DE SMET DURING THE "LITTLE HOUSE" YEARS

Founding of Kingsbury County and the Settling of De Smet

The land that became known as Kingsbury County was ceded by the Yankton Sioux Indians to the United States in 1858 and was part of an Indian reservation prior to being opened to white settlers. During the summer of 1873, township lines were located, and maps were drawn for each township (6 by 6 miles in size; each "square" in the map at right is a township) showing the location of bodies of water, sloughs, Indian mounds, and other obvious physical features of the land.

In 1874, surveyor Peter Royem filed survey field notes in which he described the markers placed at section corners: charred stakes 4 feet long placed 1 foot in the ground in mounds of dirt 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet high. Homesteaders initially used these mounds of dirt and stakes to locate the boundaries of their claims. Kingsbury County was named for George W. Kingsbury, legislator and historian of Yankton, Dakota Territory. The first white setters began arriving in 1873, with the first homestead claims filed in April 1878. In 1879, the Winona and St. Peter Railroad began construction of a line west from Tracy, Minnesota into Dakota Territory.

The Chicago and NorthWestern Railroad crossed the Minnesota state line into Brookings County, Dakota Territory, on October 2, 1879, with tracks laid at the rate of about one mile per day. They reached Main Street in Brookings on October 18, 1879.

The grading crews reached Township 111 - Range 56 in the summer of 1879. The railroad surveyors had constructed a house on the north shore of Silver Lake, which had been designated as "Lake Silver" at the time of the 1873 survey. Railroad tracks were not laid in Kingsbury County until the spring of 1880, and the surveyors and graders pushed on westward after closing shop for the winter. By the summer of 1880, the railroad had reached as far west as the town of Huron, in Beadle County.

De Smet was founded in 1880 by the Western Town Lots Company and named for Father Pierre Jean De Smet (1801 - 1873), a Jesuit priest from Belgium who had worked among the Indians in Dakota Territory and the northwest. The original town consisted of four blocks at the intersection of Main Street (Calumet) and Second Street. Each block contained 21 town lots: smaller business lots facing Calumet, larger residential lots behind them with an alley between the two. The railroad tracks were to the north, with the Depot built south of the tracks and to the northeast of Calumet. Over the years, Carroll's Addition was added to the west, Brown's Addition to the southwest, and the Railroad Addition to the east.

De Smet during the "Little House"® years

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about many of the residents and businesses in De Smet in Little Town on the Prairie, The Long Winter, and These Happy Golden Years, plus she drew a map to show the location of some of them. Wilder didn't mention all of the residents and businesses in De Smet at the time of the "Little House"® books; the town was actually much more "up and coming" than she described it. For example, there was a skating rink, opera house, jewelry store, multiple banks, meat market, two shoe stores, a law office, and many additional stores and homes that weren't included in any memoir, manuscript, or publication. Based on tax records and property deeds for 1883 - 1884, the map below gives an idea of the layout of the four main blocks in the town of De Smet at the end of Little Town on the Prairie and the beginning of These Happy Golden Years. By 1885, there were numerous residential blocks surrounding the orignal town's four blocks, and some of the lots below had already changed hands more than once.

Caroline L. Ingalls purchased Lot 21, Block 4, on October 2, 1882 from Western Town Lots Company, years after the property had been occupied and built on by Charles Ingalls. It was not uncommon, however, for earlier purchases to be recorded at a  later time. The family wintered here for several years, including the winter of 1880 - 1881 (see The Long Winter).

Laura Ingalls Wilder introduced a number of businesses in The Long Winter, among them Mead's Hotel (the Exchange Hotel in the map above), Henry Hinz's Saloon, Royal Wilder's Feed Store, Barker's Grocery Store, the Beardsley Hotel (the Kingsbury House in the map above), Harthorn's General Store, Couse Hardware, Wilmarth's Grocery, T. H. Johnson residence (where Minnie and Arthur Johnson lived when in town), Fuller's Hardware, Bradley Drugs, the Loftus Store, Thomas Power's Tailor Shop (where Mary and Charley Power lived), Thomas Ruth's Bank, and Mrs. Garland's Boarding House (where Cap and Florence Garland lived).

InLittle Town on the Prairie, Wilder introduced Charles Tinkham's Furniture Store and Jake Hopp's Printing Shop.

