ABSTRACT
A decisive period in the continuing struggle for control of the grass lands on Pine Ridge Reservation played itself out from about 1897 to 1915. The leading players were cattle interests represented by the Western South Dakota Stock Growers Association, US government officials, and the Oglala Omniciye (Oglala Council). The comments of Judge Gardiner and other Western South Dakota Stock Growers Association members at the Pine Ridge hearing showed the arrogance, self-assurance, and disrespect for the rule of law that characterized the big cattle interests of the day. One tactic they may have used in order to secure the use of Oglala land for feed and water for their cattle was bribery. In the final analysis the evidence of illegal trespass and damage to Oglala stock raisers brought out at the hearings weighed less with the Office of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior than the influence of the South Dakota cattle interests and their supporters.
