made myself acquainted and welcomed them if it was acceptable and it usually was so when I saw this young man approaching I called the attention of my companions saying this is a nice looking colored man he was about five feet eleven of light brown complexion and chestnut like hair neatly trimmed he wore glasses and was dressed in a well fitted suit that matched his complexion he had the appearance of being intelligent and amiable I was in the act of starting to speak when one of the fellows nudged me and whispered in my ear that it was one of the wood rings from a town a short distance away in Nebraska who was known to be of mixed blood but never admitted it according to what I had been told the father of the three boys was about half Negro but had married a white woman and this one was the youngest son needless to say I did not speak but kept clear of him there is a difference in races that can be distinguished in the features in the eyes and even if carefully noted in the sound of the voice it seemed the family claimed to be part Mexican which would account for the darkness of their complexion but I had seen too many different races however to mistake a streak of Ethiopian having been in Mexico I knew them to be almost entirely straight haired being a cross between an Indian and a Spaniard when I observed this young man I readily distinguished the Negro features the brown eyes the curly hair and the set of the nose the father had come into the sandhills of Nebraska some 35 years before taking a homestead but from where he came from no one seemed to know it was there he married his white wife and to the union was born the three sons Frank the eldest Will and Len the youngest the father sold the homestead some 20 years before and moved to another county and had run a hotel since in the town of Pensa where they now live unlike his younger brother Frank the eldest son could easily have passed for a white that is so long as no one looked for the streak but when the fellow whose timely information had kept me from embarrassing myself and perhaps from insulting the young man a few minutes later called out hello Frank to a tall man one look disclosed to my scrutiny the Negro in his features I was not mistaken it was Frank Woodring in view of the fact that in some chapters of this story I dwell on the Negro and on account of the instance of many of them who declare they are deprived of opportunities on account of their color I take the privilege of putting down here a sketch of this Frank Woodring's life and although these people deny a relation to the Negro race it was well known by the public in that part of the country that they were mixed for it had been told to me by everyone who knew them therefore the instance cannot be regarded altogether as an exception shortly after coming to Pensa he went to work for an Iowa man on a ranch nearby and later a prosperous squaw man who owned a bank took him in where in time he became bookkeeper had all-round handyman later assistant cashier the ranch man whom Woodring had worked for previously to entering the bank bought the squaw man out made Woodring cashier and sold to him a block of stock and took his note for the amount in time Woodring proved a good banker and his efficient management of the institution which had been a state bank with a capital stock of twenty five thousand dollars had been incorporated into a national bank and the capital increased to fifty thousand dollars and later on to one hundred thousand dollars he dealt in buying and selling land as well as feeding cattle on the side and had prospered until he was soon well to do coincident with this prosperity he had been made president of not only that bank whose footing was near half a million dollars but of some three or four local banks in Nebraska also a Magorri county bank at Fairview which is the county depository and a large bank and trust company at the town of Magorri with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars today Frank Woodring is one of the wealthiest men in northwest Nebraska the local ball team of their town was playing Magorri that day and a few hours later out at the ballpark I was shouting for the home team with all my breath the batter struck a foul and when I turned to look where the ball went there standing on the bench above me between two white girls and looking down at me with a look that betrayed his mind was Len Woodring our eyes met for only the fraction of a minute but I read his thoughts he looked away quickly but I shall not soon forget that moment of racial recognition and now when I found my affections in jeopardy regarding the love of the scotch girl I thought long and seriously over the matter and pictured myself in the place of the Woodring family successful respected and efficient businessmen but still members of the downtrodden race I pondered as to whether I could make the sacrifice maybe they were happy the boys had never known or associated with the race they denied and maybe were not so conscientious as myself although the look of Len's had betrayed what was on his mind I had learned that throughout these Dakotas and Nebraska that other lone colored men who had drifted from the horns and homes of the race as I had maybe discontented as I had been and had with time and natural development through the increase in the valuation of their homesteads or other land they had acquired grown prosperous and had finally with hardly an exception married into the white race even the daughter of the only colored farmer between the little crow and Omaha was only prevented from marrying a white man at the altar when it was found the law of the state forbids it I could diagnose their condition