InThese Happy Golden Years, Wilder introduced Florence Bell's Millinery Shop and Mrs. McKee's Dressmakers Shop. Miss Bell had been in business in De Smet for years prior to this time, although Wilder wrote that her shop was new. Mrs. McKee purchased Lot 9, Block 2, from Carey J. Thomas, July 10, 1883. This was the same location as Chauncey Clayson's former Drygoods Store, where Laura Ingalls worked briefly sewing for Mrs. White after the Hard Winter.

Homestead Claims, Preemption Claims, and Tree Claims

In Kingsbury County, Laura Ingalls' world was a small one. Without exception, all claims mentioned by Laura Ingalls Wilder in the "Little House"® books and/or remembered by her were fewer than ten miles from De Smet. The vast majority of homesteaders weren't mentioned at all by Mrs. Wilder; but by 1885, virtually all land available for homesteading had been filed on and was occupied. Only homesteaders with a connection to the "Little House"® books are included in the map below. Mouse over the green areas to learn who lived where, or use the table following the map.

PLEASE NOTE: Without exception, all claims shown on the map below are private property today. If you visit these sites, please do not tresspass.

Homestead Claims, Preemption Claims, Tree Claims - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

In 1841, Congress passed a law enabling preemption (the right to purchase) of all surveyed public lands. The Preemption Act of 1841 permitted the (white) head of a family, a widow, or a single man over 21 years of age with a one-time opportunity to preempt (purchase) up to 160 acres of land within the public domain. The preemptor must be a United States citizen or have filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen. In addition, a preemptor could not own more than 320 acres in any state or territory.

The cost of preempted land was $1.25 per acre. In the case of lands lying within alternate sections of land granted by the federal government to railroad companies, the land sold for $2.50 per acre. A preemptor was was required to file an intent to preempt the land within three months of settlement and must pay the purchase price no later than 33 months after the date of settlement, yet he could also purchase the land as early as 6 months from date of settlement if desired. A preemptor and two witnesses were required to file documents stating that the preemptor had met the requirements of the Preemption Act and that the claim had been his primary residence for at least six months prior to purchase.

The Homestead Act of 1862 provided an eligible person with up to 160 acres in return for five years' residency and $18 in filing fees (an initial filing fee of $14 with an additional $4 in fees at final proof). Any (white or free) individual who was the head of a family (male or female) or at least 21 years old or who had performed military service for the United States could homestead up to 160 acres. Any homesteader who had served more than 90 days was allowed to homestead up to 160 acres and to deduct up to four years from the residency requirement, based on amount of time served. A homesteader was required to settle his claim within six months of filing and to prove up no later than seven years from filing date.

As long as a person could comply with residency requirements, both preemption claims and homestead claims could be held sat the same time.

In March 1873, Congress passed the Timber Culture Act. This legislation provided that an individual could file on a tree claim of up to 160 acres as long as he (a) planted 40 acres of trees and (b) he kept these trees growing for eight years. The Timber Culture Act had no residency requirement; therefore, up to 420 acres of land could be held by one person under preemption, homestead, and timber culture laws.

Few claimants could meet the original act of keeping trees alive for eight years, so in 1878 it was amended to give claimants up to four years to plant 10 acres of trees. At the end of eight years, and up to 12 years after filing, a patent could be obtained if the entrant could prove that at least 2,700 trees had been planted to each of ten acres and that at least 675 trees per acre were still thriving.

The Timber Culture Act made provision for natural disasters by extending the time allowed for planting by one year for each year crops were destroyed by natural disasters. Any trees killed in a given year must be replanted the following year.

While settlers most often supported the efforts made by their neighbors, they also kept close tabs on whether neighbors were managing their claims under the law. If a desirable piece of property was not held in accordance with the law, one could file an "intent to take over" a claim and force a review of the circumstances. Some settlers abandoned their claims if times were hard, but most "relinquished" the land legally in order that someone else might file on it. Often, settlers who knew they had little chancesof meeting requirements would "sell the relinquishment" to another person so that the land could change hands quickly.

For more information

CLICK HERE to open a transcription of the Homestead Act of 1862.

Copyright © 2011 by Nancy Cleaveland - All Rights Reserved.