“Indian Council – 1908 at Pierre, SD”
The photograph presented here was identified with the assistance of Matthew Reitzel at the South Dakota State Archives and Historical Society in Pierre.
Last week I identified Governor Robert Scadden Vessey in the photograph and placed the date between 1904 and 1910. Before I delved too much further, I decided to contact Matt to see if he recognized the image and here was his reply:
As it turns out a colleague of mine and I were looking at this very same photo today.
The caption on the back of the photo is attached.
So thanks to the serendipitous event in which Matt and I had our respective copies out on the same day, here is the corresponding identification information:
Indian Council – 1908 at Pierre, SD
Standing (back row left to right): Major Bentley, Little Shield, Lone Eagle, Iron Lightening, Fish Gut, Charging First, and G. H. Jaynes
Seated (left to right): Brown Thunder, C. H. Englesby, Governor R. S. Vessey, Colonel Alfred Sydney Frost, Yellow Owl, Giles Tapetomwan or Tapeola (interpreter)
Seated or kneeling on floor: Feared by Enemy, Puts on His Shoes, White Bull
According to an honor’s thesis written by Bertha Eichel in 1931 entitled A History of South Dakota During the Administration of Governor Robert S. Vessey from 1909-1913 it states:
During the period from 1909 to 1913 South Dakota seems to have made progress. Probably the most notable event in 1909 was the opening of the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Indian Reservations in Corson County and the adjacent part of North Dakota, on October 4. In the Indian Treaty of 1908, agreements for the purchase of surplus lands upon the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Reservations in South Dakota were made with the Indians. This was approved by an act of March 29, 1908. There were about ten thousand homesteads for which 80,142 persons registered.
This photograph is located in the Richardson Photograph Collection.
The Archives and Special Collections holds a collection of Alfred Sydney Frost.
Archives and Special Collections Blog 