Grandpa Pete was born in 1894. He had allotment land in the Martin area. He was not a US citizen until he joined the Army. While he was in the Army they made him a citizen and while he was in France fighting WWI, they took his land out of trust and sold it for back taxes. They never notified him or his wife that they did any of this. He found out when he got back to America. 

Grandpa Pete had to buy back his land, using money he’d been saving while in the service. He traded that land for land over by Vetal, SD (where Uncle Archie lived) before he bought this land.

Grandpa Pete was a boss farmer. The boss farmer worked for the government, who controlled what people could plant, when they could sell animals, and more. He would go around telling the farmers how to run their farms/ranches, as the US government felt that Native Americans were not capable of managing their own property. He retired about 1950. 

Section 11 was originally allotted to Thomas Stabber. He borrowed against it and lost it. He had to take it out of trust to borrow money.

Grandpa Pete (grandfather of Linda) bought the ranch in the 1950s, about 1956, when it came up on the county for back taxes. He wanted this land, because it was closer to Clara’s (his second wife) family, the Pouriers. Grandpa Pete bought part (Section 11) and Uncle Archie Graham bought part (Section 15). Over the years, he and his daughter, Virginia, put the land back into trust.

There was only a log cabin on the property, which was built about 1892. The green house that stands there now was built with no electricity on the property. Uncle Roy helped build it.

Uŋčí (grandma) Virginia, Grandpa Pete’s daughter, bought Section 15 from Uncle Archie in 1975 or 76. Grandpa Pete gave her his section in 1979 or 1980. Merle Wright, Virginia’s 2nd husband, fixed the road that is now known as Lawrence Lane (and was just “the driveway” back then). Little Pete, a cousin, had left staples on the road and in the yard so Uŋčí Virginia and the kids would go out to pick up staples many days because they would have flat tires. The fences were fixed with bailing twine so they had to replace all the fence.

She traded land for the parts of Section 10.

Grandpa Pete bought part of Section 2 from Susie after she became disabled (her son had died and she moved to Rapid City for help). This was after Virginia moved back to Rapid.

Susie’s cabin sat approximately where the main house is now, between the road and the green house.

Grandpa Pete ranched off and on because every time he moved back to the ranch, Aunt Merle would throw a fit saying Clara, his second wife, needed to be near other people.

Little Pete ran the ranch after Grandpa Pete until Uŋčí Virginia moved there in 1981 when she married Bud Lawrence. She lived there until August 2017.

Virginia and Bud raised cattle. One time they tried sheep when Virginia’s youngest son told them that sheep usually had twins so they would have almost twice as many animals. However, the eagles would come and pick up the lambs right out of the corral. They had a few llamas for a few years, which made good guards for the livestock.

When Bud died, Virginia began leasing the land to others who owned cattle, rather than managing her own. A few years later, she moved in to Rapid City, and sold the main house and a small amount of land to her daughter, Linda.