inclined plane. I suppose that one of our present great steam separators would thresh more grain in half an hour than one of these primitive machines would in two days. But they were a wonderful improvement at that time.

Forty to fifty years ago many a rural neighborhood contained its shiftless, ne'er-do-well farmer-one who, perhaps was addicted to strong drink, or controlled by downright laziness. Of such a one you might hear it said, and scarcely another expression could convey so much of derogation and contempt "why, the lazy fellow burns his own rails!" A man who was so lazy or shiftless as to burn his own fences for fuel was deemed so far on the road to the bad-whatever the cause that his reclamation need not be hoped or expected. But in quite recent years the most thrifty farmers have been burning their rail fences! In fact, it is one of the best evidences of thrift and progress to see a farmer thus getting rid of his rail fences! Should he husband them as carefully as did his father or grandfather, he would be set down as an old fogy, indeed! But why this change-for fences involve the expenditure of millions of dollars? Simply, because the rail fence -the fence of the fathers and of Abraham Lincoln-has been superceded (after American timber has been well-nigh destroyed) by barbed steel wire. The rail fence is a thing of the past in most parts of our country, and especially in the prairie regions of the west. However, it still clings to out-of-the-way neighborhoods, as well as to some not considered "out-of-theway." In fact, within the last year and a half, I saw a man splitting pine rails within five miles of the city of WashingHe had already built several rods of this primitive fence. Our Iowa farmers have been doing better than this for several years. They have either used their rails for firewood, or sold them in the towns for that purpose, and superceded them with barbed wire fences or adopted the law which restrains domestic animals from running at large, and so are able to dispense with outside fences altogether. This change has largely taken place during the past twenty years, and is so recent as to be still in the memories of most readers.

ton.

In a hundred directions, perhaps, the life of the people has changed, each in as marked degree as in the instances I have quoted. Farmers in the country may now readily command luxuries which fifty or sixty years ago were beyond the reach of the wealthy, Are equal changes to come during the next half century?

Des Moines, Iowa, June 17, 1895.

THE SIOUX INDIAN WAR.*

BY SOLOMON R. FOOT, SAN PEDRO, CAL.

(Continued From Page 137.)

HE people at the corral thinking they would soon meet an assisting party on the road, formed their teams in line and proceeded towards Forrest City, sending one man on a horse in advance instructed to immediately return to the train, if any enemy was seen. Leaving the dead men where they had fallen and the few straying cattle and one wagon, they proceeded on the way, fearing an attack at any moment. No one can portray, or even conceive, the action of fear on the minds of persons in a time of danger. Some individuals are paralyzed, others stimulated to action, endowed with judgment and courage. One man at the time the Indians were seen passing them, was so paralyzed with fear that he placed his hands over his eyes, his head under a bush and tuft of grass, like a partridge, leaving his body in plain view. He had to be forced to go inside the corral. One woman when leaving her home had a brood of young ducks in a box. She carefully brought them with her, took

*In this narrative the writer does not assume to give a history of the Indian uprising of 1862, but only to relate some incidents of it personally known to him.

them into the corral, her whole mind absorbed in care and preservation of the lives of her "dooks."

Everyone on the alert, looking closely at every depression in the prarie and every bunch of bushes that might conceal a foe, they came to within a mile of the city, when they discovered mounted Indians furiously riding in pursuit. Fully realizing what their fate would have been, had they remained at the corral, and the extreme peril they were now in, they with lash and goad-stick, urged their weary teams into all possible speed. They entered the outskirts of the place and were met by some of the citizens. Their pursuers were baffled, disappointed, came to a halt when they saw that the party had been met by others. The Indians not daring to follow them, wheeled about, brandishing their weapons with insulting gestures and horrid yells, rode away to find an easier and more defenseless prey.

The party was received and provided with food and rest by the hospitable citizens of Forrest City. Feeling in comparative safety, they proceeded on the way to the Mississippi river by the way of Kingston to Fair Haven, where they arrived without further incident. Some of them went to Anoka and Minneapolis, and other towns in the interior, and others to St. Cloud.

