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Text originally published in 1961 under the same title.
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Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
Cover image courtesy of Wikipedia
YESTERDAYS TRAILS
BY
WILL H. SPINDLER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER
Will and Lulu Spindler
United States Indian Service, Retired (since October 30, 1959, after 30 years of continuous service in small, isolated Indian day schools, all of which were on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of southwestern South Dakota)
DEDICATION
Dedicated to LULU, my wife and partner through life and through the pages of this book, and to the Memory of my Brothers, CHESTER ARTHUR SPINDLER and FRANK ALLEN SPINDLER, both of whom served their Country during World War I and World War II.
YESTERDAYS TRAILS
True and authentic stories of Indians and Pioneers, including Kid Wade, Doc Middleton, Frank Hart, and many others, having their locale in western South Dakota and Nebraska, that picturesque area of wide open spaces, pine-clad canyons and hills, and badlands that had such a colorful and romantic past
by WILL H. SPINDLER
who spent 30 years in the United States Indian Service as an Indian day school teacher on the vast Pine Ridge Indian reservation of southwestern South Dakota.
FOREWORD
Many trails lead back to October 24, 1929that magic date of our entry into the United States Indian Service at good old Medicine Bow Day School, Potato Creek, S. Dak., on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Some, dim and half-forgotten, wend their shadowy courses back into the dim mazes of oblivion; others, more clear-cut and more vividly marked by the milestones of time and events, follow a sort of middle course, half in shadow, half in sunshine; while many, bright and sparkling in their whole course from Today back through those happy Yesterdays, stand out clear and bright as cameos.
Some of these winding pioneer trails are stalked by tragedy and sorrow, like the thin howling of coyotes in pine-studded canyons; others are trails of intermingled sorrow, humor, and joy, curving here upward to the mountain, there downward into the valley; still other, trails of pure joy and bliss, clear-cut and sparkling, cling ever to the very mountain peaks...Memory trails, if you please...But what happy, joyous, priceless memories are some of these!
Much water has run under the bridge since that memorable day that now lies so far behind. On the outside tremendous changes have occurred as the wheels of Progress have turned endlessly onward, ever onward...World empires have risen and fallen, power-crazed fanatics with desire for world conquest have been overthrown and assigned to the rubbish heap, a world renowned depression has come and gone, and science and invention have made countless changes and improvements on their ever lengthening journey to Utopia...
But here on the vast stretches of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation these changes have been rather slow with the passing years. Here most of the Sioux Indians, as well as many of the whites, still live in log houses, often in the cases of the Indians with only the hard earth for a floor and poles or boards covered with earth for a roof. Here, too, with the exception of the main surfaced highways, most of the roads are still only winding prairie trails.
And this slow process of change is not only confined to the big reservation but to many other far-flung areas of wide open spaces, badlands, and rough, hilly, pine canyon-intersected areas in both western South Dakota and Nebraska as well...Frontier areas, if you please, where many aspects of the old Frontier may still be witnessed and felt even today.
It was while we were stationed at Medicine Bow Day School in the truly isolated Indian village of Potato Creek (where we spent 20 years of our service) that I first conceived the idea of writing these local color feature stories on the Indians and pioneers of these picturesque, colorful regions of one of our last Frontiers. The fact that Potato Creek was located only 20 miles southwest from Interior, a little town in the very heart of South Dakotas weird, fantastic, fascinating Badlands, also gave us some excellent local color and history on the Badlands area itself.
If in the reading of these Indian and pioneer stories contained in Yesterdays Trails the reader is given a more vivid picture and deeper understanding of the earlier history, way of life, and wild, primitive beauty of these isolated, romantic areas of western South Dakota and Nebraska, one of our greatest ambitions will have been realized.
WILL SPINDLER
Gordon, Nebraska
KID WADE AND EARLY DAY RUSTLERS HAD COLORFUL CAREERS
The turbulent doings of the horsethieves and vigilantes in the newly organized counties of Holt, Boyd, Rock, Brown, and Keya Paha in north central Nebraska often spilled over into Dakota Territory, so the number of stories of the hectic 70s and 80s of this regions heyday of history became legion with early day Dakotans as well as Nebraskans.
Much water has run under the bridge and most of the old-timers of this wild, hectic era have slipped quietly over the knoll since those long-past days, still it is surprising how many of these stories still live in the hearts of the descendants of these sturdy pioneers.
The area in South Dakota where this nearly forgotten epoch in colorful western history occurred is now comprised in the Rosebud Indian reservation. To the wild, pine-clad canyons of this picturesque wilderness bands of horsethieves sometimes fled, when too closely pressed by the grim vigilance committees hot on their trail.
Horsethieves were very plentiful back in those days, especially in Holt County, the heart of the horsethief country. The big county was newly organized and with far more than its share of outlaws, rustlers, and petty thieves within its borders, it was beyond the pale of any real law that had much teeth in it.
Stealing horses became a highly organized, very remunerative occupation over the county. Horses could be moved swiftly and easily. In a short time they could have them in the more settled eastern part of the state or even in Iowa, where they sold well and no questions asked.
