The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 127
576 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
moved to it and many have moved away. Others have become
rooted to the soil and have "proved up" their claims to a home-
stead of 160 acres. They won against the United States Govern-
ment which bet them 160 acres of land that they couldn't live
on it eight months. The story told in this historical novel of
twentieth century pioneers deals principally with those home-
steaders who have stayed and helped to build a part of our great
West. It is written in the convincing manner of one who has
shared the experiences of the homesteaders and is willing to
defend their cause.
The principal characters are two sisters, one of whom writes
the story of their experiences as homesteaders first near McClure,
about thirty miles south of Pierre, South Dakota, and then on the
Lower Brul6 Indian Reservation which was opened to homesteaders
on October 12, 1907. Others are Huey Dunn, a dirt farmer who
fallowed his land; Myrtle Combs, the "hammer and tongs" printer
of the McClure Press, one of a chain of "final proof" newspapers
owned by E. L. Senn; Wilomene White, a plump woman in her
early thirties with a "sense of humor that was an invaluable asset
in a country like that"; Randall, owner of the Halfway House at
McClure; Alexander Van Leshout, the newspaper cartoonist from
Milwaukee who painted Indians; Pa and Ma Wagor, an elderly
couple, proud of being from Blue Springs, wherever that was;
Imbert Miller, who married Ida Mary, one of the two sisters; Hal-
bert Donovan, broker and investment banker from New York City;
Bronco Benny, the ubiquitous cowboy; and Coyote Cal, who was
always "just plumb flabbergasted" when a group of women un-
expectedly confronted him. These characters are not singular in
their behavior; they are typical of the different people among
homesteaders.
The principal experiences of Ida Mary and Edith, the writer,
outside of those they shared with the other homesteaders, were
that Ida Mary first became a school teacher and later storekeeper
and postmistress at Ammons on the Lower Brule, and that Edith
succeeded Myrtle Combs as printer of the McClure Press and
then set up The Reservation Wand at Ammons. Other experiences
are related in the book, many incidents fill its pages, and other
characters appear, but you will want to read the story to find out.R. L. BIESELE.
The University of Texas.
127
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940, periodical, 1940; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101111/m1/135/?rotate=90: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.