by my own life in a new country is always rough in the beginning in the past it had taken 10 and 15 years for a newly opened country to develop into a state of cultivation and prosperity that the little crow had in the four years at the time it had been open to settlement the reaction from the effects of the dry years and hard times of 93 4 and 5 had set in and at that time with plenty of available capital the early extension of the railroad and other advantages too numerous to mention life had been quite different for the settlers such advantages had not been the lot of the homestead 20 and 30 years before these people had no doubt been honorable and had intended to remain loyal to their race but long hard years lean crops and the long lonesome days had changed them it is easier to control the thoughts than the emotions the craving for love and understanding provides the very core of a human and makes the mind reckless to even such a grave matter as race loyalty in most cases it had been years before these people had the means and time to get away for a visit to their old homes while around them were the neighbors and friends of pioneer days and maybe too some girl had come into their lives like the one had into mine who understood them and was kind and sympathetic what worried me most however even frightened me was that after marriage and when their children had grown to manhood and womanhood they like the woodring family had a terror of their race disowning and denying the blood that coursed through their veins claiming to be some foreign descent in fact anything to hide or conceal the mixture of Ethiopian they looked on me with fear sometimes contempt even the mixed blood Indians and Negroes seem to crave a marriage with the whites the question utmost in my mind became would not i become like that would i too deny my race the thought was a desperate one i did not feel that i could become that way but what about those to come after me would they have to submit to the indignities i had seen some of these refer to do in order that they may marry whites and try to banish from memory the relation of a race that is hated in many instances for no other reason than the coloring matter in their pigment would my life and the thought involved and occupied my mind daily innocent as my life now appeared lead into such straight if i married a scotch girl it became harder for me for at that time i had not even a correspondent with a girl of my race as i look back upon it the condition was a complicated affair i confessed at the time however that i was on the verge of making the sacrifice this was due to the sight that had met my gaze when i would go on trips to chicago and such times i would return home feeling disgusted end of chapter 25 chapter 26 of the conquest this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by phyllis vincelli the conquest by oscar michael chapter 26 the battle sometime after the opening it was announced from washington that the land office which was located in one of the larger towns of the state about 150 miles from the little crow would be moved to one of the towns in the new territory the land office is something like a county seat and bringing business to a town and immediately every town in maghore county began a contest for the office however it was soon seen that it was the intention of the interior department to locate it in either maghore or callus so the two familiar rivals engaged in another battle but in this maghore held the high card that was about the time the insurgents and stalwarts were in a struggle to get control of the state's political machinery it had waxed bitter in the june primaries of that year and the insurgents had won callus had supported the losing candidate who had been overwhelmingly defeated and both senators and one representative in congress from the state were red hot insurgents the nicholson brothers bowing to tradition were standpats their father had been a stalwart before them in iowa where commons had created so much commotion with his insurgency earnest with his wife had left for the orient to spend the winter after leaving the announcement came that the land office would be moved even had he been in callus the result would likely have been the same but i had a creepy feeling that had he been on the ground maghore would have had to work considerably harder at least after sending many men from each town down to the national capital the towns fought it out with as i have stated and which was to be expected with both senators recommending maghore as having advantages over callus in the way of an abundant supply of water and a national bank with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars the interior department decided in favor of maghore and callus lost earnest on hearing of the fight hurriedly returned went into washington secured an appointment with the secretary and is said to have made a worthy plea for callus but to no avail and the maghoreites returned home the heroes of the day i was away at the time but was told a good share of the men of maghore were drunk the greater part of the week some evidence of the rejoicing was visible on my return in the loss of an eye by a little gambler who became too enthusiastic and run up against a snag what amused me most however was an article written especially for one of the maghore papers by a keeper of a racket store and a known shouter for the town the article represented the contest as being a big prize fight on the little crow and read something like this big prize fight on the little crow principles maghore the metropolis of the little crow reputation the square deal callus boaster reputation grafting seen little