Uncle Sam, Trustee
agreement, but to accept it as bonâ fide. The farming land was, of course, worth several times two dollars and a half per acre, but the grazing land would, in 1901, have scarcely sold for one dollar and a half.
This agreement was to be binding upon the Indians "when accepted and ratified by the Congress of the United States." A bill embodying its provisions was presented at the next session of Congress, but it was not passed; in the vernacular of Washington the bill was "killed" somewhere among the committees. The agreement, consequently, was not accepted nor ratified. The explanation current at that time for the failure of the scheme was that it was then inexpedient to ask Congress for the large appropriation required to pay for the land.
Beginning with 1901 a most remarkable wave of land speculation swept over the West like a tremendous thunder-shower, leaving a rain of gold in its path. The storm seemed to centre first in South Dakota, and like most storms in the Northwest it moved northward. After delighting the hearts and filling the pocket-books of the North Dakotans, it finally spent itself in the Canadian Northwest. Land values in South Dakota were doubled, then trebled; in many instances they were quadrupled within two years. At no time, curiously enough, even in the height of the buying, was there any considerable immigration of permanent settlers; the buyers were
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