CHAPTER I.

THE PIONEERS

When a traveler lands in New York, the first thing the reporters ask him is; "What do you think of this country?" To their credit it is to be said that the travelers generally come through handsomely for the benefit of the newspaper men. They may know nothing more of this country than such impressions as they have gleaned from a view of the New York sky-line. They may imagine that Indians are camped west of Trenton and cowboys are whooping it up just outside of Philadelphia, but they express their opinions just the same.

My knowledge of South Dakota is limited to impressions gained from a marvelous drive across your state and a previous sojourn of a few days at Hot Springs, but I can see where South Dakota shares one great indebtedness vith the rest of the West—the debt to the pioneers. One's hat is off to the brave people who first settled here. Their handiwork is in evidence on every side. It has always seemed to me that the prairie pioneer faced a proposition that required the ultimate of stamina. The pioneer whose chief implement was the axe always had the friendly shelter of the forest. He could cut the logs for his cabin and stables. He cleared only so much land as he needed from year to year. He was assured of warmth and protection from the start. His axe guaranteed him such things.

But the pioneer in a treeless land had no such friendly aid. He had to live in a sod house until he could haul logs for a better shelter. He was the plaything of the storm and here in South Dakota his human enemies, the Sioux, were brave and clever warriors. If the prairie pioneer was called upon to defend his home, it was in the pitiless open.

Transportation was crude and travel was filled with dangers. I had those facts brought home to me a few weeks ago when, at the Grolier Club in New York City, I inspected a collection of early western literature which Philip Ashton Rollins has completed for Princeton University. In this collection were several route books used by pioneers in crossing the western plains. These books gave directions and distances for the benefit of those who were about to push westward in covered wagons. The best camping places were indicated, and there were warnings concerning places where treacherous fords and rattlesnakes and Indians were to be guarded against.

Then, in the luxurious quarters of an automobile club, I secured a map of the Yellowstone Trail, which I proceeded to follow. I bowled across the Dakota plains on a wonderfully well-kept gravel road. There were no fords to cross and no Indians to look out for, and I felt ashamed of myself because of the ridiculous ease of travel. I could not help but compare the automobile log book with the route book used by the pioneers.

One can see, even in the course of an all too brief journey, that South Dakota has shared handsomely in the general prosperity that has come to the American people. By all outward semblances South Dakota compares well with any of its sister states. Many of the pioneers who have made this splendid fulfillment possible have lived to share in the benefits of these later years of ease. To such we can only give assurance of our undying appreciation and respect.—By Arthur Chapman, Author of "Out Where the West Begins."