crow reservation time a d 19 oh referee washington dc seconds for maghore flacker of the maghore national fred crofton postmaster for callus mayor rosie and a has been formally of washington round one september principles enter the ring and refuse to shake hands referee washington dc announces fight to be straight marquis of queensberry no hitting in the clinches and a clean break a fight to the finish they are off callus leads with a left to the face maghore countering with a right to the ribs they clinch referee breaks them then they spar and as the gong sounded appeared evenly matched round two october they rushed to the center of the ring and clinch referee tells them to break just as this is done callus lands a terrific left to maghore's jaw following with a right to the body and maghore goes down for the count of nine getting up with much confusion only to be floored again with a right to the temple maghore rises very groggy when callus lands a vicious left to the mouth a right to the ear just as the gong sounded saving her from a knockout they go to their corners with betting three to one on callus and no takers during the one minutes rest the crowd whooped it up for callus thousands coming her way maghore looked serious sitting in the corner thinking how she had fallen down on some well-laid plans round three november they rushed to a clinch and spar referee cautions callus for budding they do some more sparring and both seem cautious with honors even at the end of the third round round four december they rushed to the center of the ring and begin to spar and like a flash maghore lands a terrific swing on callus's jaw following it up with a right to the heart callus cries foul but referee orders her to proceed while maghore with eyes flashing and distended nostrils faints and then like the kick of a mule lands a hard left to the mouth following in quick succession with jolts swings jabs and uppercuts mayor rosy wants to throw up the sponge but the referee says fight maghore with a left to the face and right to the stomach then rushing both hands in a blow to the solar plexus callus falls and is counted out with maghore winning the prize great land office end of chapter 26 chapter 27 of the conquest this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by phyllis vincelli the conquest by oscar mishaw chapter 27 the sacrifice race loyalty getting back to the affair of the scotch girl i hated to give up her kindness and friendship i would have given half my life to have had her possess just a least bit of negro blood in her veins but since she did not and could not help it any more than i could help being a negro i tried to forget it straightened out my business and took a trip east bent on finding a wife among my own as the early morning train carried me down the road from maghore i hoped with all the hope of early manhood i would find a sensible girl and not like many i knew in chicago who talked nothing but clothes jewelry and a good time i had no doubt there were many good colored girls in the east who if they understood my life ambition and morality would make a good wife and assist me in building a little empire on the dakota planes not only as a profit to ourselves but a credit to the negro race as well i wanted to succeed but hold the respect and goodwill of the community and there are few communities that will sanction a marriage with a white girl hence the sacrifice i spent about six weeks visiting in chicago and new york finally returning west to southern illinois to visit a family in sea dale near m burrow who were the most prosperous colored people in the town they owned a farm near town nine houses and lots in the city and were practical people who understood business and what it took to succeed they had a daughter whom i had known as a child back in the hometown m plus where she had cousins that she used to visit she had by this time grown into a woman of five and twenty her name was daisy hinshaw now miss hinshaw was not very good looking but had spent years in school and in many ways was unlike the average colored girl she was attentive and did not have her mind full of cheap showy ideals i had written to her at times from south dakota and she answered with many inviting letters therefore when i wrote her from new york that i intended paying her visit she answered in a very inviting letter but boldly told me not to forget to bring her a nice present that she would like a large purse i did not like such boldness i should have preferred a little more modesty but i found the purse however a large seal one in a fifth avenue shop for six dollars which miss hinshaw displayed with much show when i came to town the town had a colored population of about one thousand and the many girls who led in the local society looked enviously upon miss hinshaw's catch and the large seal purse and i became the man of the hour in sea dale the only marriageable man in the town who did not gamble get drunk and carouse in a way that made him ineligible to decent society was the professor of the colored school he was a college graduate and received sixty dollars a month he had been spoiled by too much attention however and was not an agreeable person miss hinshaw was dignified and desired to marry and to marry somebody that amounted to something but she was so bold and selfish she took a delight in the reports that were going the rounds that we were engaged and i was going to have her come to south dakota and file on a tip county homestead relinquishment that i would buy and we would then get married the only objector to this plan was myself i had not fallen in love with miss hinshaw and did not feel that i could daisy was a nice girl