  mellette county is a county located in the u.s. state of south dakota. as of the 2010 census, the population was 2,048. its county seat is white river. the county was named by european-american settlers after arthur c. mellette, the last governor of the dakota territory and the first governor of the state of south dakota. historically territory of the sioux/lakota peoples, 33.35 percent of the county's land is trust land associated with the rosebud indian reservation in the neighboring county to the south. according to the us census in 2000, 52.2% of the population is native american, mostly the federally recognized sicangu oyate (upper brulÃ© sioux) and the rosebud sioux tribe, a branch of the lakota people. ==geography== according to the u.s. census bureau, the county has a total area of , of which  is land and  (0.3%) is water. ===major highways=== *20px u.s. highway 83 *20px south dakota highway 44 *20px south dakota highway 53 *20px south dakota highway 63 === adjacent counties === * jones county, south dakota - north * lyman county, south dakota - northeast * tripp county, south dakota - east * todd county, south dakota - south * jackson county, south dakota - west ==demographics== {{uscensuspop |1910= 1700 |1920= 3850 |1930= 5293 |1940= 4107 |1950= 3046 |1960= 2664 |1970= 2420 |1980= 2249 |1990= 2137 |2000= 2083 |2010= 2048 |estyear= 2013 |estimate= 2081 |footnote=u.s. decennial census{{cite web|url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/pep/2013/pepannres/0400000us46.05000|title=u.s. decennial census|publisher=census.gov|accessdate=march 28, 2014}
1909_establishments_in_South_Dakota Mellette_County,_South_Dakota South_Dakota_counties