' families, tradesmen and others whom the Rosebud development
would bring. A few groups of settlers from Chicago and other cities came
with a fanfare of adventure new to the homestead country. But many
stolid, well-equipped farmers, too, went into Tripp County, in which the
Rosebud lay.

I got a letter from the Chicago reporter saying: "I did not draw a Lucky
Number, but I came in on the second series to take the place of those
who dropped out. Am out on my land and feeling better. It was sporting
of you to offer to find a claim for me. Things are moving fast on the
Rosebud."

Word spread that homesteaders were flocking farther west in Dakota--to
the Black Hills--and on to the vast Northwest. That inexorable tide was
pressing on, taking up the land, transforming the prairie, forcing it to
yield its harvest, shaping the country to its needs, creating a new
empire.

We peopled and stocked the West by rail--and put vast millions in the
hands of the railroads. Wagon caravans moved on from the railroad into
the interior, many going as far as fifty, sixty, a hundred miles over a
trailless desert. Homesteaders who had no money and nothing to haul,
came through in dilapidated vehicles and lived in tents until they got
jobs and earned money to buy lumber. A few came in automobiles. There
were more cars seen in the moving caravans now.

It was not only settlers the railroads carried west now, it was tools
and machinery and the vast quantities of goods needed for comfort and
permanent occupation; and the increasing demand for these materials was
giving extra work to factories and businesses in the East.

On the Brule we watched the growth of other sections of the West. At
home alone one evening, Ida Mary had carried her supper tray outdoors,
and as she sat there a rider came over the plains; she could barely
recognize him in the dusk.

"Lone Star!" she exclaimed as he stopped beside her.

He sat silent, dejected, looking over the broad fields. He had brought
the herd north to summer pasture.

"Did you escape the pesky homesteaders by going south?" she laughed.

"No," he said soberly. "They're all over. Not near as thick as they are
here, but Colorado and New Mexico are getting all cluttered up. Old
cattle trails broke--cain't drive a herd straight through no
more--why--" he looked at her as though some great calamity had
befallen, "I bet there's a million miles o' ba'b wire strung between
here and Texas! Shore got the o