however little odd in appearance having a light brown complexion without color or blood visible in the cheeks was small and bony padded with so many clothes that no idea form could be drawn i guessed her weight at about ninety pounds she had very good hair but gray eyes that gave her a cat-ish appearance she had me walking with her alone and permitted no one to interfere she would not introduce me to other girls while out keeping me right by her side and taking me home and into her parlor with her and her alone as company one day i went uptown and while there took a notion to go to the little mining town to see the relatives who had got me the job there seven years before but it was ten miles with no train before the following morning just then the colored caller called out a train to emberow and st louis and all of a sudden it occurred to me that i had almost forgotten miss rooks why not go to emberow i had not expected to pay her a visit but suddenly decided that i would just run over quietly and come back on the train to see dal at five o'clock that afternoon i jumped aboard and as emberow was only eight miles i was soon in the town and inquiring where she lived i found their house presently they were always moving and just a trifle nervously rang the bell the door was opened in a few minutes and before me stood jesse she had changed quite a bit in the three years and now with long skirts and the eyes looked so tired and dream-like she was quite fascinating this i took in at a glance she stammered out oh oscar devereaux extending her hand timidly and looking into my eyes as though afraid she looked so lonely and i had thought a great deal of her a few years ago and perhaps it was not all dead and the next moment she was in my arms and i was kissing her i did not go back to see dal on the five nor the eight o'clock and i did not want to on the last train that night i was having the most carefree time of my life they were hours of sweetest bliss with jesse snugly held in the angle of my left arm we poured out the pent-up feelings of the past years i had a proposition to make and had reasons to feel it would be accepted the family had a hard time making ends meet her father had lost the mail carrier's job and had run a restaurant later and then a saloon failing in both he had gone to another town starting another restaurant and had there been assaulted by a former admirer of jesse's who had struck him with a heavy stick fracturing the skull and injuring him so that for weeks he had not been able to remember anything although he was then convalescing he was unable to earn anything her mother had always been helpless and the support fell on her and a younger brother who acted as special delivery letter carrier and received twenty dollars a month while jesse taught a country school a mile from town receiving twenty five dollars per month this she turned over to the support of the household and made what she earned sewing after school hours supply her own needs it was a long and pitiful tale she related as we walked together along a dark street with her clinging to my arm and speaking at times in a half sob my heart went out to her and i wanted to help and said why did you not write to me didn't you know that i would have done something well she answered slowly i started to several times but was so afraid that you would not understand she seemed so weak and forlorn in her distress she had never been that way when i knew her before and i felt sure she had suffered and i was a brute not to have realized it twelve o'clock found me as reluctant to go as five o'clock but as we kissed lingeringly at the door i promised when i left sea dale two evenings later i would stop off at emboro and we would discuss the matter pro and calm this was saturday night the next morning i called to see daisy i was unusually cheerful and taking her face in my hands blew a kiss she looked up at me with her gray eyes alert and with an air of suspicion said you've been kissing somebody else since you left here then leading me into the parlor in her commanding way ordered me to sit down and to wait there until she returned she had just completed cleaning and dusting the parlor and it was in perfect order she seemed to me to be more forward than ever that morning and i felt a suspicion that i was going to get a curtain lecture however i escaped the lecture but got stunned instead daisy returned in about an hour dressed in a rustling black silk dress with powdered face and her hair done up elegantly and without ceremony or hesitation planted herself on the set tea and requested or rather ordered me to take a seat beside her she opened the conversation by inquiring of south dakota and took my hand and pretended to pair my fingernails i answered in nonchalant tones but after a little she turned her head a little slantingly looked down began just the least hesitant but firmly now what arrangements do you wish me to make in regard to my coming to south dakota next fall for the love of jesus i said to myself if she hasn't proposed now one advantage of a dark skin is that one does not show his inner feeling as noticeably as those of the lighter shade and i do not know whether miss hinshaw noticed the look of embarrassment that overspread my countenance i finally found words to break the deadly suspense following her bold action oh i stammered more than spoke i would really rather not make any arrangements daisy well she said not in the least taken aback a person likes to know just how they stand yes of course i added hastily you see i was just starting in on a lengthy discourse trying to avoid the issue when the doorbell rang and a relative of mine by the name of menlo