Ryan Land Grants - S Dakota
Below are the land grants for Frank S. Ryan and his brother, Leo A. Ryan, in Mead County, South Dakota. At this time, not all counties in South Dakota have been indexed by the Bureau of Reclamation, however, homesteads in Mead County are available to view the original documents:
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It was 20 years after Wounded Knee that the Ryan brothers settled in extreme western South Dakota. I can recall grandpa Frank watching TV westerns and saying, "it wasn't like that in the old west..." One of the stories I remember him telling was about the land prices in Mead County. He went back to visit his property many years after homesteading, and casually asked some of the "old timers" how much land went for. At that one of the gentlemen said, "You want land? I can sell you land real cheap...50 cents an acre." At that point, Grandpa Frank decided that it cost more to pay taxes on his land then to keep it...so he got rid of his homestead.
Here is a letter written by the good citizens 20 years before he settled around Belle Fourche.
| Mead County State of South Dakota SD Sept. 26, 1890 We the undersigned settlers of eastern Mead County South Dakota, and the United States of America, Do hereby ask in humble prayer for military protection during the trouble on the opening Reservation against the Sioux Indians. Indians residing in villages along the Cheyenne River, from the forks down to Cherry Creek. Chiefs Spotted Elk, or Big Foot Brave Eagle and Red Skirt, and their bands. We ask in most humble prayer, and further demand that we have protection of our lives and our children's and our homes and our property. Signed [blanks are illegible signatures] Elbert Jones, Peter Quinn, J.B. Slicks, John Reynolds, A.J. Culbertson, J.W. Duvall, P.T. Lemly, Peter Dunn, John Dun (Standing Rock Agency, October 17, 1890)
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