WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 753 



was fortunate for the farmer, because it insured extra care of the few 

 handled and at the same time gave him an opportunity to gain a little 

 practical experience. 



The State of South Dakota, according to the census of 1890, has a 

 population of 328,808, an increase since 1880 of 230,540. The present 

 population, when compared with the immense area, is insignificant. 

 The area of South Dakota is 77,650 square miles, or nearly 50,000,000 

 acres of grazing and farm lauds. There is no timber land of any extent. 

 The water surface of the State is about 800 square miles, comprising the 

 Missouri, Cheyenne, and James or Dakota rivers and their tributaries, 

 and a few small lakes. 



The geographical location of South Dakota is favorable in many re- 

 spects. While it lies wholly north of Nebraska it is in about the same 

 latitude as northern Iowa and Illinois, and southern Minnesota, Wis- 

 consin, and Michigan. The central portion of the State contains the 

 great Missouri Valley, and its altitude is less than that of the western 

 portions of Nebraska and Kansas or eastern Colorado. The greater 

 portion of the State is a level or undulating plain, and the area of the 

 rough, broken, and uutillable lands, including the hills and mountains 

 which lie mainly west of the Missouri Eiver, is not much, if any, more 

 than that of the water surface of the State. The only mountainous re- 

 gion of the State is that portion of the Black Hills which is near the 

 western border, occupying an area of 40 by 80 square miles, and the 

 altitude varies from 5,000 to 7,000 feet above the sea level. These hills 

 are covered with a thick growth of spruce and pine, which, from the 

 distance, give them a dark appearance that undoubtedly suggested the 

 name, Black Hills. 



No portion of the plains contains a deeper or richer soil than the 

 broad, open, and fertile expanse of Dakota. Especially is this true of 

 the eastern part of South Dakota, which at present comprises most of 

 the cultivated land of the State. The luxuriant growth of grass, which 

 once supplied pasturage for millions of buffalo, is an evidence of the 

 wealth of the soil. 



The climate of South Dakota is very similar to that of Montana and 

 North Dakota in most respects. Like the latter it is occasionally sub- 

 ject to those strong winds which in winter are denominated " blizzards," 

 the popular reputation of which has done a vast amount of evil in 

 prejudicing the nonresident against Dakota. These " blizzards n are 

 not of frequent occurrence, and have no special terror to those familiar 

 with the country and its climate. They are not so injurious to live 

 stock as the wet, cold winter and spring months of the States in the 

 lower Ohio and Missouri valleys. During the latter part of winter tl^e 

 thermometer occasionally registers lower, but the weather is more en- 

 durable because of the dryness, freedom from storms, light snowfall, 

 and almost never-failing sunshiny days. In summer the nights are 

 cool, and the autumn weather is universally the most delightful of the 

 year, and continues so usually away into December. 

 22990 48 