robinson who had attended the university the same time miss henshaw had but had been expelled for gambling and other bad habits came in he was a bore most of the time with so much of his college talk but i could have hugged him then i felt so relieved but miss hinshaw put in before he got started to talking wickedly that of course if i did not want her she could not force it the next day at noon i left for st louis but did not mention that i was scheduled to stop off at emboro miss hinshaw had grown sad in appearance and looked so lonely i felt sorry for her and kissed her goodbye at the station which seemed to cheer her a little she was married to a classmate about a year later and i've not seen her since jesse was glad to see me when i called that evening in emboro and we went walking again and had another long talk when we got back i sang the old story to which she answered with do you really want me sure jesse why not i looked into her eyes that seemed just about to shed tears but she closed them and snuggled up closely and whispered i just wanted to hear you say you wanted me end of chapter 27 chapter 28 of the conquest this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by rita butros the conquest by oscar michel chapter 28 the breeds here this story may have ended that is had i taken her to the minister but as everybody had gone land crazy in dakota and i had determined to own more land myself i told her how i could buy a relinquishment and she could file on it and then we would marry at once now when a young man and a girl are in love and feel each other to be the world and all that's in it it is quite easy to plan and miss rooks and i were no exception had we been in south dakota instead of southern illinois and had it been the month of october instead of january nine months before we would have carried out our plans but since it was january we mutually agreed to wait until the nine months had elapsed but something happened during that time which will be told in due time i enjoyed feeling that i was at last engaged it was positively delightful and when i left the next morning to visit my parents in kansas i was a very happy person while visiting there shooting jack rabbits by day and boosting dakota to the jay hawkers half the night i'd write to miss rooks sometime during each 24 hours and for a time received a letter as often two sisters were to be graduated from the high school the following june and wanted to come to dakota in the fall and take up claims but had no money to purchase relinquishments i agreed to mortgage my land and loan the money but when all was arranged it was found one of them would not be old enough in time so my grandmother who had always possessed a roving spirit wanted to come and so it was settled when i got back to dakota and jumped into my spring work it was with unusual vigor and contemplation and all went well for a while soon however i failed to hear from jesse and began to feel a bit uneasy when three weeks had passed and still no letter i wrote again asking why she did not answer my letters in due time i heard from her stating that she had been afraid i didn't love her and that she had been told i was engaged to daisy and as daisy would be the heir to the money and property of her parents she felt sure my marriage to miss hinshaw would be more agreeable to me than would a marriage with her who had only a kind heart and willing mind to offer so she had on the first day of april married one whom she felt was better suited to her impoverished condition now what she had done was in her effort to break off the prolonged courtship of the little fellow referred to in the early part of this story and who was still working for three dollars a week she had commenced going with another a cook of 42 years of age and had thought herself desperately in love with him at the time i had not even written to miss hinshaw and knew nothing whatever of any engagement i was very downcast for a time and like some others who have been jilted i grew the least bit wicked in my thoughts and felt she would not find life all sunshine and roses with her 42 year old groom lots of excitement was on around migore and callous and as i liked excitement i soon forgot the matter with the location of the land office in migore and its subsequent removal from east of the missouri it was found there was only one building in the town outside of the banks that contained a vault and a vault being necessary it became expedient for the commercial club to provide an office that contained one two prosperous real estate dealers whose office contained a vault readily turned over their building to the register and receiver until the land office building then under construction should be completed a building 25 by 60 feet was built in the street just in front of the office to be used as a temporary map room and to be moved away as soon as the filing was over the holders of lucky numbers had been requested to appear at a given hour on a certain day to offer filings on tip county claims by the time the filing had commenced the hotels of both towns were filled and tents covered all the vacant lots while 150 or more autos to be hired at $25 per day did a rushing business the settlers seem to be possessed of abundant capital and deposits in the local banks increased out of all proportion to those of previous times besides the holders of numbers hundreds of other settlers who had purchased land in migore county were moving in at the same time bringing stock machinery household goods and plenty of money those were bountiful days for the locators and landsharks when migore county opened for settlement a few years previous it was found that the indians