Bur

Burdick, Kouts and Foot with their families went to St. Cloud, where Kouts had a brother-in-law (Francis Arnold), and Foot's mother, grandmother of the sixteen year old girlteacher, resided in St. Cloud. The Uncle Silas was killed by the Indians on the 6th of May following, in 1863, on the road to Ft. Abercrombie. He and one man with him at the time were driving beeves to the fort. Both were killed. dick and family went to his native state, New York. enlisted into the United States Volunteers, served till the close of the war, and then with his family returned to his former residence in Minnesota, and resumed the life of a pioneer. Thomas, a Welchman, whose name was given to the "potato hole," which he and his brother had dug for defense, returned to his old home.

He

The people in the towns on the river were very much excited, and apprehended an attack from the combined forces. of all the Indians of the northwest. "Hole in the Day," chief of the Chippewas, had threatened the extermination of all the people on the Upper Mississippi river, and the Winnebagoes were believed to be in league with the Sioux. The citizens of St. Cloud made some preparation for a defense in the construction of a stockade near to the brick court house in the central part of the city. Rifle pits were dug outside of the buildings next to the prairie. St. Cloud extended up and down the river fully two and one-half miles, designated as Central, in which was the court house, jail, and county offices; Upper town, Loudry's addition, three and one-quarter miles from the court house, and Lower town, a mile or more from the Central town. In the Lower town, the residents under the supervision of Samuel Holes, who a few days previous to the general escapade left his residence at Green Lake and moved his family to St. Cloud, a fort was built. It was an unique affair. Posts set into the ground, on inside, and outside boards were nailed, the space filled with dirt, an angular drive way entering. Port holes angling right and left in the walls, so as to protect from every approach, over the whole a roof covered with boards, on top of which were placed grass sods with dirt as a protection against fire the whole in a circular form something in the shape of a huge tent. Inside could have assembled six hundred people with necessary effects to comfort and a siege of several days. Wood, water in barrels, and other conveniences were placed inside, and every preparation made for immediate occupation. The firing of guns and the ringing of bells, was the signal agreed on to go to the forts. Some valuable furniture and a piano had been placed in the brick court house, and some household effects carried inside of Holes' Fort. Some of the timid persons and families fled from the city to St. Paul.

The people from the frontier towns, and even settlers from

the towns near, flocking here, soon increased the city's population by hundreds. Citizens organized and made requisition on the governor of the State for arms and ammunition, and put patrol and picket guards on duty. A mounted company of men was organized by and under command of Oscar Taylor, which patrolled the outside country and settlements, burying the dead, and rendering assistance in escorting the fugitives to places of safety, restoring in a degree a more confident feeling of security. Under the concealment of timber, brush and groves, the Indians raided the settlements within a few miles of the city. Some sickness among the refugees resulted from exposure, privation and excitement.

The city of St. Cloud was as liable to an investment by the combined forces of the Sioux, Chippewa and Winnebagos as any town on or near to the frontier. Its store-houses of goods and supplies for the Red River and Manitoba trade being located in the place, was well-known by the Indians and was a great inducement for them to concentrate and loot the town. The prompt and efficient action of the State officials and agents quieted the Chippewas, prevented a coalition with the other tribes, and St. Cloud, more fortunate than some other towns was spared its threatened doom. Holes' Fort remained for some time after peace was declared, a monument attractive to the sight-seer.

Although the general government remunerated all claimants for the loss of property, no compensation has ever been made for the loss of life, or the suffering of those who were wounded and crippled for life. It is not for the reason that I was wounded and have been a sufferer from that to the present time, I write this. It is for those orphan children, and mothers who were made homeless, whose fathers and husbands were slain by the ruthless savages. One or two (of the many) of which came under my observation directly.

Mother Enderson (I say mother, for the reason of her heroic fortitude and care she gave to her wounded son-in-law, Erickson, and myself). The Indians came to her home just