The Indian Dispossessed
these Indians to-day are the old followers of Spotted Tail, or their descendants.
By far the greater part of the Rosebud reserve lies within the area of insufficient rainfall, and is good only for grazing. The increase in altitude is rapid as one goes westward from the Missouri River, up the great slope that leads to the Black Hills, and then to the Rocky Mountains beyond. But in the vicinity of the Missouri River are large sections of exceedingly fertile agricultural lands; in fact, the only strictly agricultural lands on the whole reserve lie at its eastern end. Naturally, then, the eastern end became of especial interest to the land speculators.
In respect to cessions of land the Sioux nation has sustained a relation to the Government differing greatly from that of other Indian tribes, by virtue of an iron-clad article in their fundamental treaty of 1868, known as the treaty of Fort Laramie:
"Article XII. No treaty for the cession of any portion or part of the reservation herein described which may be held in common shall be of any validity or force as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by at least three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying and interested in the same. . . ."
There is a directness of intent in this article not often found in Indian treaties. No treaties are made with Indians which are not for cessions of land; consequently, instead of representing the consent of
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