had taken practically all their allotments along the streams where wood and water were to be hand the most of these allotments were on the manca bottom below old callious in fact they had taken the entire valley that far up the timber along the creek was very small being stunted from many fires and consisted mostly of cottonwood elm box elder oak and ash all but the oak and ash being easily susceptible to dry rot were unfit for posts or anything except for shade and firewood this made the valley lands cheaper than the uplands the indians were always selling and are yet what is furnished them by the government for all they can get when given the money spends it as quickly as he possibly can buying fine horses buggies whiskey and whatnot their only idea being that it is to spend the sue indians in my opinion are the wealthiest tribe they owned at one time the larger part of southern south dakota and northern Nebraska and own a lot of it yet be it said however it is simply because the government will not allow them to sell the breeds near old callious were easily flattered and when the white people invited them to anything they always came dressed in great regalia but after the settlers came there was not much intermarrying such as there had been before a family of mixed bloods by the name of kutchall owned all the land just south of old callious in fact the site where callious had stood was formally the allotment of a deceased son the father known as old tom kutchall was for years a landmark on the creek now and then nickelson brothers had invited the kutchalls to some of their social doings which made the kutchalls feel exalted and higher still when earnest suggested he could get them a patent for their land and then would buy it this suited kutchalls dandy earnest offered seven thousand dollars for the section and they accepted at that time by recommending the indian to be a competent citizen and able to care for himself a patent would be granted on proper recommendation and nickelson brothers attended to that and got mrs kutchall the patent tom her husband being a white man could not be allotted and she had been given the section as the head of the family it is said they spent the seven thousand dollars in one year the company of which the father of the nickelson brothers was president made a loan of eight thousand dollars on the land and shortly afterwards they sold it for twenty three thousand dollars the lots had brought more than one hundred thousand dollars in callious and were still selling so this placed the windy nickelsons as they had been called by jealous migoreites in a position of much importance and they were by this time recognized as men of no small ability years before migore county was open to settlement many white men had drifted onto the reservation and had engaged in ranching and had in the meantime married squaws this appeared to have been done more by the french than any other nationality judging by the many french names among the mixed bloods among these were a family by the name of amaro consisting of four boys and several girls the girls had all married white men and the little while old callious was in existence two of the boys william and george used to go there often and were entertained by the nickelson brothers with as much splendor as callious could afford the amaro were high moguls in little crow society during the first two years and everybody took off their hats to them they were called the rich mixed bloods and were engaged in ranching and owned great herds in tip county when they shipped it was by the train loads the amaro and the colons another family of wealthy breeds were married to white women and the husbands as head of families held a section of land and the children each held 160 acres before the nickelson brothers had left old callious and before they had reached the position they now occupied as i stated they had shown the amaro a good time they did not have much indian blood in their veins being what are called quarter breeds having a french father and a half blood indian mother and were all fine looking george had seven children and the family all together had 11 quarter sections of land and 2 000 head of cattle so there was no reason why he should not have been the big chief but so much society and paid for notoriety had brought about a change to him and his brother william who had always been a moneymaker and a still bigger spender with the fine looks thrown in had shown like a skyrocket before bursting a rich indian is something worth associating with but a poor one is of small note the amaro spent so freely that in a few years they were all in down and out had nothing but their allotments left and these the government would not give patents to the colognes had done likewise and together they had all moved into tip county now there was another amaro the oldest one of the boys who like the others had blowed his roll but happened to have an allotment in the very picturesque valley of the dog ear in tip county near the center of the county and when a bunch of promoters decided to lay out a town they made a deal with oliver taking him into the company he furnishing the land and they the brains they laid out the site and began the town naming it amaro in honor of the breed which made oliver feel very big indeed end of chapter 28 chapter 29 of the conquest this is a libra vox recording a libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by betty b the conquest by oscar michaud in the valley of the dog ear the boom in megary and collias took such proportions that it made every investor prosperous a goodly number of whom sold out settled in amaro and the beautiful town site soon became