The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-04-23
WHEN SOUTH DAKOTA
ACQUIRED STATEHOOD
By poane Robinson, State Historian.

South Dakota was DOTH ulo lhc On
ion of state on November 2, 1889, in a
period OF unusual depression. The
great Dakota boom OF the eighties had
worn itself out and the reaction had
come. The law of the survival OF the
fittest was doing its work, and weak
lings were struggling back TO live
with wife's folks" and the tales OF the
h~ardships of pioneer life which they
were carrying with them were having
their Injurious effects upon the publi:
mind. The crops of that harvest well
exceedingly poor, money was clos
and times hard. The general depre:
sion which came upon the business o
the country from 1885 to 1889 was still.
felt. That year the Sioux had relln-
pushed their lands between the Chey
enne and the White rivers, and they
were beginning TO rue their bargain.
About all of the railroads demand.
ed by the development of the countr,
up to that date, had been constructed
and there was NJ forward movement
anywhere along the line.
The tried out pioneers, however,
were filled with rejoicing at the end OF
the territorial regime. 1t had been a
time of political dependence, not con.
ducive to the development OF robust
citizenship, and far-seeing men hailed
with joy the approach of the time when
Dakotans should assume the responsi,
bility of their own affairs. All Of the
present day educational and benevo'
lent institutions were inherited from
the territory except the Aberdeen and
Springfield normal schools, the school
for the blind and the school for the
feeble minded, but they were yet IN
their swaddling clothes, badly equipped
and ~unprepared for the real work they
were destined to do. Not much ad,
vancement was made during the first
year Of statehood; a second year OF
short crops followed, and in the au,
tumn of 1890 the Messiah War with
the western Sioux still further inter.
fered with immigration, and though
1923 were fine crop years, condi
tions had no more than reached nor
NAL when the awful financial cata
clysm of 1898 overwhelmed the country
and was especially hard upon the from
tier, and, to add to our woes, on Jan
uary 1, 1895, the state treasurer alb
seconded with every dollar In the treas
ury. At that time corn and oats were
worth s cents per bushel in the Local
market, and butter 10 cents per pound
in New York, but nevertheless 1905
marks the turning Of the tide and good
crops and mending prices followed
through a long period of years. The
pioneers who had survived the ordeal
too. were men and women whom moth
ing could daunt. They had been tried
by fire and proven themselves the At
test OF the Mt. They are the solid
foundations upon which the subse
quent remarkable prosperity of South
Dakota has been based. In 1889 the
state began business in the main par
of the old capitol erected as a free
gift by the people Of Pierre. Only 9
few of the chief officers we're accom-
modated. Today she has a capitol
comparable with the best.
The state university had three small
buildings, now it has nine attractive
ones.
Then the state college was crowded
into two buildings, now It's campus IL
covered with every desirable facility
a dozen or more buildings, with barn:
and warehouses galore.
The other institutions were al
meanly houses and cramped for space;
all are now comfortably provided.
Then the state debt was $1,100. Now
1t is negligible.
Then the bank deposits were five
millions, now they are one hundred
million.
Then our annual product was worth
SIS, 000, 900, now it is worth two hun
dred million.
Then We had no school fund, now
that fund totals eleven million dollars
Their the average family was mean
ly housed and without modern com
forts; today the average home is filled
with every comfort.
Starting under the depressing con
ditions above enumerated, South Da
kota has come through a quarter of a
century Of development such as has
rarely IL yer before been expert
enced by a commonwealth. While dou
bling her population she has augment
ed her wealth ten times and her re-
serve funds twenty times.
Materially, educationally, morally, In
comforts and in progress, we have
made long strides from the taw-mart