one of the most popular trade centers in the new county it was the only town site where trees stood and the investors thought it a good thing that they would not have to wait a score of years to grow them among the money investors in the town was old dad derpy the former oris town and megary stage driver when talking with him one day he told me he had saved three thousand dollars while running the stage line and had several good horses besides dad as he was familiarly called had invested a part of his bank account in a corner lot and put up a two-story building and soon became an amaro booster all dad opened up a stage line between collias and the new town but this line did not pay as well as the old one for no one rode with him except when the weather was bad as the people were all riding now in automobiles in a short time every line of business was represented in amaro and when the settlers began to arrive amaro did a flourishing business in coming from collias the trail led over a monstrous hill and from the top amaro the name having been shortened nestling in the valley below reminding me of mexico city as it appeared from the highlands near quare navaca a party from hedrick by the name of van neider built a hotel 50 by 100 feet with 40 rooms and during the opening and filing made a small fortune the house was always full and high prices were charged and thus amaro prospered during the month of april the promoters succeeded in having the governor call an election to organize the county the election to be held in june following the filing had been made in april and may and as conditions were no one could vote except cowboys indians and mixed bloods in the election amaro won the county seat and settlers moving into the county were exceedingly mortified over the fact having to be governed 18 months by an outlaw set who had deprived them of a voice in the organization of the county as amaro had won it soon became the central city and grew as callias had grown and in a short time had a half dozen general stores two garages four hotels four banks and every other line of business that goes to make up a western town its four livery barns did all the business their capacity would permit while the saloons and gamblers feasted on the easy eastern cash that fell into their pockets in july the lot sales of the government towns were held but only one amounted to much that town being farthest west and miles from the eastern line of the county this was written and under a ruling of the interior department a deposit of 25 dollars was accepted on an option of 60 days after which a payment of one half the price of the lot was required here it must be said that almost every dollar invested on the little crow had been doubled in a short time and in many instances a hundred dollars soon grew to a thousand or more practically all the lowest number holders had filed around written including numbers one and two ever since the opening of oklahoma in 1901 when number one took a claim adjoining the city of lotton and the owner said to have received 30 000 for it the holder of number one in every opening of western land since has been a very conspicuous figure and this was not lost on the holder of number one in tip county who was a divorced woman she took her claim adjoining the town of written which fact brought the town considerable attention the lots in the town brought the highest price of any which had been sold in any town on the little crow up to that time several having sold for from 1200 to 1400 dollars and one as high as 2000 and fifty dollars the town of amro being surrounded by indian allotments had few settlers in its immediate vicinity the indians profiting by their experience in maghree county where they had learned that good location meant increase in the value of their lands had in selecting allotments taken nearly all the land just west of amro as they had taken practically all of the goodland just west of callias in the eastern part of tip county the good land all over the county had been picked over and the indians had selected much of the best but tip county is a large one and several hundred thousand acres of goodland were available for homesteading though much scattered as to location when july arrived and still no surveyors for the railroad company had put in their appearance it was feared that no extension work would be commenced that year but shortly after the lot sail had written the surveyors arrived in the county and ran a survey west from callias 11 miles to a town named after the colognes referred to striking the town then proceeding northwest missing amro and crossing the dog year about two miles north of the town then following a divide almost due west to the county line on the west running just south of a conspicuous range of hills known as the red hills missing every town in the county except cologne this caused a temporary check in the excitement around amro but as it had the county seat it felt secure as a county seat means much to a western village and felt the railroad would eventually go there in fact the citizens of the town boasted that the road could not afford to miss it pointing with pride to the many teams to be seen in her streets daily and the be like activity of the town in general i visited the town many times but from the first time i saw the place i felt sure the railroad would never go there as two miles to the north was the natural divide that the survey had followed all the way from cologne to the dog year and on to the west side of the county which is a natural right of way when i argued with the people in the town that amro would not get the railroad i brought out a storm of protest end of chapter 29